50 YEARS OF BEST SELLERS: 1895-1945

The PW Forecast for Buyers has familiarized the book trade with Alice Hackett's reliable estimates of the commercial value of books. Now comes this excellent job of research into the records of best sellers, records which she has presented in two ways-page by page, a chronological annual chart of the best sellers, from the time The Bookmen began to keep such records -- at first of Fiction only; down to the present; and an alphabetical listing of best sellers that have totalled at least half a million copies through the years. Everyone in the book trade will find these lists invaluable. Most of us will read with eager interest her concise summing up of the salient facts for each of these years -- her conclusions as to trends -- and many of us will analyze the whole outline for major trends and futures based on past.