Norman's
News...from
Norman Ross
Volume One, Number One
January 2004
"Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service and they know't." I have listened
to the final speech of Othello at least a hundred times (as recited by Paul
Robeson), and it came to mind today as I sat down to write the first edition
of our new monthly newsletter. In case you missed the news, I'm writing to let
you know that I'm not going. So, if you don't mind, 'a word or two
before you go,' i.e., please read on!
As most of my friends in the library world know,
following the sale in 2002 of Norman Ross Publishing, all of the stand-alone
reference books originally published by Norman Ross Publishing were transferred
to a new entity, Ross Publishing Inc. The titles not included
are the guides to old Norman Ross Publishing microform collections. The books
I retained as Ross Publishing fall into three categories: Reprints of the U.S.
Decennial Census Reports and related works; Slavic reference works; miscellaneous.
I also kept the A-V publications of Norman Ross Publishing, including two programs
of folklore (Russian and Non-Russian) from the Former Soviet Union; 38 videos
of Pete Seeger and friends ("Rainbow Quest"); 8 programs on Native
American Literature from the University of Arizona ("Words & Place");
and 30 cassettes comprising the American Indian Oral History Collection.
All of our books remain in print. All of the A-V
titles, except for the Folklore, are currently out of print. A status
report on all of our activities follows. However, let me close by quoting another
great line, from Shakespeare's "Animal Crackers": "Hello, I must
be going. I only came to say hello. I must be going. I'll stay the summer through.
I'll stay a year or two. But, I must be going."
The titles below are now published or distributed by Ross Publishing Inc. For information about a former NRP microform title, please contact ProQuest/UMI: 1-800-521-0600.
Audio-Visual Titles
As noted above, with the exception of the CDs of Russian
and Non-Russian Folklore from the Pushkin House in St. Petersburg,
none of the old Norman Ross Publishing A-V programs are currently available
for purchase. This arose primarily because Ross Publishing cannot handle the
production problems associated with these programs on video and audio cassettes,
given the large number of titles, the extremely low turnover, the high costs
and the low prices, etc. However, we are in the process of trying to resurrect
at least two series by reissuing them on DVD-Rainbow Quest and Words & Place.
We will post announcements here as soon as we have more information.
Census Reprints
In 2003, after embarrassingly long delays that I don't want to mention, we finally
published a group of six Abstracts
to as many decennial census reports. These volumes will be of more interest
to small and medium-sized libraries than to major research libraries, but we
won't refuse orders from unqualified customers! We also completed reprinting
all seven of the published Compendia
of the census reports. Because they were originally issued as numbered volumes
within various decennial reports, three compendia were included in our regular
reprint series. However, in 2003 we published four more volumes that were not
numbered and had thus been overlooked until now.
We also finally finished reprinting the 15th
Decennial Census Report, 1930 in 36 volumes. The publication date
for this enormous set got pushed back owing to various factors, notably the
sale of Norman Ross Publishing. However, we will be very careful in the future
to have much more reliable publication dates for our reprints.
What's new?
We have in our office originals of two Statistical
Atlases that we have not yet reprinted, but which we hope to publish
in 2004: 9th Census, 1870 and 11th Census, 1890. We are planning full color
editions, either in the same size as the originals or perhaps slightly reduced.
Either way, we are not planning facsimiles because we will clean up the pages
somewhat and publish improved versions.
The 1940 Decennial Census Report
dwarfs all previous editions, comprising nearly 58,000 pages. Dubester catalogs
approximately 125 parts, many of them quite small, including a group of 17 that
the Census Bureau planned to combine into one or two bindings, but never did.
We estimate that a reprint edition of the entire 16th, including the supplemental
(unnumbered) volumes would require 71 bindings. We weren't planning to reprint
it. However, we honestly have had several requests for it (too bad I didn't
write down the names!) So what we are contemplating right now is a reprint of
the volumes on Population-17 books, 15,600 pp., after which, if there's sufficient
interest, we could either reprint the supplemental volumes on Population-7 books,
6,300 pp, or we could go on to some of the other sections-or both. The other
sections are: Housing, Agriculture, Irrigation and Drainage, Manufactures,
Mineral Industries, Business, Geography, Territories and Possessions,
including unnumbered volumes in most sections.
