A Publisher's Confession

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 131K words
Chapters: 14

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. A Publisher's Confession by Walter Hines Page. Author: , Language: English, Class: Z: Bibliography, Library science, Release Date: Jun 11, 2017

Editor's review

This is a publisher's confession by Walter Hines Page, included in Project Gutenberg's public-domain ebook series. Page was long active in American publishing and journalism; the book recounts in the first person his experiences and observations from inside the publishing industry, and is a valuable primary source for understanding the American publishing ecosystem, editor-author relations, and magazine management in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The prose is plain and the book short, better read as corroborating material for research in publishing and book history than as a bestselling-style memoir. Readers may wish to consider Page's biography and the broader transformation of American publishing at the time, and to note the descriptions of industry conventions, editorial judgment, and commercial pressure. As a public-domain electronic text, its layout and annotations are limited; pairing it with a reliable introduction to publishing history or bibliographical material is advisable so that the personal narrative can be understood in its specific historical context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers researching the history of American publishing and the book
Professionals interested in the editorial profession and author relations
Scholars writing papers who need primary material on late-nineteenth-century American publishing
Readers of English-language public-domain ebooks in history and letters

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting a light, story-driven memoir
Those who struggle with English and are unwilling to consult reference works
Learners seeking a systematic textbook of publishing theory

Reading tips

Begin with the introduction or bibliographic information to confirm the edition and the author's background before the main text.
Note industry conventions and figures as you read, and verify the background afterward.
Read alongside works on American publishing history of the same period to avoid isolated interpretation.
Use a dictionary or a bilingual edition with the English text to lower the threshold of comprehension.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for someone with no background in publishing?

Not really as an introductory text. It is a publisher's personal account that assumes some knowledge of late-nineteenth-century American publishing. Readers starting from zero may be stopped by the names, institutions, and industry conventions, and are advised to read a concise introduction to publishing history first, then return to this account for more concrete gains.

What should I keep in mind when reading the electronic edition?

This book comes from Project Gutenberg's public-domain electronic text, with plain layout and limited annotation or introduction. Use reading software that supports dictionary lookup and bookmarks, look up unfamiliar names and places promptly, and pay attention to the publication information and edition notes so as not to mistake the arrangement of a public-domain reset edition for the original version.

Can the views in the book be cited directly as historical fact?

A personal account carries a subjective perspective and selective memory, and should not be cited directly as objective fact. When citing, compare it with contemporary newspapers, publishing archives, or academic research, and note that it is the account of a participant rather than a settled conclusion. Its value as a historical source lies in showing how a publisher understood his profession and his era, not in providing a complete and accurate picture of the industry.

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About the author

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Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.