Books

Books that Shaped the Century

Which books had the most influence over the history of the 20th century? As the century drew to a close, LOGOS appointed a worldwide panel, each member of which contributed a list. Combined, these lists totalled more than 500 titles in seven languages. There was no restriction as to the kind of book – fiction, non-fiction, history, science, children's books etc were all included.

The combined list was then submitted to the panel, who were asked to rate each book from one to ten. It was decided that the final list would consist of all titles which received average scores of five or above. The tally was 109 titles, which were announced in a series of articles in LOGOS, citing the reasoning behind the choice of each title. The books were acquired and exhibited at the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs and other venues, including schools and conferences.

A booklet, available free from LOGOS at 5 Beechwood Drive, Marlow, SL7 2DH, UK, was produced telling the story of how and why the collection was assembled. The full text can be read in LOGOS (Volumes 6 to 10) online at Atypon www.atypon-link.com/LOG/loi/logo.

The books can also be studied at Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies, School of Arts & Humanities, 2nd Floor, Buckley Building, Gipsy Lane Campus, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 OBP, where they are a permanent special collection.

The Literature of the Book

People in the book professions not only manufacture, edit, distribute and preserve books by the world's authors; they also write books in their own areas of expertise. In the year 2002 LOGOS editors set themselves the task of surveying the literature of the book and commissioned an international panel to recommend what they saw as the best books in each field of activity.

The result was a select bibliography in twenty sections listing 500 books with critical notes by experts on each title. The collection was exhibited at the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs and at several conferences. It was then presented to Oxford Brookes University. It can be read in the LOGOS archive (Volumes 14 – 15) or in The Literature of the Book available from LOGOS. The collection can be viewed at the library of the Oxford Brookes University, where it is a permanent special collection.

The project covers History of the book, Authorship, Editing, Indexing, Production and design, Publishing, Books as a business, Book marketing, Reference, Publishing development, Electronic books, Copyright, Education for publishing, Academic publishing, Biographies and autobiographies, Company histories, Retail bookselling, Libraries and librarianship, Reading and book collecting.

To order a copy of The Literature of the Book (ISBN 1 861564910) available at £6 ($12) please contact LOGOS at 5 Beechwood Drive, Marlow, SL7 2DH, UK, or logos-marlow@dial.pipex.com