The Independent Eye.

Mercury House is a sterling example of the independent press tradition of the U.S. It is based in San Francisco, California. It has been a publisher of quality regional-interest, political and literary books for eight years. Recently, however, the grapevine has resonated with rumors that Mercury House, historically a for-profit publisher, is considering changing its status to that of a nonprofit. Throughout the independent publishing community, the sudden interest of two of the nation's major private philanthropic organizations, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is causing quite a stir. For the first time in the country's cultural history, major foundations have initiated nationwide grants programs for literary publishing.