Book Notes

One Million in Print

Two books published last year with high hopes but uncertain expectations will each soon have one million hard-cover copies in print: ''A Brief History of Time,'' by Stephen Hawking, published in March 1988 by Bantam Books, and ''All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,'' by Robert Fulgum, published last October by Villard Books.

Only a handful of books have come close to that, but one million copies is especially impressive for ''A Brief History of Time,'' whose author, a scientist, reviews efforts to create a unified theory of the universe. Its first printing was a respectable 50,000 copies, yet today, after 30 printings, it is in its 65th week on The New York Times best-seller list and is selling more than 30,000 copies a month.

Bantam officials say the book's success stems partly from admiration for Mr. Hawking, who is confined to a wheelchair with Lou Gehrig's disease. Sales of the book trebled last month after ABC's ''20/20'' broadcast a profile of him. But publishing analysts said that Mr. Hawking's work was also a gift book that offered something informative and challenging to read.

The Fulgum book, a collection of inspirational essays that grew out of the author's writings and sermons as a Unitarian minister, had a 75,000-copy first printing. Twenty-three printings later, it has been a best seller 40 weeks and is currently No. 1. Concern Over Wesleyan

Wesleyan University Press, independent since its founding in 1957, has published such authors as James Dickey, Jacques Barzun, Annie Dillard and Paul Horgan. It has also published important collections of poetry, along with many books on race, gender and class. When no commercial press would publish Thomas Whiteside's ''Blockbuster Complex: Conglomerates, Show Business and Book Publishing,'' Wesleyan did so.

Now, to the distress of its admirers, the press may become part of the University Press of New England, a consortium comprising nine other colleges and universities.