—I mean, do you think that illustrations help or hinder the quality of a book?
—The question is too general to be answered easily. May I ask you to be more specific?
—For example, here is a "best-seller" with several—five or six—half-tone illustrations. Do you consider that these pictures make the book a more complete thing as a specimen of book-making?
—Most certainly not.
—Then would you say that illustrations in such books were a detraction?
—Illustrations such as these, yes. Though it would be hard to detract from this particular book.
—It is a standard book—a standard type of book.
—I fear that it is.
—What kind of illustrations would you favour?
—For many books, none at all. In these books of current fiction the pictures are either futile or else detrimental to the development of the plot. They give the game away, so to speak, when the author may wish to hold the story in suspense. The effort to avoid this disaster accounts for the multitude of undramatic pictures you see in books.