Recent Publications

JAMES N. GREEN, BOOK REVIEW EDITOR

Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship reviews books, annual reports, new periodicals, and occasional book and auction catalogues pertaining directly and indirectly to the fields of rare books librarianship, manuscript curatorship, and archives management. Publishers, librarians, and archivists are asked to send appro· priate publications for review or notice to the book review editor. Books are occasionally received which are not strictly witin the limited scope chosen for this Book Review section, but which might nevertheless be of interest to readers of RBML. In future issues such books will be noted as Books Received, whenever the list grows long enough to warrant publication. Books or publication announcements should be sent to the book review editor: James N. Green, Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107-5698; (215) 546-3181.

REVIEWS seeped away from Philadelphia. One wag Wolfe, Richard J, Marbled Paper: Its suggested the large number of slides History, Techniques, and Pattems with intentionally prOvided cover under which Special Reference to the Relationship those with trains to catch could slip away of Marbling to Bookbinding in Europe in relative obSCUrity. Some who attended and the Western World. Philadelphia: the lectures may therefore doubtitpossible, The University of Pennsylvania Press, but this monumental book expands as 1990. 245p. $95.00. ISBN 0-8122-8188- well as records Wolfe's lectures. 8. Monumental it is: 192 double-column As Richard J. Wolfe's 1981 A.S.W. pages, almost nine inches by twelve, follow Rosenbach Fellowship lectures prog­ a brief preface and acknowledgements. ressed, word of their length and denSity The text, in tum, is followed by 35 pages

James N. Green is Curator of Printed Books at the Library Company of Philadelphia.

