ABSTRACT
W the shaky authority of Th e New Encyclopedia Britannica that “the great trade slump that began in October 1929 brought a swift decline in the prosperity of American publishing.” is was declared to be a worldwide phenomenon, since it was also the case that in Europe “sales declined, profi ts were negligible, and there were many bankruptcies.” It is also the case that attempts to remedy a bad fi scal situation were weakened by tremendous antagonisms between publishers, booksellers, distributors and authors. But this view is not quite the story of the past, and even less of the present. ose who are undergoing painful readjustments to a 2009 marketplace that is heir to boom years in publishing must now adjust to the second half meltdown in the 2008 marketplace. is is a complex condition open to a variety of conditions, and hence to a multiplicity of responses and adjustments.
