HIS MAJESTY'S BOOKSHOPS

By STEPHEN BLACK

AN intriguing book-list from one of the most profitable publishing houses in the country is out this week. It is the Government Publications Consolidated List for 1937, issued by His Majesty's Stationery Office.

At the ICingsway retail counter of this "State Publishing House" a host of salesmen deals politely and efficiently with the crowds of book-buyers who purchase a daily average of 1,5o0 of the 6,000 different Government publications issued yearly. Here alone the sales amount to £58,000 per annum, while other retail departments in Edinburgh, Manchester, Cardiff and Belfast do a correspondingly lively trade.

These retail shops are not, however, the sole means of distribution. Together with a direct "Mail Order" service to newspapers and business houses and the sales through ordinary booksellers, the department handles altogether f 149,826 worth of retail sales business in London and a total of £165,537 for the country. Sales profits for 1936 were £5,196—the latest figure available. } Large depart- mental contracts for printing, binding and distribution, however, contribute to the gross turnover of £532,000 which yields a total profit of £128,000—or 24 per cent. !

The book-list—issued by this paying concern at Is.— is as fascinating as anything from Paternoster Row, and far more entertaining in its variety. You can read all about the Spring Flowers for 2s. 6d., Hypoglycaemic Shock Treat- ment for is. 3d., Aeronautics for 2s. 2d., Herbs for is., "Sand Devils "for 3d., " Doll's Eyes " for 2.d., and "Wing- less Weevils" for id. each. Such Government publications as these are classified in the list as "Non-Parliamentary," to distinguish them from the " Parliamentary " publications which include all the business and commercial papers, bills and debates, recording the activities of the two Houses of Parliament.

Questioned on the subject of " best-sellers" a Stationery Office official at the Headquarters in Whitehall named the Board of Education's Homework (is. 3d.) and the Ministry of Agriculture's Domestic Preparation of Fruit and Vegetables (is. 6d.) apart from the 250,000 free distribution of the Air Raid Precautions Hand Book and the 12,000,000 free copies of the Highway Code.

For some obscure reason the Stationery Office is as shy of making sales-figure claims as the average publisher is keen on making them up. It is officially stated, however, that Suggestions for Teachers sold over 50,000 and that the "Fruit and Vegetables" book did better than this. In spite of the "Keep Fit" poster campaign, Recreation and Physical Fitness in two volumes (one for" Girls and Women" and the other for "Youths and Men ") is still a long way from the top of the list. It is hoped, however, that a new zd. booklet entitled Fitness Wins will be IllOre successful wnen it comes out in March.

Of the " authors " available, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries would appear to have the greatest output and to be the most popular, in spite of the phenomenal success of Homework and many of the Board of Education's other books. Some Diseases of Farm Animals at 25. recently reached its eighth edition. Perhaps a reversion to the hedge-less English countryside of the seventeenth century —before the " Enclosures " after 1688—is indicated by the large sales of Methods of Hedge and Tree-stump Clearing. This illustrated 9d. booklet, which has sold in thousands, reached its third edition in July, 1936, and is still selling well.

The last year has seen a greater increase in Stationery Office sales than has ever been recorded before. Business in Kingsway has been so good, in fact, that new and larger premises have been obtained at York House a few doors away. According to the Office of Works, the removal will take place within the next few months.

These increased sales are attributed to the more" human" appearance and imaginative make-tup of Government pub- lications in recent years. The Board of Education's pamph- let on " Education " is typical of this improvement. With an interesting photographic cover, it reviews the available Government booklets on educational subjects. The text, however, is broken up with quotations from Alice in Wonder- land. Above the account of " Homework " the Gryphon remarks : " That's the reason they're called lessons—because they lessen from day to day."

Perhaps the most attractively-bound and illustrated of the books in the list is the Guide to the Ancient Monuments of England—three volumes in green cloth. A Short Course in Meteorology is now a standard class book in public schools and universities. The department certainly caters for all tastes.. An illustrated portfolio collection of leaflets on British Birds at Is. 6d. covers everything from house-sparrows to buzzards and includes a special leaflet on nest-boxes.

The Acquisition and Cultivation of Allotments and Chrysan- themums are of interest to gardeners. Boys and girls leaving school should make full use of the "Choice of Career" series of pamphlets. For welfare workers and sociologists, The Furniture and Equipment of the Working-class Home is useful, if unimaginative. It was prepared by the Council of Art and Industry.

It is not surprising that such practical and readable books and pamphlets as these, at such reasonable prices, should appeal to the general public. The wide publicity now given to these books through the Press and the radio, and the recent improvements in display at the retail shops, have undoubtedly helped to make 1937 a record year. A quick-service counter and an enquiry bureau will be included in the services offered at York House.

Successful sales, however, are not limited to non-parlia- mentary publications. The "Nosey Parker" Bill Debate, including Mr. A. P. Herbert's outspoken address (complete with poem), created a sales record well above anything since the first sessions of Parliament after the Great War. It sold in tens of thousands and had to be reprinted to keep up with the demand. The Palestine Report and the Report on the Private Manufacture and Trading in Armaments both sold exceptionally well.

Such papers as these include a record of the det ate up to it o'clock at night. If the House continues to sit after this hour, its activities are included in the publication of the following day, so that often as not "A debate and a half" can be purchased at 6d.—the official price of a single debate.

Apart from publishing these public records of members' speeches, the Stationery Office is responsible for the filing and documentation of Hansard, as well as for the excellent service of Parliamentary News issued free to all members of both Houses. Not everyone knows, for example, that each M.P. has delivered to him on his breakfast table, a free report of "Last night's debate "—whether he was present in the House or not. In order to distribute these reports the Post Office has a special "3 o'clock in the morning collection" from the Stationery Office in Whitehall.

The hopes and aspirations of sociologists, scientists, and economists, or the scheming and trickery of politicians and careerists, are eventually crystalised, in success or failure, to a few lines in this yearly book-list. The ineptitude of a Government and the 'betrayal of a great ideal are frozen in the cold blast of officialdom to " 5071 : Ethiopia—dispute between Italy and. Correspondence regarding application of Article 16 of the Covenant of the League of Nations- 2d. or 2id. postage paid."