Publishers, until recently, were like doctors. They would not discuss
their business, but invested it with "mystery." Many years ago, Major G. H. Putnam wrote his Authors and Publishers ; but he remained a solitary pioneer in his revolt against secrecy until, in 1926, Mr. Stanley Unwin produced The Truth About Publishing, of which- we now welcome the third and revised English edition (Allen and Unwin, 7s. 64.). As a modern treatise on the subject, Mr. Unwin's book, which has been translated into several other languages, stands without a competitor, though, even if it bad a dozen rivals, it would probably remain the standard work. Mr. Unwin, from intimate and almost world-wide experience, deals lucidly and fully with every detail of book production, from the receipt of the manuscript to the retailing of the finished article. He discusses also the more controversial aspects of publishing and bookselling, and offers many valuable suggestions for the better organization and functioning of the trade. A notable feature of his work is his sympathy with the author's point of view. He is interested in books not only as commodities but as literature and, while he wastes no mock tears over the inevitable degree of commercialization in publishing, he retains a vigorous and sane idealism. Es volume is as delightfully written as it is packed with inform& tion and wisdom, and nobody interested in books could read it without pleasure and profit. Even Mr. Arnold Bennett says that he has learned "about five hundred things from it."
* * * *
Previous page