105 106 RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANSHIP of notes and 17 of index. On the order of is a large bit of color here, another splash a quarter million words, all told. Not there, but the pattern fails to cohere. included in the page count are 46 pages The first book is a history of marbling of color plates and their captions, some as a craft industry in Europe and America; 350 images total. One 18-page section Far Eastern marbling is discussed briefly alone reproduces 192 "ofthe most common in the early chapters but not followed up marbled patterns'-though Wolfe elsewhere. This book is difficult because apolOgizes that even these "can never be sources, documentary and otherwise, are enough to serve as more than a mere scant, but Wolfe produces an always closely outline or guide to the most common reasoned, frequently compelling, account patterns produced in Europe and America of practices at particular places and in during the first four centuries when this particular periods. art came to be practiced in the West" (p. The second book is an extended 179). Another 80 or so black-and-white bibliographie commentary on the Western illustrations enhance the text. Marbled literature of marbling. This bookis difficult Paper is an astonishing accumulation of because the sources are intertwined with knowledge and experience, gracefully bookbinding literature; are typically, often designed, carefully proofread, I crisply intentionally, quite abbreviated printed, Smythe sewn, sturdily cased, deSCriptions of a complicated craft; and attractively dustjacketed in a reproduction because the development ofmore preCisely of a marble ofWolfe's own manufacture. deSCriptive scientific language leaves their In spite of its size it is a pleasure to handle meaning no longer at all obvious. With and to look at. his earlier writing and experimental Richard Wolfe has no peer in his marbling, however, Wolfe has made major combined knowledge of marbling history contributions to recovering these texts­ and of marbling technique, the one simply finding them in one of their few expertise constantly reinforcing the other, remaining copies, translating them, and as a rare book librarian he has had reprinting them, forCing them to yield ample opportunity to examine thousands practical results-and those contributions of early marbles used as endsheets in are reviewed and extended here. books. These unique qualifications have The third book, somewhere between made this impressive book possible. scientific treatise and how-to-do-it manual, Unfortunately, Wolfe has not brought discusses the chemistry, phYSiCS, materials them smoothly into focus: he has produced and equipment of marbling. The fourth at least fourrelated books which intersect, book surveys the "evolution" of marbling overlap, and intertwine with great patterns. complexity-and no little redundancy. Linking all this together is a prejudice His work leaves the reader with an never directly stated. There are myriad impression that no way resembles the ways ofputting patterned colors on paper­ image of sharply distinct colors, however from painting to printing-and several intricately patterned, so characteristic of share the name marbling. One way is to the marbles Wolfe greatly admires-and create a size bath, float on it colors whose himself creates. It's rather more a muddle. position on the bath surface can be tightly Or, better, to modifY the metaphor: there controlled, manipulate those colors with RECENT PUBLICATIONS 107 simple tools to create arepeatable pattern, deep skeptiCism about the essential then transfer the pattern to paper; this is seriousness of the rather sizable number what Wolfe sometimes calls "classical of contemporary artists who have marbling."What interests Wolfe-I don't rediscovered the marbling process: they think it unfair to say all that interests do not exhibit, for him, the diSCipline Wolfe-is a single question: when forced by craft conditions. confronted with a piece of paper bearing Wolfe has set himself many goals, a classical marble Wolfe asks, "how can achieved many of them splendidly, and this pattern be recreated?" Wolfe is created a store of information that many certainly aware ofa tension here: a classical of us will gratefully return to again and marble is necessarily unique (no two again. It is therefore hard to account examples ofa pattern are preciselysimilar), responsibly for the feeling that something yet to interest him it must be part of a still has gone missing. This feeling is, family whose members are essentially the perhaps, most sharply felt at the point same. 2 And while the question is simple, that most ofus will most frequently consult answering it for now a 15th-century Turkish this book: what assistance does it provide sheet, now a 16th-century German sheet, with the deSCription of a particular marble? now a 19th-century British sheet, is far Is this a snail, a curl, a placard, a shell, a from easy. The answers are remarkably Stormont? Directly, sadly, the answer is varied; and that is one of the great quite uncertain, because Wolfe assumes challenges of marbling. we wish to know "what deSigns evolved in His prejudice allows Wolfe to put aside particular regions at given times" (page a great many matters. Oil marbling is 179), a distinctly more complex question, "actually a bastardized form of marbling, as Wolfe explains in considerable detail. for it does not allow control" (p. 135), and Marblers have created a relatively small gets short shrift (though the work of numberofbasicpattems---.somefewdozen Swedish marbler Ingeborg Borjesson or less from the evidence of Wolfe's merits grudging approval). Artists index"-but each pattern can be varied in concerned to exploit uniqueness of image a much larger number of ways to produce interest Wolfe little: he never says directly a daunting number of sub-families and, but seems to believe that almost anyone in the end, an infinite number of unique can achieve an arresting design once: to examples. To what degree and in what repeat it at will, aye, there's the rub. ways must one example resemble another Consequently, while there is a longish to count as a family member? Abstractly recountingofnineteenth-centuryGerman considered, there seem only two ways to efforts to mechanize the process, Wolfe's create a taxonomy for what is, histOrically principal purpose is to demonstrate why considered, a mess: either sort a huge it was a fatally flawed project: nothing can number of examples by essential and replace the skilled craftsman's hands, eyes accidental features into nameable families and experience. Furthermore, his (patterns); or recover the process by which discussion of marbling in our century is the sheet was made (thereby establishing limited-the period when craft-made pattern and variation). The first is marbles were widely used in bookbinding problematic: no number of examples, had passed-and, such as it is, reflects a however large, is quite large enough, and 108 RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANSHIP the criteria which define essential and century English manual) gives instructions accidental may collapse it into method on making it.' two. Method two, however, seems quite For many patterns, certainly, it would promising, and Wolfe's natural choice in be possible to relate illustration and process light of his hands-on marbling experience. more closely, at the cost of considerable In his concluding essay, however, Wolfe, work teasing strands of information from "after giving the matter serious thought," the text. Still, many of us will be tempted "elected to discuss and arrange the to continue to consult first the frontispiece following patterns by country and period" of Bernard Middleton's A History of (p. 179), thereby preserving the historical English Craft Bookbinding Technique' blur and partially retracing his earlier with its mere dozen less well-reproduced text. Though titled "The Evolution of but forthrightly labeled examples, then Marbled Patterns," Wolfe admits turn to Wolfe for nuances, modifications "'Progress' in marbling, as in most other and refinements aplenty. fields, has been marked by a continual Wolfe begins his preface, "The work search for cheaper and quicker methods" that follows is the outcome of research (p. 182), making evolution a dubious begun more than twenty-five years ago," concept to introduce in this context. In research that included, he says, much any case, place and time are irrelevant to collecting of material, much reading, much the definition of pattern and variation. handling and close observation of books Once invented they remain timeless, their and paper, much travel, and the marbling place and time of invention being of 20,000 sheets of paper. His report of accidental. that research is grounded in enormous Take, for example, an early French respect for the individual sheet; and it is pattern, the "placard," illustrated as Wolfe's in thatsensea work ofextreme practicality, samples 1 and 26, and the same swirled, nearly devoid of theory' Can we hope samples 2 and 27. One and two are of that Wolfe might be persuaded to balance French manufacture, 26and27 ofGerman. this book with another, equally needed, Wolfe attributes "very precise, superior which he is also uniquely qualified to technique" to the German (p. 182). Can write, and which lays out a theory of anyone, even Wolfe, determine this from pattern commensurate with the precision the reproductions? Surely not, as he would and brilliance ofthe papers themselves?­ be the first to insist ("I must emphasize Sidney F. Huttner, Rare Books and Special that it is often difficult and sometimes Collections Division, McFarlin Library, impossible to distinguish German and The University of Tulsa. French production of a given design ..." (p. 182). Howwould a traditionally crafted placard made today "look different" when NOTES photographed? Then what is the pOint of 1. I noticed only one typographical reproduction? And how is the placard error: page numbers were not added to a pattern actually achieved? Wolfe's index "see" reference in the last paragraph of has eleven page references to "placard," page 72. the last of which reports that W oolnough 2. It comes as a very considerable (author of a well-known nineteenth- shock to have Wolfe say, only a few pages RECENT PUBLICATIONS 109 from the end of his text. "Essentially. there are only two kinds of marbled Catalogue 30: patterns: spot or thrown designs and combed ones; indeed. all marbled designs. Old, Rare & Out of Print Books, Jour­ including the combed ones. are merely nals, Pamphlets and some Manuscripts relating to modifications and refinements ofthe initial Anarchism spot pattern" (pages 183-84). But Wolfe Communism has been discussing (and discriminating) Socialism. patterns and variations for thousands of words! What he perhaps means to say is • Catalogue 31: that all designs are produced in two (or one) fundamental ways-he has said this Americana before in other words. Nonetheless. the Old, Rare & Out of Print Books, Jour­ statement seems to betray a fundamental nals and Pamphlets. misunderstanding between the pattern • produced and process used to produce it. Catalogue 32: Had Wolfe made this observation in his early pages. and developed it systematically. Philosophy one wonders if his book would not have Old, Rare & Out of Print Books, Jour­ taken quite different shape. nals and Pamphlets. 3. Patterns are indexed under"Marbled Free on request. patterns" without cross-references from individual designs. It takes a while to discover this. 4. Marbled Paper lacks a separate bibliography. which would have been useful in light of the large number of texts cited; but one can again use the index to locate a complete citation. Woolnough merits about three column inches ofindex. A.GERITS & SONS 5. London: Hafner. 1963; new editions Modern and Antiquarian Bookseller. by London: Holland Press. 1978 and 1988. Library Agenu

