THE COST OF BIOLOGICAL BOOKS IN 192.8 



By RAYMOND PEARL 

 Institute for Biological Research, Johns Hopkins University 



jA T THE end of the first volume 

 /^k of The Quarterly Review of 



L — 3^ Biology (Vol. I, pp. 605- 

 _X- A^ 608 19x6) was inaugurated 

 the plan of reporting annually on the cost 

 of the books which had been received 

 during the year. The present paper con- 

 tinues this plan with the report of book 

 costs for the year 1918. 



For the purpose of price comparison 

 the books are classified by origin as 

 follows : 



I. The United States. Here are put all 

 books published by strictly, or primarily, 

 American publishers. Naturally the 

 majority of books reviewed during the 

 year have had this origin just as in earlier 

 years. 



II. Germany. In the number of books 

 sent in by publishers for review, Germany 

 stands next to this country. 



III. English- American. In this group are 

 placed the books which are manufactured 

 and published in the first instance in 

 England by publishing houses which have 

 branches under their own name (not merely 

 agents) in this country. The American 

 branch imports the books into this country 

 and distributes them here, priced in dollars 

 rather than shillings. 



IV. England. In this class are placed 

 books published in England, priced in 

 shillings, and available in this country 

 only by direct importation, by the indi- 

 vidual or through an agent. 



V. France. This group includes all 

 books published in France and her colonies. 



VI. Other Countries. Here are placed all 



books published in any other country than 

 those specified above. 



VII. United States Government. 



VIII. British Government. 



Table 1 gives, for each of these eight 

 rubrics, (a) the total number of pages in 

 the books received for review; (F) the 

 total cost of these books in dollars, 

 foreign prices being converted to dollars 

 on the basis of the exchange prevailing 

 when the books were received; (c) the 

 average price per page in cents. 



In order to facilitate comparison in 

 respect of book prices, Table x has 

 been prepared. In this table the follow- 

 ing items are included: (a) the average 

 price per page, in cents, for the years 

 19x6-1918; (Jj) the absolute changes in 

 average price per page, in cents, be- 

 tween 1916 and 19x8, and between 19x7 

 and 19x8, a + sign denoting an increase in 

 19x8 as compared with the earlier years, 

 and a — sign denoting a decrease; (/) the 

 percentage differences of the 19x8 average 

 price per page from those of 19x6 and 

 19x7, the + sign again indicating that 

 the books were on the average higher in 

 price in 19x8 than they were in the earlier 

 years, and the — sign that they were 

 lower. 



The first point to be noted from Table 1 

 is the continued increase in the total 

 amount of book material noticed in The 

 Quarterly Review of Biology. The 

 total number of pages reviewed in 19x8 is 

 ixx,i54, an increase of 19.6 per cent over 

 19x7, and of 47.9 per cent over 19x6. 

 Plainly available space will put a limit to 



600 



