Publishing

a branch of culture and production that involves the preparation, production, and distribution of books, magazines, newspapers, and graphic material. The level, scope, and orientation of publishing are determined by the material, sociopolitical, and cultural conditions of a society.

Book publishing existed for many centuries before the appearance of printing. As a means of expression of social consciousness, the manuscript book influenced the development and formation of ideas and knowledge; however, its sphere of influence was extremely limited. J. Gutenberg’s invention of the European method of printing (mid-15th century) opened up a new era in the history of books; the printed word became an important factor in social development.

The publishing house emerged as an enterprise for the production of printed matter in Europe in the 16th century. The genesis of publishing houses was integrally associated with the formation of capitalism. Printer-publishers emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries as a result of the expansion of printing houses, an increase in their output, the necessity for technical and especially financial provisions for production (given the lengthy cycle of publication for an individual book), and the need to organize the sale of books. The publishing activity of Aldo Manuzio (Venice) and C. Plantin (Antwerp), along with the families of Elsevier (the Netherlands) and Etienne and Didot (France), was of great significance. Publishers who did not have their own presses and gave the books they published to commercial firms appeared in the 18th century.

The development of publishing encountered considerable difficulties because of the hostile attitude of the feudal and church authorities toward the printing and distribution of secular books, which were a weapon of the bourgeoisie in the struggle against the feudal and clerical system. Publishing was contingent upon special permission; books, journals, and newspapers were subject to strict censorship. Taxes and duties were imposed upon publishing houses; they were punished by fines and shut down, and the owners of publishing enterprises and printing houses were brought to trial and given harsh sentences.

The victory of the bourgeois social system over feudalism in a number of European countries facilitated the development of publishing. From the 18th through the mid-19th century, the process of forming publishing houses and their quantitative growth in all countries proceeded with increasing rapidity. The functions and structure of publishing houses became considerably more complex. Editorial, bibliographical and informational, and advertising activity developed, as well as bookselling (in the “publishers’” book trade). In publishing generally, and in book production in particular, machine technology was rapidly introduced. The invention of machinery for paper manufacture in the late 18th century expanded and considerably improved paper production and made it cheaper; the appearance of the cylinder press in the early 19th century, as well as the invention of other typographic machines, considerably expanded the potential of typography. The process of specialization of publishing and typographic enterprises in the publishing business began in the mid-19th century, with the emergence of a new, strong technical base. As the period of monopoly capitalism began (the late 19th to early 20th century), there was massive organization of publishing houses on the model of joint-stock companies, and thereafter book and newspaper-magazine publishing houses were organized into trusts.

Publishing has always had a clearly expressed class character. In capitalist society, publishing houses are primarily privately owned; state and cooperative publishing houses and private publishing firms are dependent on the ruling classes. In Soviet society, publishing is public in nature; it is conducted in accordance with the interests of the country and the people. In other socialist countries, state or public publishing houses are predominant.

Publishing houses are divided into book, book-magazine, and newspaper-magazine types, depending on their products. The nature of the publishing house is determined by the intended readership—scientific, popular, children, or youth; the subject matter of the publications determines the type of the publishing house—general-purpose or specialized. In the USSR and other socialist countries, specialized publishing predominates; publishing houses in the capitalist countries are usually general-purpose.

Russia. The production of books intended for distribution was known in Rus’ as early as the turn of the 11th century. Books were copied by special scribes in monasteries and at princes’ courts and by professional artisans in the cities. In the 15th to the mid-16th century, the book business expanded in conjunction with the formation of the centralized Russian state, the development of handicrafts and trade, and the growth of cities and development of urban culture. Multivolume manuscript works, general Russian annals, and many other works appeared. In 1551, at the Stoglav (Hundred Chapters) Council, Ivan IV declared: “Scribes write from inaccurate translations, and having written, do not correct them … and in God’s churches people read, sing, and write from these books.” Printing was able to facilitate the establishment of uniformity in church books.

The first printed Slavic books using Cyrillic characters were published by Szwajpolt Fiol in Kraków at the end of the 15th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, the first Byelorussian printer, Frantsisk Skorin, organized book printing in Slavonic in Wilno (Vilnius).

In Muscovite Rus’, book printing began in the mid-16th century. The first dated Russian printed book, Books of the Apostles (1563–64), was published by Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets in the tsar’s printing house, the Moscow Printing Court, which they directed. The study of seven anonymous publications discovered subsequently gives ground to conjecture that book publishing began in Moscow even before the Books of the Apostles appeared. In Muscovite Rus’, typographical book production replaced manuscript production very slowly. A manuscript tradition continued for many decades, and in certain branches of literature, for centuries. Until the early 18th century, publishing was concentrated primarily in Moscow. In the 17th century, the production of printed books increased; in addition to religious literature, books of scientific and educational content began to appear. Andronik Nevezha and his son Ivan Nevezhin, Anisim Radishevskii, Anikita Fofanov, Osip Kirillov, Kondrat Ivanov, and the “scrivener of the alphabet,” Vasilii Burtsov-Protopopov, were skilled masters of printing. The poetic and dramatic experiments of Simeon Polotskii and the primers of Karion Istomin stand out among works of secular content.

A great upsurge in Russian publishing came at the beginning of the 18th century in connection with the reforms of Peter I. New printing houses were established in St. Petersburg and Moscow; they produced publications serving the purposes of the government and affirming the Petrine reforms in the areas of economics, the estate system, education, and daily life. The first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti, began to appear regularly in January 1703 in accordance with a ukase of Peter I (Dec. 16,1702). The introduction of the Civil typeface to replace the Cyrillic was of paramount importance. The first book printed in the new script, Geometria slovenski zemlemerie, was produced in 1708; the typeface was officially approved on Jan. 29,1710. About 650 original and translated books, legislative documents, and books on navigation, military and naval affairs, history, geography, and literature, as well as textbooks, were published under Peter I.

In the mid-18th century, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences became a center of publishing activity. The academy’s press introduced a new type design (approximating the modern fine- and heavy-lined types). The academy published works by M.V. Lomonosov, L. Euler, and S.P. Krasheninnikov, literary works by Russian writers, the first etymological dictionary of Russian, and translations of the classics. Fiction and scientific literature were also published by the press of Moscow University, which was formed in 1756. The Assembly for an Attempt at Translation of Foreign Books Into Russian, established in 1768, published 112 works in 173 volumes during the 15 years of its existence, acquainting Russian readers with the best works in world literature, including the works of the French thinkers of the 18th century.

