Brought to book

Something about the book industry seems to induce jeremiads. Susan Bassnett seems to confuse a narrowing range of bricks-and-mortar retailers with the range of titles getting published ("Shrinking volumes", 10 January). More titles are being published in the UK than ever before, though academic titles often sell more through online retailers and library suppliers than campus bookstores. Monograph specialists such as Ashgate and Edward Elgar are in good health, which is perhaps why more general publishers such as I. B. Tauris and Continuum have increased their output of monographs. It's time that the myth of the death of the monograph was itself killed off.

Anthony Haynes, Partner, The Professional and Higher Partnership, Newmarket, Suffolk.