I still haven't had time to read this diligently (I have had decorators in and am writing amid paint-pots and ladders and deranged furniture :) ) but a careful examination of of its last page (Appendix 14: a snapshot of poetry title sales showing figures for all time sales) would seem to suggest that something has been wanting in the editor-writer relationship of this particular work. A proviso in the form of a note at the foot of the appendage suggests that the list and figures were obtained en bloc from Nielsen's but it might have helped if someone had cared to look through the material: some entries are very obviously doubled (such as entries 43 and 44 or, too, 47 and 48) while I have a distinct suspicion that some of the 'all-time sales' figures are for a particular printing, such as that of 21, 029 for 'The Waste Land by Eliot, T.S '. Really? Since 1922?? I did like the attribution of Tales from Ovid to the brothers 'Hughes, Ted & Ovid' though. While even a quick glance at the listings for Events (page 49) or Magazines (34-5) is enough to raise serious doubts about the care and attention given to parts of this survey. A simple visit to such a well-worn site as The Poetry Kit would have improved the writers' apparent lack of knowledge in these areas.
Whether this apparent lack of competence is actual, or rather the insouciance of a kind of propaganda, is a matter that requires a more
thorough reading of the piece.

Best

Dave

--
David Joseph Bircumshaw
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