BOOKS FOR OVERSEAS READERS
SIR,--I was glad to see Leslie Adrian referring to the number of complaints we receive here (and make ourselves) about the inefficiency of London book- shops. Let me add that the publishers aren't blame- less, either. On March 15, my wife ordered an Ox- ford French Dictionary from our local bookshop— a modest shop, eager to please, but with a small staff and few resources. They said that it would take at least ten days, that being the usual time that it took the Oxford University Press to deliver a book from its London warehouse to a London shop. Before, sir, you ask why, let me add that not ten, but twenty days later, the book still hadn't been delivered, and they said at the shop that the OUP travelling salesman, remonstrated with, explained the delay as being due to the firm's 'new system.' Days later again, I telephoned the OUP warehouse, was fenced with by the telephone girl, who was reluctant to put me in touch with anyone, but eventually reached a man who said that this was a trouble that had 'long been with the firm.' I asked why the book couldn't be given to a boy on a bicycle to deliver, and was told that this was 'uneconomic.' As my name was
well known, my interlocutor was gracious enough to say. perhaps if I got ir. touch with the sales manager at another number, he might be able to help me. Needless to say. the sales manager 'isn't in today.' Why must one wait for a month and more for a book that is in print; isn't this the fault of the publisher, and not of the bookshop, which has fewer resources; and why should any special consideration be given —or need to be given—to a customer whose name happens to appear occasionally in the public prints? I can consult a French dictionary elsewhere. but sup- pose I were an undergraduate or a schoolboy, who wanted such a book, from such a publisher, in time to work for an examination?—Yours faithfully,
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