An Industry in Decline.

At the beginning of the 1950s book publishing seemed to be in trouble. Sales were in decline, and readers seemed to be showing less and less interest in hardcover books. Brentano's Book Store in New York City, which carried about a one-thousand-title stock, reported that 50 percent of its annual sales came at Christmas, when gift buyers were searching desperately for presents. Fortune reported an unnamed major publisher's estimate that 60 percent of its annual sales were institutional — that is, to libraries and schools. Book clubs selling hardcover books were doing as badly. Between 1947 and 1952 Book-of-the-Month Club membership fell from nine hundred thousand to five hundred thousand. The book-buying public seemed to be dwindling.

Causes.

Reasons for the apparent decline in readership were publicly debated. Television was the culprit of choice, though there was spotty evidence to back up the belief...