Distributed Proofreader Jon Ingram, responsible for the preservation and online distribution of many a Punch magazine, created the following graphs that show how books from the Toronto and Americana collections are distributed at the Internet Archive.
The second graph is the same as the first, but on a logarithmic scale. This neatly shows the exponantial increase in works as they get younger.
The steep drop at 1923 is of course caused by copyright terms. But also note the plateau that starts with a drop around 1914.
Explanations for this distribution may be books published in each year, books available for preservation after this much time, and the willingness of TIA to scan certain books. These factors undoubtedly influence each other.
Not sure but could the 1914 drop be associated with a major world event at the time–say a world war? If so, perhaps there were fewer books being published during this period (say 1914-1918) during wartime shortages and during a period when so many men (mostly all men in that day) were buried in trenches or fed into the meatgrinder of war.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
I said 1914 because I assumed the drop was because of WW1. However, this time I counted the dots and I see the drop starts at 1911-1912.
True, more than the war the publishing companies could be the black hole of 1900s drop? However, is it not the same problem that the record industry is facing or has faced?…..that should not be a deterent…….at Internet archive we keep scanning like the church scribes of the medieval era!!! Keep it coming….& we will keep scanning come hell or high water to make the world a better, friendlier and greener space!!!