In the second half of the 18th century, publishing ceased to be the monopoly of governmental institutions. According to the ukase On Free Printing Presses (1783), private citizens were permitted to engage in publishing. The number of books issued increased, and their subject matter became more diversified. Presses were opened in 15 provincial centers (237 books were published in the provinces during the 18th century). During this period, interesting publications were produced by the presses of Kiev, L’vov, Chernigov, and other cities of the Ukraine; civil printing became established there. Publishing was developed to varying degrees and in various forms in Byelorussia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Armenia, and Georgia.

A special place in Russian publishing of the second half of the 18th century belongs to N.I. Novikov. During the 26 years of his enlightening publishing career, he put out about 1,000 publications on the most varied spheres of knowledge. Novikov’s activity was so significant that among his contemporaries the years 1779–89 came to be called the Novikov Decade. However, Catherine II, frightened by the revolutionary events in Europe, peasant disturbances, and the increasing opposition of the dvorianstvo (nobility) in Russia, shortly thereafter took harshly repressive measures against progressive writers and publishers. In April 1792, Novikov was arrested and imprisoned in Shlissel’burg fortress. In 1796, a ukase closing free printing plants was promulgated and strict censorship was introduced. The number of books and journals published declined sharply: in 1797, only 175 books were published. In all, more than 9,500 titles were published in the 18th century.

The history of Russian publishing of the 19th century was closely tied to social movements and the formation of capitalist relations in Russia. At the beginning of the century the technology of printing developed, paper production increased, and the quality of paper improved. In 1802, prior censorship was replaced by successive censorship (that is, censorship after the appearance of the printed product), and in 1804 the first censorship statute was adopted. The importance of private presses began to increase in the first years of the 19th century in conjunction with the authorization to open free presses. Nobles who patronized the arts engaged in book publishing, but the main role in publishing gradually shifted to printers and booksellers. In the 1820’s there were 26 printing houses in St. Petersburg, half of which were privately owned. Of the total number of books published in the Russian language in Russia during the early 19th century, more than three-quarters were printed in St. Petersburg and Moscow (in approximately equal proportions). Publishers and booksellers acquired their own presses. The most prominent of these individuals were V.A. Plavil’shchikov, N.S. Vsevolozhskii, S.I. Selivanovskii, I.V. Slenin, A.P. Pliushar (who had no trade), and the Glazunovs.

The hard times that followed the suppression of the Decembrists’ uprising of 1825 affected progressive Russian book publishing. The very harsh censorship statutes of 1826 and 1828 hindered the development of the printed word in Russia. The tsarist government redoubled persecution of progressive publishers as a result of the revolutionary events of 1848 in Western Europe and the growth of opposition sentiment among the advanced Russian intelligentsia; the “seven years of gloom” (1848–55) began with the formation of the so-called Buturlin Committee on Press Affairs. The creation of a free, uncensored press as a weapon in the struggle against serfdom and tsarism was a vital necessity for the Russian revolutionary movement. In 1853, A.I. Herzen founded the Free Russian Printing House in London, initiating the uncensored Russian press abroad. Her-zen’s cause was taken up in Russia by the revolutionary democrats. At that time, legal publishing houses were taking increasingly distinct shape as an independent branch of production; the relationship between publishers and authors changed, royalties were introduced, and the bases of copyright were laid down.

In the hands of bourgeois publishing merchants, literature became a source of profit. Publishing merchants viewed a book as a commodity and were reluctant to undertake publication of works by contemporary authors, many of whom were forced to publish their works at their own expense. The publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin played a special role in the development of Russian publishing; V.G. Belinskii named an entire period in the history of Russian literature after him. Smirdin published, generously and unselfishly, works by A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, I.A. Krylov, V.A. Zhukovskii, and many other Russian writers. New publishing firms emerged, among them those of F.I. Salaev, Ia. A. Isakov, and the Bazunovs.

Russia’s embarkation upon the capitalist path of development after the abolition of serfdom (1861) entailed the growth of publishing and typographic production. Large-scale capitalist publishing firms appeared, the number of printing houses grew rapidly, their equipment became more advanced, and the number of books published increased substantially. Whereas 2,085 nonperiodical publications were issued in 1860, in 1880 the number was 10,562, a considerable portion of which was intended to serve trade and industry. In addition to the general-purpose firms, publishing firms producing specialized publications also emerged and developed. The most characteristic representative of the new publishing bourgeoisie was M.O. Vol’f. The publishing activity of A.F. Devrien and K.L. Rikker attained large proportions, Many old publishing firms-among them the Glazunovs’, Ia. A. Isakov’s, and F.I. Salaev’s-also considerably expanded their activity.

In addition to the professionals, patrons of the arts among the bourgeoisie also engaged in publishing. The publishing career of K.T. Soldatenkov spanned 50 years. N.A. Nekrasov actively developed magazine publishing. The subject matter of published books changed sharply in conjunction with the appearance of an intelligentsia from the milieu of the raznochintsy (intellectuals of no definite class) and with the activity of revolutionary democrats. Despite the oppression of censorship, sociopolitical and economic literature became more widespread. J. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (annotated by N.G. Chernyshevskii), as well as various works by Chernyshevskii, N.A. Dobroliubov, F. Lassalle, and V.V. Bervi-Flerovskii, were published. In 1872, N.P. Poliakov’s publishing house put out the first volume of Marx’ Das Kapital (translation by G.A. Lopatin and N.F. Daniel’son). The book publishing of F.F. Pavlenkov played a particularly large role in the dissemination of revolutionary ideas. Pavlenkov published more than 600 titles, including works by D.I. Pisarev and The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Engels.

In the mid-1880’s, Russia moved into third place in book production, outstripping such countries as Great Britain and the USA. In 1890, 8,636 titles were published in Russia, 18,875 in Germany, 13,643 in France, 5,735 in Great Britain, and 4,559 in the USA.

