Books from Hungary 1960. 3. [antikvár]

JOINT EDITIONS OF HUNGARIAN AND FOREIGN PUBLISHING HOUSES In the last few vears an increasing number of Hungarian books have been published in foreign languages as joint editions of a Mungarian and a foreign publishing house. The themes and character of these works vary on a wide scale—as do the languages concerned and the foreign firms cooperating with the Hungarian publishers. From thcorctical works to works dealing with applied sciences, from books on art and from belles-lettres to children's literature and writings on sports range the issues resulting from international collaboration; and from the Englisli house of Barrie and RocklifF to the Dutch-Amcrican publishers Harry N. Abrams, from the Soviet Muzgiz to the German Henschel Verlag, and the Italian Silvana to the French Éditeurs Réunis, the foreign firms cooperating with Hungarian publishers. Owing to favourable reviews by the press and good reception by the public, the works issued in joint editions have also brought gratifying financial success to both the Hungarian publishers and their foreign partners. The Advantages oj Joint Edition In Hungary, two large publishing houses go in for the edition of books in foreign languages: the Publishing House of the Hungarian yVcademy of Sciences and the Corvina Press. The former issues scientific works; the latter deals with every other kind of books from belle-tristic literature to writings on sports. Taking an active share in the execution of international transactions, from the commercial preparation ofthe edition to the delivery of the a books, a third party, Kultura Trading Company for Books and Newspapers, also plays an important rôle in bringing about joint editions. The advantages associated with joint editions naturally appear first of all in the sphere of editing. From the ample material of Hungarian books, Hungarian publishers, of course, suggest to their foreign partners only works of outstanding value for joint edition. This means very careful advance selection. The Hungarian proposals are then weighed by the respective foreign partners from the point of view of their own market and the trend of interest evinced by their readers. The two cooperating publishers have almost unlimited possibilities for engaging the foremost experts to do the work of realizing a project. In the edition of books on science it is a great advantage that the translation is done in Hungary, where the author may be consulted on technical terms. At the same time the best translators and most eminent experts of the language in the country of the editing partner can peruse the translation and so produce an adaptation that is really good both in idiom and contents. The standard of the books is kept high by the joint action of the two cooperating publishers in selection of paper, the approval of the jacket design, choice of illustrations, etc. This offers an opportunity for adapting the original form, typography and graphic ideas to the taste and requirements of the readers for whom the book is intended. Details concerning the economic advantages accruing from joint editions may be omitted here. For the edition of books on art, involving considerable financial and technical efforts, increasing numbers of other European publishers also join forces these days, among other reasons in order to reduce cost per volume. To dwell on another consideration connected with books on art, we may mention that when such works are to be issued as joint editions, their printing in Hungary has obvious advantages, for rhe photographs of original works of art treasured in Hungary may be used for reproduction, and so the trueness of colour can be constantly controlled. The chief significance of joint editions, however, lies in the possibility of printing illustrations for both Hungarian and foreign versions together, thus reducing costs considerably. Another important economic advantage is presented by the fact that cooperating publishers are in a position to propagate their own editions in their own language areas more successfully than could foreign publishers.