Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 511512513514515516517518519520521522523524525526527528529530531532533534535536537538539540541542543544545546547548549550551552553554555556557558559 of 1029

Oh, the agents are brilliant. I'm not blaming the agents for getting just what they can. I'm saying though that they put a big book up for bidding and there are always publishers who will start bidding. Then it becomes a game. Very often you will buy a book, not because you think it's a good book but because you hear Harper's, Scribner's, Doubleday, and Viking were after it. It becomes a contest. I always have likened it to fraternity rushing in colleges. One day somebody will bring along some pimply-faced, hideous little brat and you tell him, “What do you mean bringing that nasty little poop around here?" Then the next day you hear that three other houses are rushing him, and immediately it becomes absolutely imperative that you get this kid into your own fraternity! The same thing happens with books. The word gets around that there is hot bidding for a book, and you want to get in on it. You don't want to be left behind. You don't want to be forgotten. In fact, I've often bawled an agent out for not sending me a book that I'd heard was going to be a big prize. He'd say, “I knew that you'd not want this book. It's going for too much money and it's not your kind of book.” But I'm hurt that I'm left out. I'm a fool about things like that.

Now, do you have anything else to say today?

Let's see. Well, in 1938 too, we published a book that is a perfect example of a property that sometimes