* Scott Meredith; Pioneering Literary Agent

Scott Meredith, 69, the literary agent who pioneered the concept of book auctions in publishing. After a brief career as a short-story writer, Meredith opened his company, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, in 1946. His clients included Norman Mailer, P.G. Wodehouse, Carl Sagan, Roseanne Arnold and Margaret Truman. He wrote “Writing to Sell,” which has been in print since 1950, and the biography “George S. Kaufman and His Friends.” In 1952, Meredith initiated the book auction in which a manuscript is offered to many publishing houses at once with publication rights going to the highest bidder. Forty years ago the practice was considered outrageous, but it has become commonplace. On Thursday in Manhasset, N.Y., of cancer.