D. Appleton & Company, New York City.
Macmillan Company, New York City.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Ronald Press, New York City.
A. W. Shaw Company, Chicago, Ill.
Two bibliographies on financial and economic subjects of value to business men are The Stock Exchange Business and Corporation Finance and Investment, published by The Investment Bankers Association of America, 111 West Monroe Street, Chicago, price $1.10 each.
Selecting Reference Books
In selecting reference books for a business library it is wise to keep in mind the following facts. It does not necessarily follow that because a book is printed on a subject it is therefore authoritative and worth while purchasing. Examine and test the credentials for worthiness of every reference book carefully. Even the best reference books fall down at some point and must be used with judgment. No matter how excellent a reference book appears to be in its accuracy and completeness, remember it is of no value to the business library unless that library has particular use for it. It is almost as serious a fault in a business library to have more books than are needed as it is to have too few books to meet the needs. A good purchasing rule to follow, is to buy only after it has been clearly demonstrated that the library has no book which will give certain information desired, for it has been found that a few well selected reference books will answer a multitude of questions, and some of the business libraries doing the best work have comparatively few working tools of this class. It must be remembered also that it is not sufficient to buy a copy of an annual publication once, but that the latest edition must be purchased each year in order that the information may be kept strictly up to date.
Dictionaries
The first and foremost reference book which a business office needs is an English dictionary, for the men who dictate and the stenographers who write reports and letters must have an authoritative source to which they can turn for definitions, spelling, synonyms, hyphenation and pronunciation.
The two best single volume dictionaries, costing about sixteen dollars each, are the latest editions of the Standard Dictionary, published by Funk and Wagnalls, and Webster's New International Dictionary, published by Merriam. Of these two dictionaries the preference of many scholars is for Webster, although the Standard is considered most excellent on present day words and their meanings. One of the drawbacks in using Webster hurriedly is the divided page. In the upper part of the page the main words of the language are given, and in the lower part in smaller type are given the minor words, foreign phrases and abbreviations.
In an office which prepares a great deal of advertising material, or "copy" for publication, a thesaurus dictionary will be very useful. March's Thesaurus Dictionary of the English Language, Philadelphia Historical Publishing Company, "designed to suggest immediately any desired word to express exactly a given idea; a dictionary of synonyms, antonyms, idioms, foreign phrases, pronunciation, a copious correlation of words," may be purchased for $15.00, if an elaborate dictionary of this kind is to be desired. Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases may be purchased in several editions, prices $1.25 up to $2.00.
The business library will do well to provide a few books on business English, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations and correspondence forms, a few of which are the following:
Vizetelly Desk Book of Errors in English, New York, Funk & Wagnalls, $1.00.
Putnam's Correspondence Handbook, New York, Putnam, $1.75.
Lewis Business English, Chicago, LaSalle Extension University, $1.40.
Manley & Powell Manual for Writers, University of Chicago Press, $1.25.
University of Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press, $1.50.
United States Public Printer Style Book, a compilation of rules governing executive, congressional and departmental printing, Washington, Superintendent of Documents, $0.15.