At the end of the 19th century many new publishing firms emerged, printing grew considerably, and the book trade achieved broader scope. In addition to the old publishing firms, book publishing and bookselling were expanded by the major firms of A.S. Suvorin, A.F. Marks, and I.D. Sytin and the publishing house of P.P. Soikin.

At the turn of the 20th century, literature of religious content—moral admonitions, calendars, hymn books, and “oracles”—held first place in terms of number of titles and number of copies printed. The government and church spent enormous sums on the publication of this literature; in the last 15 years of the 19th century alone, editions of this literature increased by a factor of 6. In 1901 the average edition of religious publications was more than eight times that of natural-science, technical, and agricultural books. Second place belonged to the so-called popular fiction, which was at a low artistic level. Literacy committees, the zemstvos (local self-government), private circles, and various individuals published books “for the people.” In addition to purely commercial enterprises, cultural-educational publishing houses appeared, changing the character and status of mass books for the people. Thus, during its years of activity, the Posrednik Publishing House put out more than 1,000 titles (literature, books on history, medicine, agriculture, and other branches of knowledge). Under the influence of Posrednik, inexpensive editions of the classics of Russian literature, calendars, and other literature for a wide sphere of readers was published by Sytin. A.F. Marks published collections of the works of many Russian and foreign authors as appendixes to the journal Niva.

The late 19th century was marked by the publication of classic works of natural science; research in the social sciences, history, and geography; studies of the workers’ movement; literature on technology and public education; and multivolume universal encyclopedias (for example, the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary). The one-volume Pavlenkov Encyclopedic Dictionary became known throughout the world. The Znanie Publishing House, which was founded in the 1890’s and brought together realist writers (with the assistance of M. Gorky), played an important role. Despite the censor’s regime, the publication of sociopolitical Marxist literature increased. Various works of V.I. Lenin, such as The Development of Capitalism in Russia (the publishing house of M.N. Vodovozova, 1899), were published legally, as were works by Marx, Engels, and G.V. Plekhanov. In 1896, with the issue of the third volume, publication of Marx’ Das Kapital was completed (the second volume was published in 1885). However, most Marxist literature and literature on the revolutionary movement was published illegally or outside of Russia during this period.

The first Russian Revolution, 1905–07, strongly influenced the development of publishing. The revolution forced tsarism to make concessions—to proclaim civil liberties, including freedom of the press. During the revolution, more than 350 new publishing houses appeared, of which about 60 engaged in the publication of Social Democratic literature. The activity of such major publishers as L.F. Panteleev, O.N. Popova, the Sabishnikov brothers, and the Granat brothers expanded.

In early 1906 the Bolshevik Vpered Publishing House was established in St. Petersburg. In less than 18 months (it was smashed by the police in the summer of 1907) it published several dozen works devoted to topical questions of the revolution, including more than 30 works by V.I. Lenin. The influence of the Bolsheviks extended to a number of private publishing houses used by the party to publish Social Democratic literature (Znanie, O.N. Popova’s Molot, E.D. Miagkov’s Kolokol, the Baku Publishing Association, and the Donskaia Rech’ Publishing House of N.E. Paramonov in Rostov-on-Don). The Mariia Malykh Publishing House contributed greatly to the publication of Marxist literature. The total printing of Social Democratic publications during 1905–07 was 26 million copies. Various works of Marx and Engels were published about 160 times; the Communist Manifesto was published 17 times. Many works of V.I. Lenin that were published in Bolshevik newspapers abroad were reprinted by local party organizations and distributed widely. The legal mass political pamphlet was a completely new phenomenon in the Russian book market: “Millions of inexpensive publications on political subjects were read by the people, the masses, the crowd, the ‘lower ranks, ’ as avidly as no one had ever read in Russia until then” (V. I. Lenin, Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 22, p. 83). The total number of political and economic pamphlets published in 1905–07 was 200 million to 220 million copies.

During this period, the bourgeois political parties organized their own publishing houses. During the reaction (1907–10), progressive publishing houses were smashed. Rapid growth in book publishing was replaced by a decline in the output of books.

There was a perceptible revitalization of publishing in connection with the new upsurge in the revolutionary movement during 1910–14. The Bolshevik Priboi Publishing House was established in 1913. Despite persecution by the police and censors, the publishing house (shut down in late 1914) produced a number of books on sociopolitical and party questions and on questions of the trade union movement. The Priboi Publishing House resumed activity in 1917. Before World War I (1914–18), the Bolsheviks were able to establish a few other legal publishing houses. On May 5,1912, the first issue of the newspaper Pravda was published.

In 1913, 30,079 titles were published; Russia occupied second place after Germany (35,078), leaving such countries as Great Britain (12,379), the USA, (12,230), and France (10,758) far behind. The number of publishing firms, individual publishers, and states and social institutions engaged in publishing grew considerably. However, the large old publishing firms, in whose hands the book trade and the large printing houses were concentrated, continued to play the leading role. The process of concentration in the printing industry, publishing, and bookselling gained momentum.

Publishing contracted sharply during World War I (1914–18). In 1916, only 18,174 titles were published in Russia.

Pre-Revolutionary book publishing was concentrated mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Publishing also assumed substantial proportions in Kiev, Odessa, Baku, Kazan, Minsk, Poltava, Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Tbilisi, Kharkov, and Nizhny Novgorod. More than 90 percent of the books were published in Russian; books in other languages of the peoples of the Russian Empire and in foreign languages accounted for 9.1 percent of the titles and 7.5 percent of the number of copies in 1913.

Soviet Union. The Great October Socialist Revolution, which transferred the material and technical basis of publishing—presses, paper mills, type founding, ink works, and other printing enterprises—to the state, established conditions for the successful development of publishing that were unprecedented in world practice. Freedom of the press, which had been formal and illusory under capitalism, became real, actual freedom of the press for the toiling masses. The socialist revolution gave rise to a type of publishing enterprise that was new in principle. As early as 1905, V.I. Lenin said of this type of enterprise: “Publishing and distributing centers, bookshops and reading rooms, libraries and similar establishments—must all be under party control. The organized socialist proletariat must keep an eye on all this work, supervise it in its entirety, and, from beginning to end, without any exception, infuse into it the life-stream of the living proletarian cause …” (ibid., vol. 12, pp. 101–02). Lenin’s ideas and practical activity determined the path of development of the country’s press and book business for many years. His instructions concerning questions of the partiinost’ (party spirit) of the press and literature were thoroughly embodied in the activity of Soviet publishing houses. The Leninist idea of party spirit constitutes the main distinctive feature of Soviet publishing. The principle of narodnost’ (popular spirit), according to which Soviet publishing houses publish at moderate prices books that on the one hand reflect the needs of the people and on the other reflect the requirements for the construction of a new society, is closely associated with the principle of partiinost’. The paramount principles of Soviet publishing are internationalism and multinationalism.

