A “thousand” was a common unit of measure in the 19th century, used by publishers to denote the number of copies printed of a given book. The practice began in the early 1800s, when publishers would print a small number of copies of a book and offer them for sale at a reduced price. If the book was successful, they would print more copies and sell them at a higher price. This system allowed publishers to gauge the public’s interest in a book and decide whether or not to invest more money in its production.
The term “thousand” can also refer to the number of subscribers to a magazine or newspaper. In the 19th century, many magazines and newspapers were published in large cities and sold by subscription only. The publisher would print a certain number of copies based on the number of subscribers, and the cost of a subscription would be lower than the cost of buying the magazine or newspaper at a newsstand. This system allowed publishers to reach a larger audience and sell more copies of their publications.
In the 19th century, publishers found that they could sell more books if they were printed in smaller, more manageable formats that were easy for readers to carry around with them. This meant that books could be published more cheaply and easily, and reach a wider audience. As a result, publishers began to focus on producing shorter books, which were often less expensive to produce than longer ones. This change in focus helped to increase the importance of thousands as a unit of measure for publishers.
Previously, publishers had used hundreds as their primary unit of measure when estimating how many books they could sell. However, the new smaller formats meant that publishers could print and sell more books in a shorter period of time, which made it more important to focus on thousands as a unit of measure. This change helped to increase the importance of thousands as a unit of measure for publishers in the 19th century.