時報
- Sibu congkan
- Open all day today
- Commercial Press 30th-anniversary gifts
Three Commercial Press notices combine a renewed subscription offer for Sibu congkan with anniversary shopping. The publisher keeps the collection’s earlier price despite higher costs, opens on Sunday morning as the promotion nears its end, and offers different book-voucher gifts for schoolbooks and other publications.
Partial reading of an advertising page: the Sibu congkan second-subscription paragraph, the complete Sunday-opening notice, and the anniversary gift heading, deadline and three purchase terms. Edition descriptions, subscription-price and periodical tables, and other advertisements are outside the transcribed selection. Fine print elsewhere cannot be fixed with sufficient confidence from this preserved image.
Translation
Sibu congkan
Second advance subscription
The first advance subscription for this collection went on sale 7 years ago. Since then, the costs of labour and materials have continued to rise. This second subscription offer coincides with the 30th anniversary of our founding. In appreciation of our customers’ generous support, we are keeping the previous price without adding a penny. However, no additional gift vouchers will be issued during the anniversary period.
Open all day today
To our valued customers: please visit early.
Today is Sunday, and we had planned to close for the morning. However, only 5 days remain in our 30th-anniversary promotion, and customers are arriving in ever greater numbers. For your convenience, we will therefore remain open this morning, starting at the usual time of 8:30. We would be grateful if you would take note.
Respectfully, the Commercial Press, Shanghai, and its Hongkou branch.
Commercial Press 30th-anniversary gifts
Offer ends at the close of this month by the Western calendar.
Buy at least 5 jiao of primary-school books and receive book vouchers worth 6 jiao.
Buy at least 1 yuan of secondary-school books and receive book vouchers worth 3 jiao.
Buy at least 1 yuan of our other books and magazines and receive book vouchers worth 2 jiao.
Context
A classical library sold by advance subscription
Sibu congkan was a large collection of older Chinese works. Its first series appeared between 1919 and 1923 and contained 323 titles, according to the publisher’s historical catalogue. That scale helps explain the renewed advance subscription advertised here: buyers were committing to a collection, rather than picking up a single newly published book. The notice makes continuity of price its selling point, explicitly acknowledging rising production costs. It also separates this subscription from the anniversary gifts, so the promise of an unchanged price should be read together with the exclusion of extra vouchers.
An anniversary that brought readers into the shops
The Commercial Press’s anniversary celebration extended beyond a sale. A commemorative special issued on 8 August 1926 carried contributions from figures including Zhang Yuanji and Wang Yunwu, together with plans for meetings, entertainments and a lantern event. The Sunday notice shows the retail side of that celebration. With the promotional period almost over, the Shanghai shop and Hongkou branch announced that they would open for the morning. A publisher’s institutional anniversary thus became a practical appointment for customers deciding when to buy their books.
Schoolbooks and the wider reading market
The gift offer distinguishes primary-school books, secondary-school books, and the publisher’s other books and magazines. These categories reflect the Commercial Press’s broad publishing business. It had built a major schoolbook programme before the republic and expanded it with Republican textbooks; it also published periodicals such as Dongfang zazhi and Xiaoshuo yuebao. The separate purchase thresholds and voucher amounts address those different customers within one campaign. Even schoolbook buyers are divided by educational level, while general books and periodicals share a single offer.
Original
四部叢刊
四部叢刊
第二次預約
本書第一次預約發售於七年之前年來人工材料日益加昂敝館此次續售第二次預約適值創業三十年紀念爲酬答賜顧諸君之隆意仍照前價不加分文但紀念期內不再贈券
本日全天營業
本日全天營業
賜顧諸君惠臨請早
本日星期日原定於上午休業半天祇以本館三十年紀念期限只餘五日惠顧者益見加多茲爲便利顧客諸君起見上午並不休業照常於八時半開市即祈公鑒爲幸
上海商務印書館及虹口分店謹啟
商務印書館三十年紀念大贈品
商務印書館三十年紀念大贈品
陽曆本月底截止
小學用書購滿五角贈實洋書券六角
中等學校用書購滿一元贈實洋書券三角
其他本版圖書雜誌購滿一元贈實洋書券二角