ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the commercial nature of contemporary museum and art gallery publishing and its contribution to institutional income. The range of publications produced by cultural institutions is more varied than that of many medium-sized commercial publishing companies. Information about sales of books from museums and art galleries is difficult to locate. Annual reports from the institutions provide some figures, but profits from publishing are usually wrapped into reporting on overall commercial activities. Having acknowledged that full details are scarce, it is possible to glean some ideas of the success of individual books and where catalogues have sold exceptionally well, which is often reported. Commercial publishing by institutions was well established in the final years of the last century: books generate income for museums, galleries, libraries, botanical gardens, collections of historic houses and other entities that are part of the leisure industries and cultural tourism.
