This 1970 text tells the story of an important trade association, called into being by the crisis in British bookselling in the late nineteenth century and founded - largely by the wisdom of Sir Frederick Macmillan - on the Net Book Agreement. Through the Net Book Agreement, it provided booksellers and publishers with assurance of retail price stability and has also provided the guiding principles of the Publishing Association's activity since its foundation. This book traces the founding of the Net Book Agreement to after World War II when the book trade faced many problems and crises.