This shortage of supply has coincided with an enormous in-
crease in demand. It is not merely that elderly people find in reading some occupation for the long dark evenings of war-time and some distraction from the painful preoccupations of our present discontents. It is also that young men and women have developed a thirst for information, and that this thirst cannot be assuaged from the summer-dried fountains of the book-trade. As a symptom of this admirable craving it may be mentioned that the numbers of those joining the London Library (which provides lavish reading on generous terms) has risen during the last nine months to an almost unprecedented degree. This is a symptom of an increased need for information, and an increased taste for reading at which we should all rejoice. But the fact remains that of the current books available in 1939, as many as 37,000 are already out of print. It is to the credit of our publishers that in spite of this urgent demand for reprints they persist in assigning a high proportion of their ration to the publication of new books. Most publishers could keep the machine turning over by merely reprinting former books for which they know there is a stable demand. The fact that they all of them seek to expand a large portion of their ration upon new and uncertain ventures shows that they are no mere book- merchants, but people anxious to risk something for the benefit of English letters as a whole. * * * *
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