The Book

The shortage of books is a world-wide problem of vast scope, which cannot be completely solved as quickly as one might suppose. This shortage appears above all in Britain, where you cannot obtain the books you want because they are not to be had. Experts on this situation say that the shortage of books in 1945 was greater by far than it was in 1918.

The reason goes back to the scarcity of paper, for the materials from which it is made were used in the manufacture of munitions, and the quantity of paper allotted to publishers was not sufficient to print enough copies to meet the needs of readers. Proof of this is that the writer wished to buy a copy of the book 'The Social History of Britain' by the famous historian Trevelyan on the day after the book was published; he entered twenty bookshops and did not succeed in obtaining the sought-after copy. Nor does the paper problem stop there: it takes in also the problem of printing new copies of books whose every edition is exhausted, such as scholarly works of great historical or literary value — above all for university students. And there is another face to the problem: the output of the workers engaged in printing books in Britain fell by half in this Second World War.

Experts consider that restoring the book market to what it was will take at least two or three years after the end of the war.

Among the causes of the shortage also, above all in Britain, are the books lost through fire and bombs as a result of the air raids: twenty million volumes are reckoned lost in the great fire that broke out at Paternoster, and ten million volumes besides. For all that, the British forestalled what might have followed from this and set up a system of cooperation that saved the book trade and saved the readers as well.

All the learned and public libraries, which play an important part in the life of the British people, have suffered much from this shortage since 1939. Among the victims were the library of the British Museum and the London Library, both of whose foundations go back a hundred years. Fortunately the bombs did not do them grievous damage.

And yet this 'tragedy of the books' had its benefit, for searchers set about bringing books back to life again, spending their leisure hours in Oxford and Cambridge and in the little shops standing beside the old British cathedrals, hunting and delving for books. They found many editions in French and Italian, which they kept, exchanging them as gifts at the Christmas they enjoyed for the first time after the passage of five years of violent, bloody war.