ABSTRACT
It is a risky enterprise for a publisher revisiting his older statements to presume the role of prophet or seer. To start with, why remarks made over thirty years ago should still be considered relevant requires explanation. The feudal or medieval element has grown stronger as publication has become an even more critical point in the evaluation of appointments and promotions for university personnel. Scholarly publishing has never been entirely defined by either the physical property it produces or the profits it provides, but by the utilization of the ideas contained in those properties. Making money may be one key objective and it is certainly important for many smaller university presses. But in university press life, troubles brew when bad books are published, or when books are reviewed negatively. In many ways, university presses disguise problems of size, or bury them within university contexts.
