Since this is a guide to book publishing, not to book publishers, either British or others, it has substantial relevance for Indian authors and publishers. In spite of differences, includ-ing differences of scale, technique, and levels of development, material and moral, it is surprising how similar are situations and problems in the two countries, and perhaps else¬where also.
Nevertheless, if this book had been written in India, there would, I am sure, have been a substantially different attitude and approach. The emphasis would have been on the alleged widespread unscrupulousness and almost universal inefficiency of Indian publishers and on how they should be firmly handled. Even from a British author one would have expected a whole armoury of barbed shafts to be loosed against the tribe of Barabbas (who was said by Thomas Campbell to be a publisher). The statements one occasionally reads in the London Bookseller, made by and on behalf of authors, are often quite as sharp as anything we have in India. Surprisingly, therefore, for a book highly recommended (even though not fully endorsed) by the Society of Authors of Britain, this one leans far to be fair to publishers. It is sweet reasonableness all through, and much of the book is devoted to explaining publishers’ problems.