"A country-by-country systematic description of some of the basic facts about book publishing which are necessary to know in order to conduct business on an international level and useful other purposes as well. Each country gives information about itself under the following categories: general, history, retail prices, organization, the trade press, book trade literature and address services, sources of information, international membership, market research, books and young people, taxes, clearing houses, training, copyright, national bibliographies and national libraries, book production, translation, book clubs, paperbacks, design, publishing houses (not a listing), literary agents, wholesale trade, retail trade, mail order, antiquarian book trade and auctions, imports, exports, book fairs, public relations, bibliophilism, literary prizes, book reviews, and miscellaneous. Obviously, not all of these facts were filled out by every country, and in a few cases, countries failed to reply at all, but nevertheless the total adds up to a great deal of data. In addition, the first volume has an international section in which much of the information in that volume is summarized under these same categories." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 1005)