MR. L.
Q: This scheme of Mr. McG.'s for a different kind of book—what do you think of it?
—If he can control his "decline from a high estate" I am with him, emphatically. Books need to be cheaper. Books vis-à-vis market certainly need to be studied all over again—from a new base line. I agree with his findings about shabby-genteel. And I'm sure that I'd like his "cheap" books much better than the kind I buy now, if he can liven them up as he suggests. The question is, can he stop his "strategic retreat" at the right point? It's like inflation: easy to start, but...! He drops the standard of material and process—will his proofreading go down hill too?... Many French books in paper wrappers—made at the lowest cost-level, badly printed on cheap paper—have an air and a style that our own more expensive affairs can't quite achieve. Somebody laid a finger on them. Who, in Mr. McG.'s scheme, is to be this somebody whose touch creates liveliness and interest? A highly important factor in the product!... If we can get the liveliness and interest, we will be glad to trade more expensive paper and printing to get it. Our books are pretty dull.... But, just inferior printing on cheap paper, without the lively touch and style, is going to bore us worse yet!
—You mean dull in content?
—I mean dull optically, visually.... Like—to put it into terms of sound—like a long, droning recital of a tedious story—no inflection—no climax—no motion. ... I like Mr. McG.'s figure of a "good, interesting talker."
—You'd spice it up with "modernist" feeling?
—No. He's right, there. No fireworks. Keep the explosions outside the book.
—You have used "contemporary" design.
—Yes, but you'll notice, not in places where reading is going on.... Another point: letting the market set the tone is not good merchandising. The market needs to be led, by a tone a little higher than its average taste.... And Mr. McG.'s good tool isn't made by majority vote in Congressional committee—it's made by somebody who knows, expertly and practically, just what the tool is intended to do and how it works.
—You are for "books as tools."