A reputation made, and ...

Once popular, an author has a built-in audience. Witness Dan Brown, whose Da Vinci Code made his name: his new book, The Lost Symbol, has 231 holds in the large print version, and 688 on the regular-type version.

Equally, Pat Conroy's new book, South of Broad, has 569 holds on first copy returned of 203 copies. Nicholas Sparks is also an established favorite; his latest, The Last Song, has 390 holds on first copy returned of 57 copies.

Publishing thrives, perhaps even survives, on this phenomenon: guaranteed readers.

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In contrast, consider this book:
The study of counterpoint from Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad parnassum ; translated and edited by Alfred Mann, with the collaboration of John Edmunds. New York : W.W. Norton, 1971. [Call No. 781.42 F]

It has circulated once.