The Library World Volume 5 Issue 8

Abstract

IN the progress of a course of lectures on Elementary Bibliography, I found some difficulty in obtaining for my students, a brief and satisfactory list of some of the leading and most typical bibliographies. There are a number of bibliographies of bibliographies published, general and select, but none of them are available in handy form for class purposes. The following list of books on bibliographical subjects, represents the works which I described in detail to my students as representative and useful examples of books about books, and I also exhibited nearly the whole of them, so as to familiarize the students with the physical appearance and contents of the majority of the books. I have reprinted this list through the courtesy of the editor of the Library World, because it has been suggested that it may be useful to many librarians whose stock of bibliography is small, and to assistants who are studying the elements of practical bibliography. The list makes no pretence either to fulness or accuracy, and must be taken for what it really is, a working list of bibliographies prepared as a series of suggestions. Neither sections three or four are more than the barest outlines, but they contain representative books well worth study. I found difficulty in obtaining specimens of some of the older bibliographies like Mattaire, Panzer, Hain, &c., and as these works are becoming very scarce and costly, it will be a matter of impossibility for the municipal libraries to obtain copies either for love or money. Most of the British municipal libraries are poorly equipped with the leading bibliographical works of reference, and but for the kindness of Mr. Thomas Greenwood and others, I should not have been able to borrow for exhibition one half of those I was able to show. This seems to me a strong reason why the library of the Library Association should be equipped with all the necessary books for the study and teaching of bibliography and library economy. Bibliographical works are becoming so scarce, that students who have to work away from the large old established libraries, will find it difficult to make satisfactory progress.

Citation

(1903), "The Library World Volume 5 Issue 8", New Library World, Vol. 5 No. 8, pp. 196-224. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb008852