Exhibition Of 100,000 Books

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30468, 16 June 1964, Page 15

Exhibition Of 100,000 Books

(Special Crspdt. NZPA) LONDON, June 15. “The greatest display. of books ever put on exhibition,'” is the claim being made for the World Book Fair, opened in London by the Queen last week. There are more than 100,000 of them on 200 stands from 20 countries. The fair has been organised by the booksellers’ association and the publishers’ association. as joint sponsors, at Earl’s Court. In addition to books, authors are also on display—giving lectures at hourly intervals every day until the fair ends next Saturday. They include Sir Julian

Huxley, Lord David Cecil, time has Increased from 247 m Laurens van der Post, Thor a yea - to 460 m. Heyerdahl, John Braine, New titles put out by pubLeonard Cottrell, Sir Learie lishers last year totalled just Constantine, John Betjeman, over 26,000 compared with and Spike Milligan, as well as nearly 9000 a year before the members of Parliament. war, and the wholesale value One of the reasons for the of books sold was £Bsm or fair is “to attract by visual about eight times as much as appeal a public to whom at in the 19305. present books mean little or More non-fiction books are nothing." According to Mr being read today, and the Philip Unwin, chairman of most popular subjects are histhe fair, the Englishman re- tory, politics, art, cookery, mains a reluctant book buyer, sociology and music. There “He spends barely £1 a year has been a big increase in the on books—a miserable figure Mie of paper-backs, now beby comparison with his ex- in? produced by 150 firms penditure on drink, tobacco compared with 17 10 years or sweets,” Mr Unwin has ago. lamented Some authors do well. But But if the Englishman according to the society of spends little on books, he cer- authors, which made a survey tainly reads them. Today 60? members.. 40 per cent there <re more than 40,000 earn less than £5 a week. An public libraries in Britain author is lucky if he makes compared with 18,000 in 1939 “”®, on a flrst " OV ? L The issue of books in that This is one of the reasons

why the society is continuing its campaign for libraries to •pay a penny a book rental fee. So far the idea has had no support in Parliament. It is strongly backed, however, by Sir Alan Herbert. He has said: “My two most popular books kept in stock by my local library were borrowed about 3600 times tn 20 years, but yielded in royalties about 3s a year.” In addition to the latest books, some “literary treasures” are on show at the World Fair. They include an English thirteenth-century psalter, priced at £7500, a book from Queen Elizabeth's personal library bearing the arms of Anne Boleyn, a first edition of Omar Khayyam and the manuscript of the first novel written on the American continent by Mrs Frances Brooke in the eighteenth century.