In the first eleven months of 1939, U. S. publishers brought out 8,196 new titles. There were 1,060 new novels, 511 biographies and autobiographies, 984 titles in the field of belles-lettres which includes poetry, drama and criticism, 1,361 titles which come under the general head of politics, history, economics and social sciences. In this enormous mass of books —good, bad, ponderous, specialized, dull, exciting, original, confused, confusing—a jew stand head & shoulders above rivals in their respective fields. Some emerge from the year's crop by their wide popular appeal, a few because of their unquestionable literary or human significance. Outstanding titles:*
Novels
THE NAZARENE—Sholem Asch—Putnam ($2.75).
*THE DEATH OF THE HEART—Elizabeth Bowen—Knopf ($2.50).
THE WILD PALMS—William Faulkner —Random House ($2.50).
CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER—C. S. Forester—Little, Brown ($2.75).
*FINNEGANS WAKE—James Joyce—Viking ($5).
*THE THIBAULTS—Roger Martin du Gard—Viking ($3).
*PALE HORSE, PALE RIDER (three long stories)—Katherine Anne Porter—Harcourt, Brace ($2).
THE GRAPES OF WRATH—John Steinbeck—Viking ($2.75).
MOMENT IN PEKING—Lin Yutang—John Day ($3).
Biography
THOREAU — Henry Seidel Canby,—Houghton Mifflin ($3.75).
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT — Henry F. Pringle — Farrar & Rinehart (2 vols. $7.50).
THE YOUNG MELBOURNE—Lord David Cecil—Bobbs-Merrill ($3).
*ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE WAR YEARS — Carl Sandburg — Harcourt, Brace (4 vols. $20).
ARTHUR RIMBAUD — Enid Starkie —Norton ($3.75).
Autobiography & Letters
TAR HEEL EDITOR—Josephus Daniels —University of North Carolina ($3.50).
*LETTERS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON—Edited by Ralph Leslie Rusk—Columbia (6 vols. $30).
*THE LETTERS OF T. E. LAWRENCE—Edited by David Garnett—Doubleday, Doran ($5).
A VICTORIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD—Hutchins Hapgood—Harcourt, Brace ($5).
IN PLACE OF SPLENDOR—Constancia de la Mora—Harcourt, Brace ($3).
Current Affairs
MEN IN BATTLE—Alvah Bessie—Scrib-ner ($2.50).
INSIDE ASIA—John Gunther—Harper ($3.50).
THE REVOLUTION OF NIHILISM—Hermann Rauschning—Alliance ($3).
STALIN — Boris Souvarine — Alliance ($4.50).
*UNION NOW: A PROPOSAL FOR A FEDERAL UNION OF THE DEMOCRACIES OP THE NORTH ATLANTIC—Clarence K. Streit—Harper ($3).
Poetry
*COLLECTED POEMS OF ROBERT FROST—Holt ($5).
*COLLECTED POEMS—Robert Graves —Random House ($2.50).
ON PILGRIMAGE (humorous)—Thomas Temple Hoyne — Economic Feature Service, Chicago ($1.50).
DUINO ELEGIES—Rainer Maria Rilke —Norton ($2).
COLLECTED POEMS—Mark Van Doren —Holt ($3.50).
History
*AMERICA IN MIDPASSAGE—Charles A. & Mary R. Beard—Macmillan ($3.50).
THE LIFE OF GREECE—Will Durant— Simon and Schuster ($3.95).
STATESMEN OF THE LOST CAUSE—Burton J. Hendrick—Little, Brown ($3.75).
Art
TREASURY OF ART MASTERPIECES— Edited by Thomas Craven—Simon and Schuster ($10).