The other day, when addressing a select gathering of publishers, I was asked by one of those present how reviewing today compared with the reviewing of fifty years ago. I said that fifty years ago an important book would be noticed in all the chief periodicals within a fortnight of publication, and that even a first novel by an unknown writer had between thirty and forty reviews before the end of a month. The reviews of the important book would be long; the reviews of the first novel, though shorter, would be separate and serious. These impressions, delivered on the spur of the moment, were confirmed by a senior publisher in the audience.