Lenin’s Decree on the Press, promulgated on Oct. 28 (Nov. 10), 1917, was one of the most important documents of the revolution. From their very first steps, the Communist Party and the Soviet government adopted a number of measures aimed at the formation and organization of Soviet publishing. At the end of 1917, publishing sections of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the Petrograd and Moscow soviets were organized. On Dec. 29, 1917 (Jan. 11, 1918), the Decree of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) on State Publishing was adopted. This decree ordered the People’s Commissariat of Education immediately to begin extensive publishing activity—first of all, the publication of inexpensive editions of Russian classical literature and popular textbooks. Under the extremely difficult conditions of the Civil War and military intervention of 1918–20, the publishing sections of the All-Russian CEC and the soviets, as well as the Literary and Publishing Section of the People’s Commissariat of Education, published more than 500 titles. The publishing work of military organs was substantial: they published newspapers, posters, leaflets, magazines, and books for the fighting men of the Red Army. In 1918 the Priboi, Zhizn’ i Znanie, and Volna publishing houses merged into the first major Soviet party publishing houses, Kommunist (Moscow). The Vsemirnaia Literatura Publishing House was established in 1918 on the initiative of M. Gorky. It set about realizing a plan to publish a library of classics of world literature. During the first years after the revolution, there were about 3,000 book publishers in the country, including hundreds of private bourgeois publishing houses. An acute political struggle between bourgeois and Soviet publishing took place. Most bourgeois publishing houses were hostile to the new system and were shut down; certain publishing houses (including Sytin, the Sabash-nikov brothers, and Granat), which maintained an attitude of loyalty to Soviet power, remained in existence for a considerable length of time.

On May 21, 1919, the All-Russian CEC ratified the statute On State Publishing. Two tasks were placed before Gosizdat (the State Publishing House): the regulation of publishing activity in the country and the issuance of its own publications. V V. Vorovskii was the first director of Gosizdat; he was followed by N.L. Meshcheriakov, O. Iu. Shmidt, G.I. Broido, and A.B. Khalatov. Between 1920 and 1926, Gosizdat published the first edition of the Collected Works of V.I. Lenin in 20 volumes (simultaneous second and third editions were published from 1925 to 1932); publication of the works of Marx and Engels and of G.V. Plekhanov was begun, and popular scientific literature and textbooks were published; selected works of the classics of Russian literature appeared in the Narodnaia Biblioteka (Popular Library) series. New Soviet publishers, numerous publishing sections of the people’s commissariat, departments, and province executive committees published printed materials on a huge scale and distributed them free of charge through Tsentropechat’.

After the end of the Civil War and the elimination of military intervention, all publishing work was reorganized in accordance with the new economic policy. By a resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars of Nov. 28, 1921, payment for publications was reinstituted and the book trade introduced. Publishing and printing enterprises shifted to operation on the basis of profit-and-loss accounting. The resolution of the Eleventh Party Congress (1922) posed the task of organizing the production of militant agitation and propaganda literature, the classic works of Marxism, Marxist textbooks, and literature for worker and peasant youth. During this period, the foundations were laid for specialized publishing houses: new state, party, and cooperative publishing houses were established, in particular the publishers Krasnaia Nov’ and Moskovskii Rabochii, which published massagitation literature, the Zemlia i Fabrika and Nedra literary publishing houses, the Rabotnik Prosveshcheniia Publishing House for pedagogical literature, and the Molodaia Gvardiia Publishing House for young people’s literature. Publication of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was begun in 1926. To aid the national republics and oblasts, book publishing in the languages of the peoples of the USSR was organized in Moscow. Until 1924, this task had been fulfilled by the Zapadnoe and Vo-stochnoe publishing houses of the People’s Commissariat for Nationality Affairs; in 1924, Tsentroizdat—the Central Publishing House of the Peoples of the USSR—was established on the basis of these publishing houses.

The production of publishing houses reached the prewar level in 1925. In 1927, the prewar level was exceeded by 26 percent in terms of titles and 157 percent in terms of number of copies.

The socialist industrialization of the country and the collectivization of agriculture in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s required further concentration of publishing houses and intensification of their specialization. The decree of the Central Committee of the ACP(B) of Dec. 28, 1928, On Supplying the Popular Reader with Books was important to the development of publishing. It pointed to the need for striving to make mass literature an instrument for the mobilization of the people around the basic political and economic tasks. Carrying out the instructions of the party, Soviet publishing houses increased the total number of books printed from 270 million copies in 1928 to 867 million in 1930. According to the resolution of the Central Committee of the ACP(B) On the Work of Gosizdat of the RSFSR and on the Unification of Publishing (July 1930), the Association of State Book and Magazine Publishing Houses of the RSFSR—OGIZ of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR—was formed from Gosizdat through its merger with previously established publishing houses. The publishing houses that made up OGIZ, with the corresponding editorial staffs of Gosizdat, formed large-scale standardized publishing houses (Masspartgiz, Gostekhizdat, Sel’kolkhozgiz, Uchpedgiz, GIKhL, Izogiz, Muzgiz, and others). The bookselling association KOGIZ and the Poligrafkniga and Poligraf trusts were established under OGIZ; a number of higher educational institutions and special secondary schools, as well as a research institute, were opened.

The Aug. 15, 1931, the decree of the Central Committee of the ACP(B) On Publishing Work required that the publishing of political and technical literature be given special status. Accordingly, Masspartgiz (from which Partizdat was established) and Gostekhizdat were detached from OGIZ. Great strides were made in the publication of books in the languages of the peoples of the USSR: 33.7 percent of the titles published in 1930 were in the national languages. Publication of national books was concentrated directly in the republics and national oblasts.

