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readership beyond Smithsonian Associates by expanding direct-mail promotion, and by pursuing distribution and co-publishing arrangements with well-respected domestic and foreign publishing houses.

CURRENT ACTIVIY

A book on the Sun, tentatively titled [[underlined]] The Fire of Life[[/underlined]], is the single book under development at present. All the articles, as well as supporting photography and illustration, have been commissioned, the basic design has been established, and production bids have been solicited. Publication is slated for February 1981, to coincide with the scheduled date for the initial direct-mail promotion. 

At the time of the previous Director's departure, Smithsonian Exposition Books was testing several new book ideas and doing exploratory work on others. These include a book based on the forthcoming [[underlined]] Celebrations [[/underlined]] exhibit jointly sponsored by the Renwick Gallery and the Folklife Program; a historical and cultural atlas of American Civilization, intended for co-development and production with one of the leading atlas publishers in the United States; books on exploration and evolution; and a young persons' series. 

Also under consideration and testing is a just completed book on the world's jungles, edited by Dr. Edward Ayensu, Director of the Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History. The test is intended not only to determine SI Associates' interest in this particular work, but their response in general to serious works reflecting major scientific and ecological concerns of the Institution. 

Experience since 1976 strongly indicates that additional Smithsonian Exposition Books should be predicated on 1) developing books that have a close relation to SI collections and research; 2) producing books prepared by single