Amazon.com description: Product Description: A study of the conditions of the production and distribution of literature from the fall of the Roman Empire to the close of the Seventeenth Century. George Haven Putnam (1844-1930) was the son of G. P. Putnam. He served in the Civil War until he was captured by the Confederates in 1864; he retired with the rank of major. On his father's death he became head of G. P. Putnam's Sons. Major Putnam was active in many civic and social causes. He organized the American Publishers' Copyright League in 1887 and led the successful battle for passage of an international copyright law in 1891. He is also the author of Authors and Their Public in Ancient Times and Memories of a Publisher 1865-1915.