During the 1930’s, new publishing houses were formed and established publishing houses were reorganized, strengthened, and transferred to the people’s commissariat; publishing houses considerably raised the ideological and political level and the scientific level of their publications and improved their design and typography. Sociopolitical literature was widely disseminated. The output of literature on all other branches of knowledge was increased. During the ten years before the war, the average annual production of books in the USSR was 44,000 titles—much higher than the level of book production of a number of developed capitalist countries.

The Great Patriotic War (1941–45) required publishing houses to carry out a fundamental restructuring of all their work in conformity with the needs of the front and rear. Books written and published during the war propagated the just nature of the war of the Soviet Union and mobilized the efforts of the nation to repulse the enemy. In terms of subject matter, military books were foremost among the publications of 1941–45 (40 percent of the book production of the country); political books were exceptionally important. Literature played a large role in patriotic education. During the war years, about 1.7 billion copies of books were published, including more than 216 million copies of sociopolitical publications, 82.7 million copies of scientific literature, and 273.4 million copies of fiction and children’s literature.

After the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War, a new period in Soviet publishing began under difficult conditions. It was necessary to build up, anew or virtually anew and in the shortest possible time, the book supply of the republics and oblasts that had been subjected to temporary occupation and had been pillaged or destroyed by the fascist invaders and to reestablish the material and technical basis of publishing as quickly as possible. In 1940 the Soviet Union published 45,830 titles, with total editions of 462 million copies; in 1945, 18,353 titles, with total editions of 298 million copies. To attain the prewar level,

publishing houses had to increase their output of books by a factor of 2.5 in terms of titles and by a factor of more than 1.5 in terms of numbers of copies produced. The Central Committee of the party and the Soviet government adopted drastic measures to reestablish and further develop publishing in the country. In July 1945, the Central Committee adopted the resolution On the Typographic Design of Books, which was important for the development of the general culture of publishing and typographic production. In October 1946 the Central Committee of the ACP(B) adopted the decree On the Work of OGIZ of the RSFSR, which established measures to increase the output of books and increased the quality of book production; OGIZ was transformed into a Union body. At various times, OGIZ was headed by A.B. Khalatov, P.F. Iudin, and L.P. Grachev.,

In February 1949 the decree On the Formation of the Central Administration of Affairs of the Printing Industry, Publishing Houses, and the Book Trade under the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted. The administration, Glavpoligrafizdat, was formed on the basis of OGIZ, which was dissolved. Subsequently, a number of changes were made in the system of management of publishing houses.

In the late 1940’s and 1950’s, the Central Committee of the party adopted a number of important resolutions aimed at raising the ideological, scientific, and artistic level, as well as improving the typography, of published literature. In 1963, proceeding from the need to improve the work of publishing houses, printing enterprises, and the book trade, the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted a decree on the improvement of publishing in the country. The Committee on the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR was formed (since August 1972 it has been called the State Committee of the Council of the Ministers of the USSR for Publishing, Printing, and the Book Trade). Republic-wide committees of the Union republics were established in the respective republics; in the autonomous republics, krais, and oblasts, administrations dealing with the press were established under the auspices of the councils of ministers of the autonomous republics and the executive committees of krai and oblast soviets.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, new publishing houses were established, the network of publishing houses reexamined, and redundant or small publishing houses eliminated. The most significant publications of that period included the second edition of the Works of Marx and Engels, the Complete Collected Works of V.I. Lenin (5th ed.), thematic collections of Lenin’s works, memoirs, and scientific research literature about Lenin; the new text History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the History of the CPSU in six volumes, and the World History in ten volumes; the series War Memoirs; and collections of works of native and foreign authors. The 200-volume edition of Library of World Literature, publication of which began in 1967, occupies a special place; the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was completed and publication of the third edition was begun, a number of specialized encyclopedias and encyclopedic dictionaries were issued, and the publication of encyclopedias in the Union republics began. Production of textbooks, children’s literature, natural-science and technical literature, and translated publications in all areas of literature developed rapidly. The artistic design and typography of books improved substantially, as evidenced by the numerous awards conferred on the books of Soviet publishing houses at international book expositions and competitions. Leaders of major publishing houses, among them A.I. Nazarov, A.K. Kotov, A.V. Morozov, K.F. Piskunov, A.I. Revin, G.F. Rybkin, M.A. Sivolobov, N.V. Lesiuchevskii, V.P. Adrianova, V.I. Maevskii, N. Kh. Eselev, and L.V. Popov came to the fore during the postwar years.

The postwar years were marked by outstanding achievements by publishing houses in all the Union republics (see Table 1).

Underlying the organization of present-day Soviet publishing is the principle of the most efficient use of all the publishing resources of the country. The central book publishers and publishing houses of the republics are standardized with respect to subject matter and purpose. Newspaper and magazine publishing has developed extensively, along with book publishing.

In 1971,233 publishing houses were operating in the USSR, including 179 publishers in the system of the Committee on the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (central publishers and publishers of the republics, autonomous republics, krais, and oblasts); publishing houses of public organizations, ministries, and departments (16 central publishing houses and 15 in the Union republics); and publishing houses under dual jurisdiction (see Table 2).

In addition to publishing houses per se, various editorial and publishing divisions of research institutions, large libraries, and higher educational institutions engage in publishing activity. In 1971 there were about 4,000 such organizations; they produced 40,067 books and pamphlets (46.9 percent of the total output), with total editions of more than 82 million copies (5.2 percent) and a total volume of more than 344 million printer’s sheets (2.1 percent). This literature is of diverse subject matter, but most of it is made up of scientific and informational publications.

Between 1918 and 1971 more than 2.4 million books and pamphlets, with total editions of more than 38 billion copies, were published in the Soviet Union. A daily average of 4.3 million copies of books and pamphlets was published in 1971. There were 6.45 books and pamphlets per capita. Books and pamphlets were published in 65 languages of the peoples of the USSR and 42 languages of the peoples of foreign countries; book material was translated from 109 languages into 90 languages.

Soviet publishing houses are distinguished according to type as general-purpose (that is, houses that publish literature on all or many areas of the range of books—for example, Nauka and Progress) and specialized houses; according to subject matter (Iskusstvo, Meditsina, and Stroiizdat); according to audience (Detskaia Literatura and Molodaia Gvardiia); and according to form of publication (Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia and Prosveshchenie).

