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Show ' (By I. H. Masters.) TALE OF THE BOOKS OF 1919. Inquiry as to the literary reactions of the American people in the year following the armistice runs against an after-effect of the recent strike of printers and pressmen. Book production in this country in 1919 as compared with that of 1918 actually fell off to the extent of 643 volumes, according to the compilations of the Publishers' Weekly. The total number of books brought out for the year was 8,594. In England in 1919 there were 8,622 volumes issued, against 7,716 in 1918. In view of the increased interest in spiritual matters created by the war, it is worth while to note the curious coincidence by which, for. each of the two years just passed, the number of books of religion printed in the United States is recorded as 695. A different dif-ferent story is told in fiction, an increase of 116 volumes in this department the new number is 904 showing the popular mind :in search of diversion. More seriously significant for 1919 was the offering of 846 books on sociology and economics, an increase of 125 over 1918. , , ;,A Books of history fell to 812 volumes in 1919, a loss of 110. And this despite the inclusion of new soldiers' tales of experience. It is possible to assume that a world which has exhausted itself in piaking history has. temporarily lost its desjre ,to write it or fea,d Poetry, the drama, the arts, philosophy, amusements, ,ail these suffered losses in the letters of 1919. So did the depart-.' depart-.' ments of children's reading, of travel, of language. -The literary outlook of the year, as it may be judged from the statistical re-' re-' turns, took the direction of the practical and material.-Believers in world peace will regard most hopefully a fall of nearly 75 per cent in books on military and naval science. |
