Thanks everyone for the suggestions - I have a few leads now, so fingers crossed we'll find some more information.
Thanks again,
Caroline
From: Gale, Caroline
Sent: Thursday 16 April 2009 10:17
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Farming books, reviews, publishing and author info - help needed!
**Apologies for cross-posting**
Dear colleagues,
We've been struggling with this request, so any ideas would be gratefully received!
One of our academics is currently researching some obscure writers of farming books, mostly published in the 1940s and 1950s. He was wondering if there are any sources of biographical information on more obscure writers, other than individual websites etc.? The writers aren't well known enough to be in Who's Who or the ODNB for example.
He was hoping to find out how long some of the books remained in print and how many copies were sold: we can't find any sources of information for this, beyond contacting individual publishers and hoping that they've kept records. Worldcat is the nearest thing we've found in terms of how long a book was in print for - does anyone have any other ideas?
Also, he wondered if there are any databases that cite reviews of non-academic books published in the 1940s and 1950s? We don't subscribe to any of the agricultural databases here, so if anyone who does could give me an idea about whether these items are covered, I'd be very grateful. An example he gives is 'The Farming Ladder' by George Henderson, published in 1944. I've found newspaper reviews via the Times Digital Archive, but that's very limited.
Many thanks,
Caroline
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Caroline Gale BA(Hons) MA MCLIP
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