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to an author that we want very badly is that one day we will put his book in the Modern Library. We won't do it unless we feel that it belongs there. We can't cheapen Modern Library by using it as a weapon to get authors if they don't deserve to be in that series. But, if they have any claim to distinction, they know that, if they come with us, they have a very good chance of getting into the Modern Library.

How long after the book has been published do you put it in Modern Library? For instance, would you put a Styron or a Phillip Roth in?

Oh, of course, We have Roth's Good-bye, Columbus in the Modern Library. We have Styron's Lie Down in Darkness in the Modern Library. Of course, eventually we'll put in Nat Turner--not probably for two years.

Is that how long? I was wondering how long approximately you wait.

In a year it will go into paperback. Maybe a year later we'll put out a Modern Library edition.

The Modern Library edition hurts the hardbound sale much more than the paperback does because it's a much more comparable package. It's a real book.

It does hurt?