War Babies

Publishers of books on technical subjects, always modest, turned out 452 titles in 1939 as compared to fiction's 1,547. But those days are past. So is the small trickle of sales.

Explained McGraw-Hill's Executive Vice President James S. Thompson: "We are in a war of science. . . . The courses of study draw from every technological field. The classrooms include factory storerooms . . . corners of airplane hangars . . . 'toughening camps' high in the Sierra Nevada, training ships at sea. The students number millions."

Keeping pace with the accelerated output of tanks, planes, guns, U.S. technical book publishers are bringing out larger lists than ever before. McGraw-Hill has seen its number of "war books" jump 2%, 14%, 50% during the three successive years. Against the trade's 452 titles of 1939, 1942 will see the publication of at least 700 books technically concerned with the war effort. In Manhattan's R. H. Macy & Co., whose book department now handles approximately 3,000 technical titles, sales are five times greater than in pre-war years.

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