IN the UK the Price Commission has administered various forms of price control since 1973. Up until July 1977 its hands were tied by a largely non-discretionary Price Code. On Ist August 1977 a new Price Commission Act came into operation which embodied a more flexible approach. Although the Commission's raison d'etre remains that of price restraint it is now permitted to use its own criteria for deciding whether prices are excessive subject to the proviso that 'efficient suppliers of goods and services' should be allowed to make 'adequate profits'. During its first six months of operation the new Price Commission produced five sector reports under section II of the 1977 Act. In June 1978, after some delay, the Commission published its sixth report on 'prices, costs and margins in the publishing, printing and distribution of books, with particular reference to technical books'. Precisely why it saw fit to investigate the book industry in the first place remains something of a mystery. On the publishing side which the report dwelt upon in greatest detail there are some I700 firms producing 36,ooo distinct products each year; the overall level of concentration is very low; entry into the industry is unusually easy; collusion to control markets inappropriate; and evidence of price leadership entirely lacking. Furthermore the Commission was expressly forbidden to reappraise the Net Book Agreement which some readers may consider a matter of more legitimate concern. What appears to have happened is that certain academics complained vociferously about unreasonably high prices of technical books, hence the selection of that area of publishing for special scrutiny. However, this immediately raises the difficulty of defining what is meant by a 'technical' book. The Business Monitor series PQ 489 distinguishes a category called 'technical and scientific' which accounts for some 17-i8% of total book output, predominantly in hardback form. The Price Commission prefers to define technical books more widely as 'books used in formal education beyond the secondary stage' thereby including 'scientific, technical, academic, reference, medical and professional books' and excluding school textbooks. Unfortunately there is no mention in the report of the proportion of total book output which is accounted for in this definition. Furthermore the Commission were unable to provide this seemingly crucial information when questioned by the author. Publishers do not normally categorize their output in this way so the process of distinguishing between technical