Abstract

The study, related to a study written in 1929 by John Maynard Keynes, analyses the present situation in Italy of publishers, in the very different contemporary setting in which the boundaries between intelligence, financial services, rating services, online services, manuals and books in a stricter sense are indeed blurred. It underlines, among other problems, the scarcity of time available for serious reading and the importance of the quality of published material. It also compares the number of publishing houses and of new books published each year in Italy with the situation in Great Britain, where they are less than half, in a bigger, worldwide market. A market, furthermore, in which purchases of books by public libraries are a multiple of those carried out in Italy. After an examination of the concentration in the related sectors of the distribution of books, of bookshops and of e-commerce, a further comparison is set forth between readers and people interested in sports and of the weight that the two sectors have in the Italian economy. Finally, it underlines the importance of reading as a public and social duty and its political implications.