EXHIBITION
The National Book Fair
THE National Book Fair is being held this year at Earl's Court, and on the whole the move from its earlier haunts seems justified. Transport there by public conveyances is tricky (few buses assist, and the correct tube station to aim at proves to be West Brompton and not, as one might have supposed, Earl's Court, unless a subterranean walk of what seems half a mile is counted one of the pleasures of life) and by private convey- ances expensive (something approaching extortion is politely practised in the official garage) ; and the Exhibition building itself is not, either outside or within, a thing of architectural beauty. But these objections are outbalanced by the greatly increased space that is available. The stands are not packed together as they have sometimes necessarily been in the past, they are all on one floor, and one does not have to fight one's way towards the exhibits through fiercely competitive crowds. The Book Fair can indeed now advertise itself with truth as permitting its visitors to see, clearly and in comfort, everything connected with the making of books except the writing. It should not be beyond the powers of the organisers to arrange next year for a show case to be tenanted by some undistractable author who would illustrate this single unrepresented aspect of the trade.
The publishers' stands naturally form the backbone of the Fair. Mr. Gollancz, no doubt resting on the laurels of his own weekly exhibition in the Sunday papers, is as usual not represented and this year is joined in his absenteeism by the two University Presses and Macmillans. The absence of the latter three (variously and entertainingly explained) robs the Exhibition of what have been in the past three of the most attractive stands and themselves of the chances of excelling in excellent company. Apart from them the publishers are there in force. A small minority of the stands are of merely sociolo- gical interest, but most of them have at least a dozen exhibits to attract the eye. In the designing of the stand itself, the prize for ingenuity goes to Messrs. Nicholson and Watson, who have arranged their exhibit around a tall claret-coloured pillar which catches the eye from any position in the hall.
Of the stalls not tenanted by publishers, that which attracts most attention is the one arranged by the Antiquarian Book- sellers' Association, at which the soul of the bibliophile is enchanted by a sight (through glass) of a number of famous books and manuscripts. On the other hand, at the stall devoted to the Fifty Best Books of the Year no one will find his view obstructed by enthusiasts. In this exhibit it is popularly supposed that the year's best examples of book production are displayed. But it is difficult to comprehend the principles on which the books shown have been selected. The majority of them are of expensive limited editions, and one would conclude that price was the criterion were it not that the batch includes some cheaper books, among them even—a peculiarly admirable choice—one of Chatto and Windus's delightful Zodiac books, which are priced at a shilling. It is no doubt an admirable thing that a few presses should continue to produce a sufficient supply of elegant limited editions to keep the purses of rich bibliophiles unsealed. But this is of little importance compared with the value to the book-buying community as a whole of those publishers who consistently maintain a high standard of commercial book production. Of the three firms who lead in book- production today, two—Chatto and Windus and Faber— are represented in this exhibit ; but the firm which by common consent maintains the highest standard of all is the firm of Jonathan Cape, and no book bearing the Cape imprint is among the precious Fifty. It is unfortunate for whoever was responsible for this exhibit that it is in close proximity to the Cape stand, where one can see a dozen books—the Leonardo Notebooks, Mr. Rowse's Grenville, Miss Wedgwood's Thirty Years War, Mr. Fleming's News from Tartan', to name four—which are every bit as elegant as, and a hundred times more serviceable than, at least a third of the books contained within this self-conscious case. Whatever may be the present mode of selection for this exhibit, it should be revised.
The Fair's most charming story is of a girl who arrived for a lecture two hours early and was heard saying, "What Can I do till 5 o'c. ? I have left my book at home."
DEREK VERSC:HOYLE.
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