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An essay is presented on interactions of author Charles W. Chesnutt with his book publisher Houghton, Mifflin & Co. and racial paratext, Topics include Chesnutt's writing style adapted from realist short stories and plantation fiction, mixed-race identity, and advertising campaigns and strategies for books like "The Conjure Woman."

This article examines the origins of the practice of book reviewing in England prior to the 1749 founding of the Monthly Review. As early as the 1660s, periodicals contained various kinds of notices (like advertisements or publication announcements) and reviews of new works that aimed to inform readers of the existence and content of particular books. An examination of a broad variety of these notices, which vary in sophistication from rudimentary to refined, reveals a range of evaluative discussions that provides a glimpse of contemporary reading tastes and habits. The attention to books in periodicals also demonstrates the close connections between the press and the book trades: many writers and publishers seem to have been encouraging public attention to books, marketing books published by themselves or their associates, or capitalizing on reader interest in newly published works to sell periodicals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A transcript of a letter from the Ashley Manuscripts at the British Library, written by English poet Christopher Smart to bookseller Robert Dodsley of London, England, is presented. It is dated January 3, 1747/8 at Pembroke Hall, University of Cambridge, in Cambridge, England and requests Dodsley insert advertisements in various newspapers for a proposed collection of poetry which eventually is printed as "Poems on Several Occasions" in 1752. The advertising copy which subsequently appeared in the "London Evening-Post" on January 7-9, 1748 is also presented. A discussion of the letter's provenance is given.

The author discusses how the Oxford University Press's (OUP's) booklet entitled "Periodical," which was published between 1896 and 1979, provides invaluable bibliographic and historical value as a source material for scholars. It was published roughly four to five times per year and contained excerpts, essays, criticisms, and expanded advertising for the OUP's books. It focuses especially on how "Periodical" influenced public views and sales of the works of English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins including the 1918 "Poems" prefaced by Robert Bridges, and its second edition of 1930 introduced by Charles Williams.

Advertisements are presented for various history books, including "Writing the Gettysburg Address," by Martin P. Johnson, "West Side Story as Cinema: The Making and Impact of an American Masterpiece," by Ernesto R. Acevedo-Muñoz, and "Grand Central Terminal: Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City," by Kurt C. Schlichting.

Advertisements for books on topics of history are presented which includes "Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971," by Lillian Guerra, "Doctoring Freedom: The Politics of African American Medical Care in Slavery and Emancipation," by Gretchen Long, and "The Bolivian Revolution and the United States, 1952 to the Present," by James F. Siekmeier.