New York - Two more book publishers spent the weekend producing and shipping instant paperback editions of the 445-page report from the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, bringing to three the number that they hope to have on sale by today.
In terms of public documents, the publishers' interest recalled the release in 1971 of three books containing portions of the Pentagon Papers, the government's classified history of decision-making on the Vietnam War.
Pocket Books, a large division of Simon & Schuster, said on Friday that it expected to print 500,000 copies of the Starr report in a $5.99 standard paperback size. Prima Publishing, a smaller company based in Rocklin, California, announced on Friday that it planned to ship about 100,000 copies of a $9.99 oversize paperback.
The first publisher to jump in was Public Affairs, a newly formed imprint in New York, which said that it would print 200,000 copies of a $10 oversize paperback that also would contain the White House response to Mr Starr and reporting from the Washington Post. All three books are to be entitled The Starr Report.