Query about print runs etc.
Hi
Finn,
The
good people on the SHARP-list would be able to give you the best answer. I agree
with Peter S. that entering the world print runs and sales--especially
sales--means one enters into muddy waters, as sometimes it is in the publisher's
interest to misrepresent the figures. I'm not aware of any central resource,
though in the pre-Internet days of the 20C you had such things as Books in
Print, with information about current publications for book sellers. For earlier
periods, a good starting point (for a good, dry read) is Simon Eliot,
Some Patterns and Trends in British Publishing, 1800-1919 (Occasional
Papers of the Bibliographical Society 8, 1994). Also, individual author
bibliographies sometimes have information about print runs.
Wim
From: The list of the
European Society for Textual Scholarship and the Society for Textual Scholarship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fordham
Finn
Sent: 30 November 2007 14:21
To:
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Subject: Query about print runs
etc.
Dear List,
Is anyone aware of how one finds out about
print runs and sales? Is there a resource that has centralised
information on this for books since, say, 1800?
Is this more a
book history question than a question of textual scholarship? If so, should I
go ask another List?
Thanks in advance.
Finn
Fordham
-----
Dr Finn Fordham
Lecturer in English
Studies
School of English Studies
University of Nottingham
University
Boulevard
Nottingham NG7 2RD
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