The more you know of the subjects or authors in this list the more likely you will be to say what a Western professor of theology said, in reviewing the articles in the Britannica dealing with the Bible: “They are the very authorities that I would have chosen to write these articles!”
But the Britannica will serve the professional author in other ways than by giving him information in special fields and by keeping before him admirable models of style. He might well follow any of the courses suggested in the chapter on Literature in this Guide; and if he will read the articles on great authors written by great authors, already mentioned, he will have a doubly valuable course in biographical criticism by the ablest of literary critics.
Any newspaper writer or contributor to the periodical press should read such articles as:
Newspapers and Magazines
Newspapers (Vol. 19, p. 544; equivalent to 125 pages of this Guide), by Hugh Chisholm, editor-in-chief of the Britannica, with sections on the price of newspapers by Lord Northcliffe, on illustrated papers by Clement Shorter, general information on American newspapers, and an elaborate historical account of British, American and foreign newspapers.
Periodicals (Vol. 21, p. 151; equivalent to 40 pages in this Guide), by Henry Richard Tedder, librarian of the Athenaeum Club of London, treats the subject under the heads: British, United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, West Indies and British Crown Colonies, India and Ceylon, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Russia, and other Countries.
Societies, Learned (Vol. 25, p. 309), also by H. R. Tedder, deals with the publications of such societies and classifies them (with geographical sub-classification for each head) under Science Generally, Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology, Meteorology, Microscopy, Botany and Horticulture, Zoology, Anthropology, Sociology, Medicine and Surgery, Engineering and Architecture, Naval and Military Science, Agriculture and Trades, Literature, History and Archaeology, and Geography.
Local information in regard to newspapers and journalism will be found in separate local articles. Thus under Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco, etc., there is valuable information in regard to these cities as literary centers and about their principal periodical publications, including newspapers; and in the articles on smaller cities, such as Albany and Springfield, Mass., there are valuable historical sketches of the local press of each.
Literary Biographies
The newspaper man should read the biographies of great American printers and editors: William Bradford (Vol. 4, p. 370); Benjamin Franklin (Vol. 11, p. 24; equivalent to 20 pages of this Guide); Isaiah Thomas (Vol. 26, p. 867); Noah Webster (Vol. 28, p. 463); William Cullen Bryant (Vol. 4, p. 698); James G. Birney (Vol. 3, p. 988); Gamaliel Bailey (Vol. 3, p. 217); W. L. Garrison (Vol. 11, p. 477); James Gordon Bennett (Vol. 3, p. 740); Thurlow Weed (Vol. 28, p. 466); Gideon Welles (Vol. 28, p. 506); John Bigelow (Vol. 3, p. 922); Horace Greeley (Vol. 12, p. 531); Henry J. Raymond (Vol. 22, p. 933); George Ripley (Vol. 23, p. 363); C. A. Dana (Vol. 7, p. 791); George William Curtis (Vol. 7, p. 652); Carl Schurz (Vol. 24, p. 386); Samuel Bowles (Vol. 4, p. 344); Joseph R. Hawley (Vol. 13, p. 101); Whitelaw Reid (Vol. 23, p. 52); George W. Childs (Vol. 6, p. 141); E. L. Godkin (Vol. 12, p. 174); and Henry Watterson (Vol. 28, p. 418).