Bibliography.—The article on this subject by Mr. Pollard, is only concerned with bibliography as the art of examination, collation and description of books,—their enumeration and arrangement in lists for purposes of information, and further, with the literature of this subject, i. e. with the bibliography of bibliography. The examination and collation of books to discover whether they are perfect and in their original condition are especially important in the case of rare books, like incunabula and first editions, piracies and spurious imprints. Photographic forgeries of books can usually be detected by the tendency of all photographic reproduction to thicken letters and exaggerate every kind of defect. Some of these imitations are, however, very cleverly made on paper of the period of the original and so are very hard to distinguish from the latter.
Book Collecting is sympathetically discussed by Mr. Pollard. The statement that the ultimate rarity of books varies in the inverse ratio of the number of copies originally printed, though recognized as a somewhat sweeping generalization, is conceded to be not far from the truth. No one thinks of collecting what is easily procurable at the moment. So long as the anticipation exists that a book will continue to be easily procurable the collecting impulse is restrained. Book collecting as a hobby is analyzed and the history of some notable private collections given. As Thomas Watts once said, the main office of private collections is to feed public institutions.
Libraries.—This brings us to the article on Libraries, written jointly by H. R. Tedder and J. Duff Brown, an article of about 65,000 words and deserving of more than a passing notice. It is the latest conspectus of library history and activity and if printed separately might have made a book of several hundred pages which would have been duly reviewed in all the professional journals. The fact that it is in the Britannica insures it even wider publicity and in view of its excellence we feel that it is worth while calling to the particular attention of librarians.
The general treatment divides the subject into Ancient libraries (3 pages) Mediaeval period (3 pages) and Modern libraries (26 pages). The first section has an archaeological rather than a professional interest, but the mediaeval period is of importance to us because in it is found the real origin of modern library organization. A rule of St. Benedict required the monks to borrow a book apiece and read it straight through. The books in the Benedictine monastery were kept in armaria, or chests; whence the name of the Benedictine librarian, armarius. The Carthusians are supposed to have been the first to lend books for use outside the monastery. The library at Cesena in Northern Italy is still preserved in its original condition. The Laurentian library at Florence was designed after monastic models.
The development of modern libraries is first illustrated by examples from the United Kingdom, by sketching the history of the British Museum, and other English Government libraries, by outlining the growth of the university libraries of Great Britain, incidentally touching on the libraries of learned societies, clubs, municipalities, and winding up with a section on British library administration. All this is admirably done, and deserves careful reading. The authors suggest several reforms and question some practices. For example, they feel that it would be an advantage from an administrative standpoint if the professional certificates of the Library Association were adopted by the Civil Service Commissioners as a compulsory requirement in addition to their own examination. They evidently favor some form of “registration,” the mooted topic before the British Library Association. The official recognition of a grade of properly trained librarians would in the opinion of these writers tend to improve the methods and efficiency of the government libraries, generally conceded to be behind the municipal libraries in organization and administration. It is pointed out that the reading of fiction in British municipal libraries is much less than commonly believed, being only 24 percent, even after due allowance is made for the reading of fiction in current magazines. Attention is called to the gradual disappearance of the unclassified municipal library, although in 1910 there were over 340 not closely classified, but only arranged in broad numerical or alphabetical divisions. The replacement of printed catalogs in book form by card catalogs and other forms, like the sheaf catalog, easily kept up to date, is noted as growing in favor. The great increase in the freedom of access allowed in lending libraries is considered the most striking tendency of recent years.
In the section devoted to the United States, the Library of Congress naturally comes first, and is characterized as “the most active government library in existence.” The rise of the state and university libraries is sketched, and something is said about the proprietary and endowed libraries of the country. That these writers are not of the group who have been saying unkind things about us, witness the following: “In no country has the movement for the development of municipal libraries made such progress as in the United States; these institutions ... are distinguished for their work, enterprise and the liberality with which they are supported.” There is an interesting comparison of the cost of maintenance of English and American libraries. East Orange, N. J. (population 35,000) spends $12,000 on its library system, while Dumfries in Scotland (population 23,000) spends $2,500. The city of Cincinnati, with practically the same population as the borough of Islington, London, spends more than three times as much money on its library system,—$130,000 as contrasted with $41,000. It would be instructive to compare the work done in these particular cities. The general statement is made that the provision of books is more generous in the American libraries than in those of Great Britain, but that more reading is done in the latter. The authors point out that work with the schools and children generally is more cultivated in the libraries of the United States than elsewhere. They are cautious in their statements, but one can read the doubt in their minds as to the wisdom of the “story hour” in the library. “The preponderance of women librarians and their natural sentimental regard for children has tended to make this work loom rather largely in some quarters, but with these exceptions the activity on behalf of children is justified on many grounds. But above all, it is manifest that a rapidly growing nation, finding homes for thousands of foreigners and their children annually, must use every means of rapidly educating their new citizens, and the public library is one of the most efficient and ready ways of accomplishing this great national object.”
