Overview Richard Abel (1925-2013) was a bookman: a printer, publisher, and major distributor of scholarly titles to the academic world. As a Reed student in the Class of 1948, he was active in organizing music programs in the Capehart Room, in printing for the Champoeg Press, and as a manager of the Reed College Bookstore. He went on to form an early distribution company for academic libraries, making many novel improvements in the approval plan concept, centralized cataloging, and computerization of...