ISSUE NUMBER ONE* 1997 belongs to a different order of contesting creeds. All said however, these grand themes merely act as a backdrop to the more interest- ing delineation of the personal thoughts and actions of the leading characters in the novel. It is a pity that not much attention is given to detailing the circumstances of the personal life of the Mahdi and a few other characters, but in the instances where this is done, truly hu- man stories emerge. The personal aspirations and frustrations of the characters, the moments of doubt and despair, and their suffering are revealed. The soldiers of the vagrant Ninth Company of the Khedive's irregular calvary are seen from their human and monstrous, sides; the Khalifa's manipulation of power to his advantage ex- poses his primitive, megalomaniac instincts, Nejumi, the brilliant general, continues the battle even when he knows that all is lost, trust- ing simply in the unshakeable faith of going to heaven when he dies. The fated generals, Wil- liams Hicks and Charles Gordon, are swept into the cauldron of the war while Captain Hamilton Ellesworth goes through a scorching experience from which he never recovers. The liberal journalist Sherwood Louth is taken pris- oner of war and experiences firsthand the many horrors of war which his lackadaisical nature and intellectual cynicism had not prepared him for. Within this bristling book of signs, it is the vagrant orphan of the irregular calvary, Kadaro, and Hawi, the itinerant scholar and seeker of truth, who are given a fitful glimpse into the nature and meaning of this profoundly disturbing historical experience. When Kadaro is taken prisoner by the colonial army and he sees the engineers and engines and machine rails and 'the mountains of bale wire and fish- plates and spare broilers and machine tools and trolleys and a thousand other things whose purpose he could not even guess' he suddenly realises that the armies of the Khalifa, built on faith rather than tools and weapons, could never have withstood this force. 'And he un- derstood them that the battle was not between men of different colours or faiths, but between two different ages.' He sums it all up by say- ing: 'This was a war between yesterday and tomorrow'. In the end, Kadaro chooses tomorrow and becomes a railway stationmaster. Hawi, on the other hand, pairs up with Noon, the unusual girl who is some kind of spirit-child, once again choosing the mystical and metaphysical over the rational and scientific. But having seen so much, having been a participant in the Khalifa's brief reign when the new leader had inherited the obscene splendour and opulence of colonialism, he had also, without realising it, lost his faith. His final crucifixion on a tele- graph pole for the sin of apostasy serves as a fitting conclusion to this tale. With Kadaro pre- siding over his hanging, the direction to tomor- row seems clearly stated. This is the real lesson of this novel, a les- son that modern day Sudan can benefit from. Otherwise these signs may turn out to be mere delusions, detailing a historical tragedy about to repeat itself. Harry Garuba, poet and literary critic lectures in the Department of English, University of Ibadan. Nigerian Book Publishing Index L. I. Ehigiator Ranti Osunfowora, Evans Madu, Leo Osuji, Ramon Akinbode (compiled) NIGERIAN BOOKS IN PRINT. Nigerian Publishers Asso- ciation, Ibadan, 1996, 456 pp. tions. Sections are further sub- divided into pre-primary, pri- mary secondary, tertiary, re- search publications and gen- eral. Entries are made under author's name or title. Each of the sections are arranged in a single alphabetical order un- der subject according to the main entry. Word by word order is maintained in the ar- rangement of all the entries. Each entry is allocated a number. A total of five thou- sand, seven hundred and sev- T HIS is the first edi tion of the Nigerian Books-in-print, a bold attempt by the Nigerian Publishers Associa- tion at giving a list of all pub- lished books in Nigeria as at December 1995. With entries from some 65 local publishers, this index will be found a good reference material by students, book- sellers, librarians and re- searchers on available books in Nigeria and how they can be obtained. The Nigerian-Books-in- print is divided into four sec- Glendon Booh* Supplement •ISSUE NUMBER ONE • 1887 • enty three entries are con- tained in the book. Each of the four sections has an Au- thor Index which indicates the name of the author fea- tuFed, the number allocated to the book(s) written by him. See also references are made where necessary to facilitate easy reference in the book. A full entry consists of the following details where avail- able: Author, title, subtitle, vol- ume or part edition, year of publication, edition (if, other than the first), the size of the book (length and breadth in cm) number of pages, ISBN, series statement (including the number of publication if part of a series), and language (if the text is in other language other than English). The date of publication for each entry is given as sup- plied by the publisher or as available in the source. Prices of the materials are not included in the publica- tion because of inflation and fluctuation in prices. Some titles merely distributed by reputable publishers are listed along with the publications of such publishers. Publishers' names are ab- breviated in some entries. The full meaning of these abbrevia- tions, as well as their ad- dresses, are contained in the publishers' directory. Many of the entries by the apex publishers carry Interna- tional Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) issued by the Biblio- graphic Section of the National Library of Nigeria, Ijora, Lagos. Those wishing to order are advised not to use the ISBN alone while ordering. An author index to the work is con- tained in pages 446-56. The name of the author whether single or jointly authored, along with the number allo- cated to the publications in the serial numbering of entries is given in the Author Index. With the exception of a few anomalies, (for example some entries are made under editors which negates the provisions of the Anglo-American Cata- loguing Rules Second edition, 1978 now revised 3rd edi- tion), the efforts of the NPA is commendable. It is hoped that the errors in the first edition will be corrected in subsequent editions and that the publication will be revised frequently. The publication will no doubt create a national and International awareness of what educational books and data are actually available in Nigeria and where they can be procured. Nigerian Books-in-Print 1996 like its counterparts British Books-in-Print, Afri- can Books-in-Print, etc. will make a unique contribution to the book trade in Nigeria especially for the identifica- tion and acquisition of mate- rials. The work is valuable ac- quisition for libraries and book traders. L. I. Ehigiator is a Senior Librarian at Edo State University. Ebpoma. Nigeria. In Pursuit of Publishing Wumi Raji Hans M. Zell & Cecile Lomer, PUBLISHING AND BOOK DEVEL- OPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: AN ANNOTATED BIBLI- OGRAPHY, Hans Zefl publishers, Oxford, 1996. W HEN a definitive history of Af rican publishing is written, Hans M. Zell, one of the two au thors of the volume under re- view will stand out. Directly, Hans Zell repre- sents our reason for adapting In Pursuit of Pub- lishing the title of the autobiography of the late Alan Hill, initiator and facilitator of Heinemann's African Writers Series (AWS) as the headingifcr this review. Zell was the direc- tor of the Ife University Press for much of the Seventies. In that period, the press became the model for University presses in Nigeria as well as in Africa - in the light of its distinguished scholarly publications and particularly then once famous but now deceased annual book fair it originated. In 1973, the press organised an international conference on the theme, Publish- ing in Africa - a Dialogue for the Seventies, an event that pulled participants from all over Africa and Europe and America. Zell later left Ife to found his own publishing company in the UK which is unambiguously focused on Africa publishing and book development. But Zell also functioned as the intellectual, editing since 1975, The African Book Publish- ing Record (ABPR) a bibliographic journal pro- duced in cooperation with well over one thou- sand publishers and research centres, learned societies and professional bodies spread over the continent. ABPR has listed titles in English, French and indigenous languages as well as publishing reviews, interviews and essays. Beside. Zell has written, compiled and edited Glendon Books Supplement