SIR,—Mr. Rosselli's article is informed, competent and entertaining. As a
bookseller I suffer frequently from the deficiencies in the trade and my customers patiently with me. Yet my experience as retail importer of books from the US makes me wonder whether salvation is to be expected from this direc- tion. We have customers in the United States and in Canada who order books published over there from us because they get them quicker, and we share this experience with several other booksellers in the British Isles. I have yet to be convinced that com- puters and punched cards are the answer to all problems in our trade, nor is the unlimited pumping- in of capital. We receive from the US books badly packed, badly invoiced and we hardly ever get answers to our letters unless a printed form meets the case. And why have some American firms the worst distributors in this country?
I remain unreformed and independent.
CERTI K VERGIC The Economists' Bookshop, Clare Market,
Portugal Street, WC2
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