BELLAGIO STUDIES IN PUBLISHING

 

Get Acrobat Reader

 

 

International Book Publishing: An Encyclopedia, edited by Philip G. Altbach and Edith S. Hoshino (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995), 726 pages. ISBN 0-8153-0786-1. Click for ordering info.

This is the first major international reference volume focusing specifically on book publishing. It covers book industries and 29 separate regions and countries, with authors from more than 20 countries.

Key elements in this volume, more than 700 double-columned pages in length, are:

  • thirty-four essays on key topics in publishing - from book marketing and bookselling to small presses and university press publishing.
  • a comprehensive resource for understanding book publishing worldwide.
  • substantive chapters on carefully selected topics and countries.
  • longer chapters allow for more comprehensive coverage, deeper analysis, and a broader perspective.
  • a selective encyclopedia to provide a valuable and long- lasting reference volume.

The editors chose to focus on the major publishing countries rather than to provide brief surveys of every nation, and most of the world's major publishing nations are included.

In addition, comprehensive regional essays cover all of the major world regions and provide some coverage of countries not discussed in the individual essays. Each of the geographical chapters includes historical surveys of the publishing industry, a discussion of current trends and future problems, and relevant up-to-date statistical information. Authors have provided analysis as well as description. The topical essays have also been chosen to stress the major issues in publishing today. Authors were asked to write from a critical perspective as well as to provide a discussion of current trends.
A sampling of the topics includes

  • children's publishing (Sheila Ray);
  • college textbook publishing (Naomi Silverman);
  • feminist publishing (Florence Howe);
  • international copyright (Paul Gleason);
  • libraries and publishers (Patricia G. Schuman);
  • new technologies and publishing (C. J. Grycz);
  • Third World publishing (Philip G. Altbach);
  • reference publishing (David Attwooll); and
  • the societal context of book publishing (Shiego Minowa).

The authors include the most informed analysts on their respective topics, and are a combination of people within the publishing industry and informed outside observers and scholars. The diverse perspectives are another unique feature of the encyclopedia. Two decades of experience in research on publishing and knowledge distribution issues helped make this wide-ranging book possible.

Review

Ordering Info

Copies of this volume can be ordered from

Garland Publishing, Inc.,
1000A Sherman Ave.,
Hamden, CT 06514 USA.

^^Back to top

home about us news resources subscribe
newsletter forum search

© Bellagio Publishing Network 2002-2005.