College and Research Libraries


sis entirely. Unions barely get a half-page. 
Computerization gets short shrift, though 
it is acknowledged that it does have a sig-
nificant role to play in work analysis and 
the work activity in a library. 

An admirable feature throughout the 
book is the nonsexist terminology which 
the author has obviously been careful to 
use, with rare lapses to "he" or "his." 

A constant underlying message is that 
s·uccessful administrators come in many 
styles, and there are no hard and fast rules. 
Why then do we need a textbook? Only 
because it is obligatory to have an educa-
tional background in administrative con-
cepts and techniques (or, administrative 
myths and proverbs), if only to discard 
them as experience and personal judgment 
dictate.-A. A. Mitchell, Associate Librari-
an, State University of New York, College 
at Plattsburgh. 

The Business of Publishing: A PW Anthol-
ogy. With an Introduction by Arnold W. 
Ehrlich. New York: Bowker, 1976. 303p. 
$11.95. LC 76-42195. ISBN 0-8352-
0893-1. 

Few trade journals can match Publishers 
Weekly's history of dedicated service to the 
book industry. Since 1871 its editorial 
pages have exerted a very positive influ-
ence on the conduct of book publishing and 
bookselling. The contributions to American 
culture of PW's past editors Leypoldt, 
Bowker, and Frederic Melcher are com-
parable to those made by the industry's 
most distinguished publishing houses. 

Reviewing the past five years of publica-
tion, Arnold W. Ehrlich, PWs' present 
editor-in-chief, has selected forty-five arti-
cles which emphasize, as one might gather 
from the title, the business side of publish-
ing. The primary audience for this book is 
likely to be people who have recently en-
tered the book trade. As a book of read-
ings, the anthology complements some 
recent analyses of book publishing econom-
ics: John P. Dessauer's Book Publishing, 
What It Is, What It Does (Bowker, 197 4); 
Clive Bingley's The Business of Book Pub-
lishing (Pergamon, 1972); and Dinoo J. 
Vanier's Market Structure and the Business 
of Book Publishing (Pitman, 1973). 

While not as comprehensive as Grannis' 

Recent Publications I 339 

standard survey, What Happens in Book 
Publishing (Columbia, 2d ed., 1967), the 
major functions-editorial, production, and 
distribution-and many of the major cate-
gories of book publishing are represented. 
While all the contributions reveal the oper-
ational side of the publishing business, most 
are quite readable; some are entertaining. 
And some manage to reveal the idealism 
and commitment which annually encourage 
thousands of freshly-washed faces to seek 
employment in the industry. Outstanding 
among the regular contributions to PW 
have been John Dessauer's and Paul Doeb-
ler's thoughtful and provocative essays. 
Ehrlich has chosen their best pieces for in-
clusion. The Benjamin, Brockway, and 
Prescott rebuttals to Dessauer's "Too Many 
Books?" argument are also represented. 
Thomas W eyr' s comprehensive series on 
book clubs is here, as well as three articles 
from Roger H. Smith's 1975 series on mass 
market paperback distribution. (Smith later 
expanded this series into Paperback Parnas-
sus [Westview Press, 1976].) 

Because this is a collection of reprints 
rather than a commissioned anthology, 
some important areas of the book industry 
receive only slight reference, if any at all: 
regional and foreign publishing, trade pa-
perbacks, book wholesalers and retailers, 
and new integrated book manufacturing 
systems. 

Much less excusable is the collection's 
page design and typography. A cut-and-
paste collection, the articles have merely 
been photocopied and printed from their 
original journal pages. This results in dif-
fering type styles and page formats as well 
as uncorrected typos. As with most anthol-
ogies of this sort, the index is also skimpy. 

Despite these shortcomings, plus a ques-
tionable price tag for a collection of pre-
viously published pieces, the anthology be-
longs in any library attempting to stay 
abreast of contemporary American book 
publishing methods. College libraries will 
also want to include it among their "career" 
book selections.-Thomas L. Bonn, Associ-
ate Librarian, Memorial Library, State Uni-
versity of New York, College at CQrtland. 

Pages: The World of Books, Writers, and 
Writing. 1- Matthew J. Bruccoli, 
Editorial Director. C. E. Frazer Clark,