1939: Book Publishing

The outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939, caused a momentary flurry in the American book trade. Many publishers examined their lists, wondering if new and unpredictable conditions might endanger their considerable investments. Activity in the retail bookstores early in September was scarcely reassuring, with many big buyers cutting down their orders, particularly of expensive items. From Boston, New York, Philadelphia and other cities in the East, and especially from Chicago, publishers' sales managers received discouraging reports. But the period of pessimism was of short duration. Before September was over booksellers all through the country were feeling confident of excellent fall business; and few publishers felt that conditions necessitated any changes in publishing plans.

The confidence was apparently justified. By the end of December all reports indicated that the trade had enjoyed excellent business during the fall and holiday season, the months of heaviest volume in the book business. At no time during the year was there evidence of a serious slump comparable to that which was so noticeable in 1938. It is symptomatic of the state of the business that the two most expensive trade books designed for wide distribution reached extraordinarily good sales. 'A Treasury of Art Masterpieces,' edited by Thomas Craven and published by Simon & Schuster at $10 (offered prior to publication at $8.50) was issued in late September and sold a total of 71,000 copies in 1939. On Dec. 1, Harcourt, Brace published Carl Sandburg's 'Abraham Lincoln: the War Years' in four volumes, at $20 for the set; within one month 18,000 sets were sold. Other expensive books fared proportionately well.

'Best Sellers.'

But if the war had, up to the end of 1939, little general effect on the book trade, the interest in international affairs did widen the market for books dealing with related subjects. The top nonfiction seller of the year was 'Days of Our Years,' by the international journalist, Pierre Van Paassen, a book of contemporary historical material which found a sale of some 230,000 copies, including a book club edition. Other books dealing with the international scene which reached the best seller class included Nora Waln's study of Germany and the Germans, 'Reaching for the Stars,' John Gunther's 'Inside Asia,' and Vincent Sheean's 'Not Peace But a Sword.' It is interesting in this respect that Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' published for the first time in a complete English translation, sold over 95,000 copies through the bookstores. And Hermann Rauschning's 'The Revolution of Nihilism,' a serious condemnation of Nazi policies and a work by no means easy to read, reached a wide public.

The public's increased awareness of social problems was at least partially responsible for the great success of John Steinbeck's novel. 'The Grapes of Wrath,' which was the year's top seller in all classifications. It was issued in April and by the end of 1939 had sold over 300,000 copies. Popular, too, was Ethel Vance's 'Escape,' a novel of Nazi Germany, of which over 225,000 copies were printed during the year. An interesting general development was the tendency of certain popular books to hold over from previous seasons. Rachel Field's 'All This and Heaven Too,' Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca,' Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' 'The Yearling,' all best sellers in 1938, continued to be popular in 1939.

Statistics.

Trade book titles issued in 1939, as reported to Publishers' Weekly, totaled 10,640 as against 11,067 for 1938, a decline of 427 or about 3.85 per cent (it must be emphasized that these figures refer to different titles, not to the total number of books printed in the United States). The decrease in titles occurred mainly among religious books, fiction — though the decrease in fiction was less than in 1938 — poetry and drama and juvenile books. The 10,640 titles were issued by a large number of publishing houses, though a majority of titles, 7,993, were issued by 247 firms publishing 5 or more books each. Of these, 17 firms published 100 or more titles each, 3, 314 for this group, while 39 houses issuing 50 or more books each accounted for 4,820 titles. Probably the slight decrease for the year was due to accidental factors and was not indicative of a general trend.

Success of Economy-priced Reprints.

The success achieved by certain expensive books during the year was noted above, but perhaps of much greater significance was the increased interest in the publication of very inexpensive books planned for mass sales. In recent years, especially in 1937 and 1938 the book trade has seen considerable growth in the publication of reprints (cheaper editions of already published books made possible by the use of the original plates and the acceptance by the author of a reduced royalty). In June 1939, Robert F. de Graff, a publisher with much experience in reprint publishing startled the trade and the general public with the establishment of a new line of reprints priced at 25 cents a volume, of small format but attractively printed and bound in colorful paper covers. This line, called Pocket Books, like other ventures before it, was designed to appeal to the great mass of magazine readers who have not previously been book buyers. Issued experimentally at first in New York alone, the books aroused a great deal of interest in the press and were soon released for national distribution. It can be said that Pocket Books represent one of the most considerable attempts yet made to capture a new public (the publisher has reported that the largest volume of sales has been secured through other than regular bookstores); but it is still too early to assess their ultimate place in the American book trade. Another important development in this field was the establishment of an American branch of Penguin Books, a series of paper-bound books, including new titles and reprints, which in recent years has been enormously successful in England. The volumes are priced at 6d. in England and 25 cents in America. Still another line of 25-cent paper-bound fiction, Red Arrow Books, was established during the year; and there was a marked increase in activity in established pamphlet lines. On the other hand, Modern Age Books, which experimented in published new books bound in paper and priced at less than $1, curtailed this part of its business and announced that in the future its main activity would be the publication of cloth-bound books at regular trade prices. The established reprint lines of cloth-bound books were extremely active during the year.

Litigation over Department Store Book Clubs.

Other developments in the book trade during 1939 were not spectacular. Outstanding in 1938, it will be remembered, were problems arising from the establishment of department store book clubs and the opposition of retail booksellers and publishers to these clubs. In the review of 1938 it appeared that the problems were not all solved, and this proved to be the case. In order to test whether or not the granting of discounts and rebates to customers by department store book clubs violated the Fair Trade Law of New York, certain publishers and retail booksellers brought suit against R. H. Macy & Co., alleging that the store's Red Star Book Club did violate the Fair Trade Laws. In its answer, the store contended that the Fair Trade Law does not apply to copyrighted books and that its method of doing business does not violate existing price maintenance agreements. In addition, Macy's set up a counter suit against the plaintiffs and against the Book Publishers' Bureau and the American Booksellers' Association and their officers, alleging a conspiracy, directed against Macy's, between publishers and booksellers in violation of Federal and State Anti-Trust Acts. There, for the moment, the matter has rested, as neither the suit nor counter-suit came up for trial during 1939. The outcome will be important for the book trade.