In addition to maximal satisfaction of the quantitative demand for books, proper subject regulation (choice of subject matter) of the production of literature and assurance of the high quality of publications are major constituents of Soviet publishing (see Table 3).

The material basis of publishing in the USSR is the growing printing industry and the production of paper and printing materials, such as inks, type, binding, pasteboard, and cloths. In the 1950’s and 1960’s more than 100 new enterprises were put into operation, including large printing enterprises: combines for color printing and children’s literature in Kalinin, the Saratov Printing Combine for School Texts, the Chekhov Printing Combine for the Publication of Magazines, and large printing enterprises in Minsk, Kiev, and Yaroslavl. Large operating enterprises in Moscow and Leningrad (including the publishers of the newspapers Pravda and Izvestiia) and in centers of the republics, oblasts, and raions were reconstructed and outfitted with new equipment. In 1971, more than 4,000 printing enterprises were in operation in the USSR.

Publishing specialists are trained in the departments of journalism of the universities, in printing institutes, and in publishing and printing technicums. Research in publishing is conducted by the Scientific Research Department for Publishing of the All-Union Book Chamber in Moscow and by other scientific institutions. The specialized Kniga Publishing House was established in Moscow in 1964. Issues in the history, theory, and practice of publishing are also treated in the collections Books: Research and Materials, the almanac The Art of Books, and the informational collections Publishing: Book Science; statistical materials are published in the yearbook The Press in the USSR in 19—;.

Other socialist countries. After the establishment of the people’s power, other socialist countries, using the experience of the USSR, restructured publishing on the ideological foundations of Marxism-Leninism, nationalized (with few exceptions) private publishing houses, printing houses, paper mills, and bookselling enterprises, and built a planned system of general-purpose and specialized state, party, and public publishing houses. The following data characterize the level of publishing in a number of socialist countries.

BULGARIA. In 1970, 3,799 titles were published in Bulgaria, including 609 books of fiction and 900 books on the applied sciences. The largest state and public publishing houses are the Publishing House of the Bulgarian Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist and political literature), the Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Science and Art, Popular Culture, and Bulgarian Writer.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA. In 1968, 8,103 titles were published in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, including 1,834 on the applied sciences and 1,813 books of fiction. The largest state and public publishing houses are Svoboda (Freedom; Marxist-Leninist and party-political literature), Academía (Academy), Nakladatelství Politické Literatury (Publishing House of Political Literature), Státní Nakladatelství Technické Literatury (State Publishing House of Technical Literature), Lidové Nakladatelství (People’s Publishing House), Vydavatelstvo Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Sciences), and Matica Slovenská (Slovak Cultural Society).

GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. In 1970, 5,234 titles were published in the GDR, including 1,720 books on the social sciences and 968 books of fiction. The largest state and public publishing houses are Dietz-Verlag (Marxist-Leninist and party-political literature), Akadémie-Verlag, Enzyklopädie, Wirtschaft (literature on economics), Technik, Aufbau-Verlag (fiction), and Volk und Wissen (educational literature).

HUNGARY. In 1969, 4,831 titles were published in Hungary, including 1,337 books on the applied sciences and 1,049 books of fiction. The largest state and public publishing houses are Kossuth Könyvkiadó (Kossuth Publishing House; Marxist-Leninist and political literature), Akadémiai Kiadó (Academic Books), Szikra (Spark; party and political literature), Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó (Fiction Publishing House), Corvina (foreign literature), Europa Könyvkiadó (Europe Publishing House; translations of foreign authors), and Új Magyar Könyvkiadó (New Hungarian Publishing House; Soviet literature and Russian classics).

POLAND. In 1970, 10,987 titles were published in Poland, including 3,428 books on the applied sciences, 2,048 books on the social sciences, and 1,453 books of fiction. The largest state and public publishing houses are Książka i Wiedza (Books and Knowledge; Marxist-Leninist and political literature), Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk (Publishing House of the Polish Academy of Sciences), Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (State Scientific Publishing House), Państwowe Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne (State Economics Publishing House), Państwowe Wydawnictwo Techniczne (State Technical Publishing House), Czytelnik (Reader; sociopolitical literature, fiction, and translations of Soviet literature), Państwowy Institut Wydawniczy (State Publishing Institute; humanities and fiction), and Wydawnictwo Literackie (Literary Publishing House; fiction).

RUMANIA. In 1970, 9,405 titles were published in Rumania, including 2,838 books on the applied sciences and 2,257 books on the social sciences. The largest state and public publishing houses are Editura PCR (Publishing House of the Rumanian Communist Party; Marxist-Leninist and party-political literature), Editura Academiei RSR (Publishing House oRepublic of Rumania), Editura Şiicţtifica (Scientific Publishing House), Editura Enciclopedică Romăna (Rumanian Encyclopedia Publishing House), Editura de Stat Pentru Literatură Politică (State Publishing House for Political Literature), Editura Technica (Technical Publishing House), Editura de Stat Pentru Literatură şi Artă (State Publishing House for Literature and Art), and Editura de Stat Pentru Literatură Universală (State Publishing House for World Literature).

YUGOSLAVIA. In 1970, 8,119 titles were published in Yugoslavia, including 3,955 books on the social sciences and 1,808 books of fiction. The largest state and public publishing houses are Sloboda (Freedom), Izdavacki Zavod Jugoslavenske Akademije Znanosti i Umetnosti (Publishing House of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences), Naučna Knjiga (Scientific Books), Kultura (Culture), and Tehnička Knjiga (Technical Books).

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM. In 1969,900 titles, with a total printing of 33 million copies, were produced in the DRV, including 153 books of sociopolitical literature, 72 books of scientific literature, 25 books of children’s literature, and 219 books of fiction. The most important publishing house is the party publishing house Si That (Truth).

CUBA. The Instituto Cubano del Libro (Cuban Book Institute), a publishing combine, was established in 1967. The institute publishes the following series: Edición Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Edition; textbooks for the higher schools and sociopolitical literature), Huracán (Hurricane; fiction), Ediciónes de Ciencia y Técnica (Science and Technology Editions), and Cuadernos Populares (Popular Notebooks; popular scientific literature). There are also Editoriale de Ciencias Sociales (Publishing House of the Social Sciences) and the Ambito Publishing House, which publishes scientific literature. In 1969, 995 titles, with a total printing of 15.8 million copies, were published, including about 10 million general-educational, scientific-technical, and auxiliary educational books, 3.2 million copies of books of fiction and books on the arts, 1.4 million copies of children’s books, 771,000 books of sociopolitical literature, and 380,000 copies of popular scientific pamphlets.

