THE PAPER RATIONING
Stn,—Mr. Nicolson's " Marginal Comment " on the paper crisis in the book trade comes as a valuable and I hope efficacious reminder of this vital problem.
Three points in particular must have struck many people visiting bookshops anywhere these days. First the appalling difficulty of obtaining many of the great classics of literature. Second the amount of what I will call " dead stock " of books on Hitler and the European and World situations written between say 1935-39, that are naturally dated and virtually useless for all except a few specialists.
Third, the unnecessary preponderance of pamphlets on every subject under the sun; not only one pamphlet to one subject but about six. (I include Government leaflets, &c., as well as those produced by independent publishing houses and private individuals) As for those store-houses of paper, the offices of Government departments, no one needs to be reminded twice!
As the country's paper stocks show no likelihood of increasing in the near future Mr. Nicolson rightly infers that a redistribution should be effected to the benefit of the publishers of booksen particular.—Yours faithfully,
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