Posted by Peter H on June 15, 2007 at 16:07:13 from 86.151.94.134 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: A weighty tome? posted by Geraint_Lewis on June 15, 2007 at 11:45:00:
Perhaps they were much smaller print runs?
Possibly, but the practice seems to have been to print a large number on first publication, then follow up with further impressions as and when needed by the market. Sometimes extra impressions were needed immediately. If you look at the Impression list of WD you will see 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Impressions all in November 1937. Cape had 6,000 copies printed and then three additional printings totalling a further 5,280 copies.
SW, which some tend not to regard too highly, did even better. The first four Impressions were all in Nov 1939. 10,000 copies were printed followed by a further three printings totalling 5,000 copies. I can well understand that warehousing of books may have been difficult in wartime conditions, but I think it might just be that AR's books were particularly popular during the war. As Christina Hardyment would say: 'Room for a Paper here!'