MONGOLIAN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC. The Ministry of Culture of the Mongolian People’s Republic coordinates the activity of the Publishing House of Educational and Children’s Literature of the Ministry of Public Education and the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Mongolian People’s Republic. From 1965 to 1970 about 1,300 titles, with a total printing of more than 11.5 million copies, were published, including 200 books of sociopolitical literature, 220 books on medicine and agriculture, 200 books of fiction, and 150 textbook titles. In 1968,509 titles were published.

Capitalist countries. In the capitalist countries, numerous publishing enterprises are operating; however, the decisive role in the determination of publishing policy is played by the large publishing firms and monopolies that control the production and distribution of printed matter. Thus, the French firm Hachette accounts for up to 60 percent of the book trade of the country.

The largest publishing enterprises include printing houses, information agencies, radio and television companies, and enterprises for the manufacture of paper, ink, and other products; they have branches in many countries. In most cases they produce not only books but also magazines, newspapers, recordings, and television films. Thus, the press magnates control a significant portion of the bourgeois system of the means of mass information and propaganda, extending their influence far beyond the borders of the country. In the developed capitalist countries, the publication of books and other printed products is, generally speaking, at a high level of typography. All subject areas are represented among the books published by bourgeois publishing houses. In the book market of the capitalist world there are a number of publications whose authors are prominent scientists and writers and progressive social and political figures. These books, which are at a high scientific and artistic level, are published in small editions at prices inaccessible to mass audiences. At the same time, the stream of literature that dulls the consciousness of the people (religious literature and various kinds of comic books) reaches huge proportions in a number of countries, and the prices of such publications are considerably lower. Herein is manifested the ideological policy of the ruling classes of the capitalist countries, who strive to influence the consciousness of the masses in their own interests and to distract the toilers from the acute problems of the present and from the struggle for social progress. The publishing houses of Communist and workers’ parties, as well as other progressive publishing houses in the capitalist countries, are subjected to repression by the monopolies and ruling parties, but even under these difficult conditions they contribute to the political enlightenment of the masses, spreading Marxist literature and publishing materials on the struggle of the toiling masses for their political and economic rights, on the national liberation movements, and on the activity of trade unions.

USA. In 1969, 62,083 titles were published in the USA. Fiction made up a large proportion in terms of subject matter, followed by books on sociology and economics, the natural sciences, and religion. In 1971 the average price for a hardcover book was $13.70; for a softcover book, $1.01. So-called popular literature (usually soft-cover)—comic books and other inexpensive publications that propagandize the “American way of life”—is published in large quantities.

In 1968 there were 1,600 publishing houses in the USA. A list of the largest general-purpose publishing monopolies follows.

McGraw-Hill, Inc. (founded 1925), publishes books, newspapers, and magazines. Books account for 44 percent of its turnover. It publishes fiction, dictionaries, reference works, educational literature for secondary and higher schools, and books on technology. It has branches in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia.

Macmillan, Inc. (formerly Crowell Collier and Macmillan; founded 1920), publishes fiction, nonfiction, dictionaries, encyclopedias, children’s books, textbooks, social science, natural history, and religious literature, and music. It supplies its products to bookstores, schools, and libraries. The concern absorbed 28 enterprises in 1968–69.

Harcourt Brace and World (now Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) was formed in 1960 as a result of the merger of Harcourt Brace and Company (founded 1919) and the World Book Company (founded 1923). It publishes educational literature for secondary schools, textbooks on the natural sciences, fiction, and audiovisual aids.

Prentice-Hall, Inc. (founded 1913) publishes economics literature, textbooks, and other aids for secondary schools. It has its own distribution centers in Latin America, South Africa, Japan, India, Australia, and Western Europe.

Large universities have their own publishing houses, the largest of which is Harvard University Press (founded 1913).

The oldest American publishing house is Lippincott (founded 1792); it publishes books on history and medicine, reference books, fiction, and educational literature.

Other large publishing houses include Harper and Row, Random House, and Praeger. Progressive American publishing houses include International Publishing House, which publishes sociopolitical literature and materials of the Communist Party of the USA, and New World Review.

GREAT BRITAIN. In 1969, 32,321 titles were published in Great Britain. In terms of subject matter, works of fiction were published in the greatest quantity, followed by children’s books, school textbooks, and books on questions of politics, economics, religion, and medicine. In 1968 there were about 1,800 publishing houses; however, 380 firms accounted for 95 percent of all published literature. The process of concentration in the book publishing business is especially characteristic of softcover book production: these books are published by 150 publishing houses, and 72 percent of the publication of such books is concentrated in four firms—Penguin, Pan, Fontana, and Cargy.

Among the country’s largest publishing houses and concerns is Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (founded 1786), which is the only state publishing house of the country; it produces primarily publications of the parliament and ministries.

Matthew Hodder Ltd. controls Brockhampton Press (children’s books), the University of London Press (school and university textbooks and pedagogical literature), English Universities Press (technical and medical literature and books for self-education), Hodder and Stoughton (fiction and religious literature), and The Lancet (medical literature); it has divisions in Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Japan, India, and other countries.

Associated Book Publishers Ltd. includes about 20 book publishers; the leading house is Methuen and Company (founded 1889), which publishes scientific literature and fiction.

Pergamon Press publishes mainly scientific and technical literature, but also fiction and sociopolitical literature (a total of about 500 book titles and more than 100 magazines in 1966).

Penguin (founded 1935) publishes more than 1,000 titles annually in softcover, with total printings of more than 20 million copies. It issues more than 100 series on various branches of knowledge and has branch enterprises in many countries.

Paul Hamlyn publishes illustrated books, fiction and children’s literature, and books on the fine arts (about 300 titles in 1965). It has a branch in the USA.

Oxford University Press (founded 1485) produces academic publications. It has a division in London that publishes technical literature, Bibles, and children’s literature; it has representatives in various countries.

