In 1933, Virginia Kirkus (1893-1980), once the head of the children's book department of Harper & Bros., launched the book review service that bears her name. It was an innovation in the field of publishing and selling books.

Arranging to receive advance galleys proofs of books from publishers--only 20 or so at first, but eventually nearly every firm of any size in the industry--Kirkus read the galleys and wrote out brief, critical evaluations of their literary merit and probable popular appeal.

Initially, the reviews were sent only to subscribing bookshops in the form of a bimonthly bulletin. Bookstore managers were thus given an informed and unbiased opinion on which to base their orders and promotions. Two years later, the service was also made available to libraries.

Today, after almost 70 years of uninterrupted twice-monthly publication, Kirkus Reviews continues to provide critical, descriptive, and concise (approx. 320-word) reviews of forthcoming books.

The reviews normally appear two or three months prior to publication. As before, the review in Kirkus is often the first review of a book to appear anywhere, and a good many books may receive no other notice than the one they get in Kirkus.

Twenty-four times a year - on the 1st and 15th of every month - Kirkus covers approximately 200 titles. These include all the new hardcover and trade-paper fiction, significant nonfiction, and the most important of children's and young adult books.

Extensive as this coverage is, it remains to some extent only an attempt at an ideal: Kirkus cannot review every one of the hundreds of books sent to its staff each week.

But for those Kirkus does choose to review, we point out not only the merits (and the faults, if need be) of each book, but also how each compares with others in its field, whether it has been written by a first-time author; by a recently emerged writer with a possibly strong future; or, perhaps, by an established figure whose work must be considered in the context of a full career.

Our eye, of course, is always open for books of particular literary merit or popular appeal (whatever the genre, if they even fit one, or the subject matter), and these we acclaim as they deserve. If they're captivating, capable, and interesting, we'll applaud them. If they're not, we'll say so.

But, either way, our aim is to go on providing Kirkus readers (librarians, newspaper editors, agents, film producers, booksellers, and those throughout the book world in general) with professional, informative, and impartial descriptive evaluations of forthcoming titles, and to do so on a timely basis.