While the remainder of the article, devoted to libraries in non-English speaking countries, is of less immediate interest to the average library assistant, it should be read with care for the perspective it will help to give. We should know more of our historical background and here is an excellent place to get a bird’s eye view of the whole library movement. The account of the Bibliothèque Nationale and other libraries of Paris, is very complete and contains references and statistics not generally available. The description of the Berlin libraries is less full, but satisfactory. The Italian libraries come in for their share of attention, and the article ends with accounts of the library movement and the noteworthy libraries in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia, China and Japan. The article as a whole will bear reading several times and can be consulted constantly with full-reliance upon its detailed information.
In addition to the above there are articles which have a special interest for different classes of library workers. The cataloger will want to read what is said on the Index, where a high compliment is paid “American enterprise” for the modern device of the card catalog cabinet, and the Library of Congress for its printed card work. The assistant in the periodical room ought to read the article on Periodicals by Mr. Tedder, which deals chiefly with publications devoted to general literature, literary and critical reviews, and magazines for the supply of miscellaneous reading. It takes up in historical sequence the British quarterlies, monthlies, weeklies, modern magazines and cheap publications; then those of the United States, Canada and other British possessions, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Russia and other countries. Under the caption of Caricature Mr. M. H. Spielman writes entertainingly concerning the popular illustrated periodicals of Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States. In the latter section he sketches the rise of Thomas Nast, discusses the influence of Life, and the work of C. D. Gibson and A. B. Frost. In his paragraph on Cartoon Mr. Spielman says that John Leech’s drawing in No. 105 of Punch was the first caricature to be called a “cartoon.” After a while Punch dropped the latter word but the public took it up. The information concerning Newspapers has been garnered by several hands. Mr. Hugh Chisholm, the editor of the present edition of the Britannica, and for some years connected with the London Times, writes the first installment entitled “General considerations” giving the historical development of the newspaper (particularly the English) from the Oxford Gazette of 1665, through the days of the “leading article” by prominent writers, down to the time of the “news agencies.” The present status of journalism, with its well developed commercial side, is passed in review, and the influence of American journalism is duly set forth. The cheapening of paper, which within one generation dropped from 22 cents to as low as 1-1/2 cents a pound, is shown to have had the obvious tendency of increasing the size of newspapers and reducing the price. The attitude of some English newspaper publishers towards news of the turf is instructive to American librarians who have read of the “blocking out” of sporting tips deemed necessary in some English libraries. The simultaneous growth of the cheap newspaper throughout the civilized world is commented upon by Lord Northcote in two interpolated paragraphs, which are followed by some remarks on Illustrated Papers by Mr. Clement K. Shorter. The remainder of the article by Mr. Chisholm consists of a very full account of British newspapers (in which certain portions of the article by Edward Edwards, of library fame, in the earlier edition of the Britannica, have been incorporated) followed by an historical sketch of those of the United States, of France, Germany and other European countries.
Much of the information presented by Prof. E. G. Ravenstein under the caption Map is of immediate interest to all of us. It treats in turn of the classification and scale of maps, delineation of the ground, selection of names and orthography, measurement on maps, relief maps, map printing, history of cartography, and topographical surveys. The reading of what Mr. H. R. Tedder has to say on Pamphlets may make the library assistant who has to handle them more kindly disposed toward this class of publications. There is nothing like knowing the history of a subject to incite interest in it.
The bibliographies appended to each article will enable the inquiring and ambitious assistant to pursue further such phases of the questions involved as may make the stronger appeal; but the source of the greatest satisfaction is that the workers in the smaller libraries, where but little of the literature of librarianship is to be found, can find within the covers of the Encyclopædia Britannica a conspectus of authoritative statements on many matters of professional interest.