tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post1095988696201656946..comments2024-03-22T19:13:05.266-04:00Comments on The Dusty Bookcase: RIP NCL: A Multinational Reacts to a EulogyBrian Busbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-57870129241447806382017-12-10T17:58:42.568-05:002017-12-10T17:58:42.568-05:00I expect you're correct about more recent work...I expect you're correct about more recent works, Patrick. This was the very challenge NCL faced with books first published by Macmillan and Clarke Irwin. Indeed, evidence indicates that Macmillan's Laurentian Library and Clarke Irwin's Canadian Paperbacks were established not only to exploit the school market, but to keep titles in print and in house.<br /><br />I am mystified by the shift in student interests. That said, I recognize the influence of voices like CBC Books. The message given in its online features and lists (the most notorious being <a href="http://brianbusby.blogspot.ca/2014/07/why-you-shouldnt-feel-bad-about-100.html" rel="nofollow">"100 Novels That Make You Feel Proud to be Canadian"</a>) is that the vast majority of books worth reading were published within the last two decades. It seems a disgrace that we cannot have proper editions of older Canadian literature, and will have to rely increasingly on print on demand houses like <a href="http://brianbusby.blogspot.ca/2009/08/pod-publishers-alternate-universe.html" rel="nofollow">Tutis</a>. Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-86059048125836907962017-12-10T17:32:59.561-05:002017-12-10T17:32:59.561-05:00Thanks for the kind words, Benjamin. I've been...Thanks for the kind words, Benjamin. I've been aware of MQUP and Michael Gnarowski's efforts to wrestle <i>Two Solitudes</i> from Bertelsmann. That they have succeeded brings some light to the all too dark present.Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-40826143566909942602017-12-07T10:15:44.410-05:002017-12-07T10:15:44.410-05:00Thanks for your terrific article on the death of t...Thanks for your terrific article on the death of the NCL, Brian! I share your regret too. FYI: Two Solitudes will be reissued next June by McGill–Queen's University Press as part of its editions of MacLennan novels.<br /><br />http://www.mqup.ca/two-solitudes-products-9780773524927.phpBenjamin Lefebvrehttp://benjaminlefebvre.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-31876745961731901652017-12-03T20:30:44.374-05:002017-12-03T20:30:44.374-05:00I share your regret, but I think the situation is ...I share your regret, but I think the situation is a little more complicated, at least for more recent works, in that the original publishers or their successors are less willing to cede reprint rights to a series like NCL. This may result in a kind of dog in the manger situation, with the book not being reprinted at all. You might ask David Staines about this.<br /><br />Then there is the shift in student interests. A colleague of mine who teaches CanLit tells me he can't get students interested in any book more than a few years old. Enrollments have suffered. But maybe this is not true everywhere? If demand is down to a trickle, then maybe the solution is a print-on-demand system to keep the books available.<br /> Patrick Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04264831471102921542noreply@blogger.com