If that flies, we would be happy to go on with
the rest of it, but I can imagine it would take at least three years, perhaps
longer. We would greatly appreciate any comments you might have on this (and
any other of our proposed new projects): info@rosspub.com.
On this note, I quote one of my favorite songs: "We are the boat, we are
the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me." Not an old song, but one that
I published in Broadside Magazine about 20 years ago, and which always seemed
to me to express my feelings about the relationship between our firm and its
customers.
More: The original idea for reprinting the census
reports came from Peter Allison, and years later, at my request, he proposed
a list of related publications. His list has been augmented
by suggestions from other librarians. We are now starting to work on reprinting
these titles based on the feedback we got at Norman Ross Publishing to a survey
we mailed a few years ago. Anyone who completes the survey
is entitled to a $100 discount on his/her library's first purchase of a title
from the list. We would love to have more responses.
Statistical Abstract
In 2002 we published a reprint edition of The
Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1878-1890. Early in
2004 we will issue the next ten volumes, 1891-1900. Fortunately,
we already have four orders. We will continue with this series as long as we
can find sufficient customers to support our efforts. In fact, we already have
two orders, strangely, for reprints of 1927, so we assume we will keep going
until at least 1930.
Slavic Studies
In addition to all of the old Norman Ross Publishing
titles, I am pleased to announce five new works from Ross Publishing,
described briefly below and in more detail elsewhere on our fantastic web site.
Beyond these five new works, we plan to continue with new titles in our series
with the New York Public Library under the direction of Edward Kasinec (the
series, not the library) and with publishing such other extremely esoteric works
as fall our way. We welcome your suggestions for new titles. And in 2005 I expect
to announce an entirely new program in Slavic Studies.
The transfer to Ross Publishing included the final title in press at Norman
Ross Publishing at the time of the sale, Katalog
Evreiskikh Rukopisei Spbf Iv Ran [Catalog of Jewish Manuscripts
in the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Russian Academy of Science]
by Iona I. Gintsburg, which we published in 2003, but with the Norman Ross Publishing
imprint.
In 2001 Norman Ross Publishing was the hand-maiden
to the issuance in a limited, non-commercial, paperback edition of Russo-Greek
Papers, 1863-1874, which was
published on behalf of The Episcopal Diocese of New York. This work contains
a significant collection of original documents concerning American Anglican
relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches in the second half of the 19th
Century. In response to several requests, this work is now available commercially
in a hard-cover edition.
Our next title, Belarusian
Publishing in the West: A Bibliography--Periodicals, is a catalog
of Belarusian-language serials and Belarus-related publications in other languages,
produced outside Belarus. The book, which is a continuation of the Slavic, Baltic,
and Eurasian Resource Series published by Norman Ross Publishing in cooperation
with the Slavic & Baltic Division of The New York Public Library, describes
a collection donated to the Library by Zora and Vitaut Kipel, who also authored
the book.
Following closely on the heels of this work will
be States, Societies, Cultures, East and West;
Essays in Honor of Jaroslaw Pelenski, edited by Janusz Duzinkiewicz,
Myroslav Popovych, Vladyslav Verstiuk & Natalia Yakovenko. This volume brings
together studies from the United States, Ukraine, Poland, Canada, Germany, Italy,
Russia and France that reflect the diverse interests of Pelenski and his colleagues.
Finally, in 2004 we will also issue The
Gering Bibliography of Russian Émigré Military Publications,
2nd Edition, Revised and Enlarged, a 1968 catalog of Russian emigré
military journals updated by Anatol Shmelev (Stanford University).
These are very specialized books filling small but significant gaps in the literature.
We hope to have your support. Remember, there's a limit of two per customer.
Miscellaneous
Three years ago, when George Bush nearly won the
election, I wanted to honor him in some way and I began to create something
the world has been waiting for ever since, The
W Coloring Book, subtitled, "There's something rotten in
the State of Florida." While not yet available commercially, if you drop
me a note with your mailing address, I will send you a free copy—crayons
not included.
According to the July 6th edition of The New York
Times, Caroline Beth Ross, my senior daughter, became Caroline Ross Grossman
on July 5, 2003. The next wedding in our family will take place on March 14,
2004, when Juliet M. Ross will become Juliet M. Ross—i.e., she's getting
married but she's not changing her name. Both husbands are named Dan.