Riposte
From the Creative Director of Orbis Publishing Limited
Sir: You comments in the 'Bookend' column of the Spectator of September 14 have caused me considerable embarrassment. The facts of the matter are these: Bill Grundy, whom I had considered a friend, telephoned me during August to protest that he had seen a copy of AU Our Yesterdays on sale in a Manchester bookshop. I explained to him reasonably
(I thought) that our books were distributed for us by New English Library and that if an isolated bookseller should decide to display a book before its official publication date there was really very little that we could do to prevent this. You yourself must be aware that this is a perennial problem in publishing and 1 would have thought that Bill Grundy would have understood. It seems that he was seeking some excuse to obtain a 'puff for the book, in whose sales he has of course an interest. No doubt he would protest that "no publicity is bad publicity" and, as far as the individual book is concerned, this is no doubt true. However, this Company, and in particular myself and our marketing director, have been made to look foolish and I would have thought that it would have been worth your while to check the facts with me before publishing your comments.
In conclusion, let me point out that the record that Brian Inglis and Bill Grundy planned is still far from publication, due not to the bumbling inefficiences of this Company but, as was only to have been expected, to the drawn out complications of obtaining copyright clearance from the recording
industry. Brian lnnes 49 Russell Square London
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