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Books
By The
Million
A publisher who thinks
of a new edition or re-
print in terms of hundreds
of thousands of copies has
arrived in Australia to re-
vive contacts established
in the early twenties
when he was a jackeroo in
the Murray Valley.
He is Mr Richard Lane, j
director of Penguins Ltd.,
which from small beginnings
in 1935 grew In the four years ;
before the war into one of the
largest publishing houses In the
world.
Mr Lane's uncle, Mr John
Lane, founded the famous
Bodley Head house. Richard
Lane, with his two brothers,
the younger of whom was
killed in the war, established
Penguins Ltd, in July, 1935.
SHAW'S BIRTHDAY
To celebrate Bernard Shaw's
90th birthday in July, 1946,
Penguins released simultan-
eously 10 Shaw plays in Pen-
guin editions. The Initial
printing of one million
copies (100,000 copies of each
play) was sold out in a few
months. Reprint editions of
such plays as Pygmalion and
Major Barbara have since been
produced at the rate of 100,000
in each reprint.
Mr Lane said today that out-
put at present was limited by
supplies of paper and by book
binding difficulties.
Penguins Ltd. are concentrat-
ing upon the production of
non-fiction Pelicans and Pen-
guin classics, for both of which
there is a tremendous demand.
A new prose translation of "The
Odyssey" by Penguin's classics
editor (Mr E. V. Rleu) has
proved so popular In England
that 200.000 copies have already
been printed.
MR RICHARD LANE, pub lisher of tho Penguin Books, in Melbourne today. Help
MR RICHARD LANE, pub
lisher of tho Penguin Books,
in Melbourne today.
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