Cambridge University Press (founded 1521) publishes about 150 academic books and 40 scientific journals a year. It has representatives in various countries and a branch firm in the USA.

Progressive British publishing houses include Lawrence and Wishart.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY. In 1969, 33,454 titles were published, including about 7,000 books of fiction and about 10,000 books on economics, sociology, and statistics. There are 1,800 publishing houses, 80 percent of which are small enterprises that publish up to ten books a year and do not play a significant role in the book business. Publishing in the Federal Republic of Germany is dominated by the Axel Springer Verlag monopoly (founded 1947), which includes book publishing houses, six daily newspapers, printing houses, a travel agency, and other enterprises. Its trade turnover is about 1 billion marks.

Another major publishing concern is E. Bertelsmann Verlag (founded 1835). It includes 14 book publishing houses, six film companies, two television companies, and two recording companies. In 1970, Springer sold one-third of its share capital to Bertelsmann. As a result, a giant superconcern, which controls the entire system of mass communications in the country, was born.

The oldest publishing houses are Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht Verlag (founded 1735), which publishes sociopolitical literature and natural-science, fiction, and religious books; Ullstein (founded 1877), which publishes books on art, architecture, and geography; Fischer Verlag (founded 1886), which publishes encyclopedias, reference books, and fiction; and Brockhaus. The progressive publishing houses of the Federal Republic of Germany include Marxistische Blätter.

FRANCE. In 1969, 21,958 titles were published in France. In terms of subject matter and number of copies, fiction holds an important place in book production, followed by textbooks, books for young people, scientific and technical literature, and religious books. Scientific books, books on art and economics, dictionaries, and classics are sold at very high prices; prices of mass publications are lower. In 1970 there were 374 publishing houses in France; small publishers, with fewer than five employees, predominated (175 publishing houses). There were only 22 publishing houses with more than 100 employees. The nine largest publishing houses account for one-third of the book production of the country.

The largest French concern is Librairie Hachette (founded 1826). It includes more than 60 enterprises and produces more than 1,000 titles a year (textbooks and literature for children and young people, books on art, and guidebooks), as well as newspapers, magazines, phonograph records, and postcards. Hachette has a monopoly on the sale of books and magazines at railroad stations in France and in the stations of the Paris Métro (it publishes the special Railroad Library, which includes several series—fiction, history, and science). Hachette has 36 branches in other countries and exports 63 percent of the total book production of the country.

Larousse (founded 1852), a world-famous French publishing house, publishes encyclopedias, reference books, dictionaries, classics, and textbooks.

Librairie Flammarion (founded 1882) publishes books on the humanities, medicine, and fiction.

The oldest publishing houses of France are Dunod (founded 1791), which publishes technical books and literature on chemistry, agriculture, and physics, and Gauthier-Villars (founded 1791), which publishes scientific literature and fiction. The Presses Universitaires de France Publishing House (founded 1921) is widely known; it publishes scientific and popular scientific literature.

Progressive French publishers include the Publishing House of Social Literature (Editions Sociales) and Editeurs Français Réunis, which publishes sociopolitical literature, fiction, and books on art. The Paris Literary Agency distributes Russian and Soviet books.

ITALY. In 1969 there were about 1,500 publishing houses in Italy; they published 8,440 titles. Small specialized publishing houses predominate. The largest general-purpose publishing houses include 20 publishers controlled by monopoly capital, including Mondadori, Rizzoli, and Fabbri. There are general-purpose publishing houses of a liberal orientation, such as Laterza and Sansoni. The Communist Party of Italy owns the publishing house Editori Riuniti, which publishes encyclopedias, dictionaries, books on philosophy and the arts, fiction, and books for young people. Other progressive publishers include Einaudi and UTET, which publish primarily books on the humanities and art, as well as fiction. The oldest Italian publishing firm is Bodoni, which has been in existence since the mid-18th century.

JAPAN. In 1969 the 2,676 publishing houses in Japan published 31,009 titles. In addition to 350 large publishers, with 200 or more employees each, there are a large number of small publishers, with one or two employees. The largest publishing concerns are Kodansha (founded 1909), which publishes up to 2,000 titles a year in fiction (in separate publications and series), encyclopedias, and art albums and reproductions; Iwanami Shoten (founded 1913), which publishes academic editions of scientific literature and fiction (up to 3,000 titles annually) and a great deal of literature in translation, including almost all the basic works of Marx and Engels, and many works by V.I. Lenin; Shogakukan (founded 1922), which is closely connected with the schools and publishes 38 magazines for children and women, as well as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and books on art; Heibonsha (founded 1914) which publishes primarily general-purpose and specialized encyclopedias; and Otsuki Shoten (founded 1946), which is under the influence of the Communist Party of Japan and publishes primarily Marxist-Leninist, philosophical, and political literature (in 1969 it completed translation and publication of the fourth edition of the Collected Works of V.I. Lenin and began preparing the fifth edition for publication).

In the developing countries of Asia and Africa, the reorganization of publishing has been conducted since liberation from colonial oppression by means of the complete or partial nationalization of printing houses, publishers, and press organs, the publication of editions in local languages, and the training of national specialists in the area of printing.

According to UNESCO data, in 1969 about 500,000 titles were published throughout the world. In Europe (excluding the USSR), 225,000 titles (45.4 percent of the world production) were published; 71,000 (14.3 percent) were published in North America, 12,000 (2.4 percent) in South America, 100,000 (20.2 percent) in Asia (excluding the USSR), and 8,000 (1.6 percent) in Africa. The population of Europe (excluding the USSR) was 13 percent of the world population; the population of North America, 8.8 percent; that of South America, 5.2 percent; that of Asia (excluding the USSR), 56 percent; and that of Africa, 9.7 percent. The disproportion of book production with respect to population clearly demonstrates the consequences of colonialism in the sphere of publishing.

Specialized journals devoted to questions of the publishing and bookselling business abroad include Bookseller (1858—) in Great Britain, Publishers Weekly (1872—) in the USA, Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel (1834—; published in Leipzig and Frankfurt-am-Main) in the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, and Giornale della libereria (1888—) in Italy. The most important sources of international statistical information on book publishing and the periodical press are the United Nations Statistical Yearbook (New York, 1949—) and the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook (Paris, 1964—).