It was indeed a proud day, and yet a day of many doubts, when I bore the finished manuscript to the office of the Literary Registrar. This official, assisted by a board of fifteen recognized writers and critics, passed upon all literary works submitted by the authors of Atlantis; and all books found worthy of perpetuation were published under his direction, while unstinted advice and criticism was given to promising aspirants. In the case of my own book, there could be no doubt as to publication, for not only had I been specifically directed to write it, but all Atlantis was eagerly awaiting the information it was expected to convey. None the less, it had to undergo the regular procedure of inspection by the Registrar; and, as it happened, this was more than a fruitless formality. Before the manuscript was given to the press a trained essayist was appointed to help me reconstruct the style; and, thanks to his assistance, my writing attained a dignity and polish I myself could never have supplied. But when at last the publication of the book was ordered, I had good reason to be gratified. An edition of fifty thousand was to be issued--an edition of phenomenal size considering that the population of Atlantis was only half a million. Naturally, I sought to know the reason for this enormous printing; and I learned much as to book distribution in the Sunken World. Publication, like all other activities, was solely in the hands of the government; and copies of all the hundreds of books issued each year were sent as a matter of course to every library in the land. Moreover, every citizen was permitted his choice of any fifty of the year’s books, the receipt of which was considered not a privilege but a right; and men and women engaged in research work were allowed in excess of fifty if they made plain their need of the additional volumes. In the case of my own book, public interest was at such a pitch, that a large percentage of the people were certain to include it among their chosen fifty; and the first edition was therefore regarded as conservative in size rather than excessive. So, in fact, it proved. The book was hardly off the press when orders began to pour in so rapidly that a second edition of fifty thousand had to be prepared. For it was literally true that every one was reading “The History of the Upper World”; and when I say every one, I do not mean one man out of every hundred, as might be the case were I writing on the earth; I mean that there was actually not a person of reading age who did not feel bound to acquaint himself with the contents of my book.