B 6 FrIday.16Y3,1974 ME WASHINGTON POST OSi WY a MI Dell, BantamRush Tapes Paperbacks By B. D. Colen Washington Po* Staff Writer Dell Publishing Co. and because they are considered Bantam Books know a real part of the public domain. comer when they see one. The two paperback book Bantam, no newcomer to publishers are racing fever- the publication of "quickie" ishly to see who will be first news-related books, hopes to to deliver a commercial pa- have its book on the stands perback version of Presi- dent Nixon's transcribed within 10 days. Bantam also telephone and office conver- published the Warren Com- sations to the book rack in mission Report and the Ker- your neighborhood drug ner Commission Report and stores. 47 other, such books. The publishing giants de- cided yesterday that the William Dickinson Jr., di- , President's conversations rector of The Washington are one of the hottest liter- Post Writers Group, said the ary properties in years, as Dell product should be out the Government Printing "some time next week." Office sold more 'than 2,000 Dickinson said the Dell- copies of the 1,308 pabe Washington Post book will transcripts as fast as they include related articles that could be carried from the appeared in The Washing- bindery to the GPO book ton Post the first few days Store yesterday. after the release of the tran- Those who wait for the scripts. publication of one of the "The book will be about ,two papersbacks will not be 700 pages in length, and will able to read the transcripts be called The Presidential as soon as those who buy Transcripts.' The first print- the original at the GPO, but ing tentatively has been set those who buy the commer- at 400,000 copies." cial book will save them- As workers at Dell's St. selves a good deal of money. Louis plant labor 24 hours a A .spokesman for Bantam day to prepare the book, said yesterday the Bantam Bantam is racing to get out version will sell for $2.95, its book, "The White House while the Dell Product will Transcripts." retail for $2.45, compared• to According to Esther Mar- $12.25 for the GPO version. golis, a Bantam vice presi- Each of the paperback dent, the Bantam book, too, firms is collaborating in the will be about 700 pages- The production of its book with initial press run has been a major American news- set for 300,000, she said. paper: Dell with The Wash- ington Post; Bantam with "It's going to be a paper- The New York Times and back edition of the complete Quadrangle Book s, The transcripts, with editorial Times' book division. material prepared by the While all profits from the editors and writers of The GPO version of the tran- New York Times," said Miss scripts must be returned to Margolis. The book will in- the U.S. Treasury and not clude several essays, intro- ductions' to each transcript the President, the two news- and an index of names that paper-book publisher combi- appear in the transcripts," nations share their profits, and do not have to pay any she said. royalties for the transcript 'This is the biggest pub- lishing sweepstakes of the year," said Dickinson. "It puts The Washington Post and The New York Times in a head-on race to get out the same book.* When the transcripts first went on sale Tuesday, the 720 available copies were' grabbed from the GPO dis- play table in three hours and 21 minutes. The sales pace was even faster yesterday, despite the $12.25 price tag on the book and the fact the GPO lim- ited sales to one to a cus- tomer. By Charles Del Vecchia—The Washington Past William Lee, white shirt, bands copy of tape transcripts to buyers in line at GPO rook Store yesterday morning.