6. This is not to say there are no insights Prinsengracht 445~ P.O. Box 664 of theoretical value. Wolfe argues. for 1000 AR Amsterdam, The Netherlands example. that while marbles used as Teleph. 31-20-27 22 85· Fax 31-20-25 89 70 endsheets can rarely be used with • confidence to place and date a text they Out of Print & Antiquarian Catalogues surround, edge marbling is inherently and more regionally specific. Creation of a Flyers of New and Forthcoming catalog of edge marbling deserves careful European Publications consideration. lowe my own appreciation Free on request of the value of this insight to John Bidwell. European (West & East) Out of Print Searching Service llO RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANSHIP

Hobson, Anthony, Humanists and began to alter the ways in which books Bookbinders: The Origins and Diffusion were covered. Theirchangeswere intended of the Humanistic Bookbinding better to reflect the humanistic interests 1459-1559, with a census ofhis to ria ted they and their books sought to promote. plaquette and medallion bindings of For one example, they used plaquette the Renaissance, Cambridge and New ornamentation on bindings to portray York: Cambridge University Press, "reigning princes, . . . poets, classical or 1989. $125. ISBN 0-521-35536-2. allegorical scenes ... , antique subjects, "Two writers .. . criticized an earlier . . , and personal imprese" to signal "a work of mine," Anthony Hobson writes in humanistic work that enlarged the classical the "Preface" to Humanists and experience, or to declare the author's, or Bookbinders, "for approaching the subject the owner's, commitment to the revival of from 'an antiquarian and erudite point of antiquity" (p. 122). view.' I plead guilty to this charge .... Ciriaco d'Ancona, Andrea Mantegna, [My] aim is . . . through the study of the Giovanni Marcanova. Felice Feliciano, bookbindings to make a contribution, and Bartolomeo Sanvitowere among these however slight, to the cultural history of Paduan humanists. They provided the the period" (p. xvi). intellectual context within which was to A reader may safely ignore Hobson's develop what Hobson calls "the 'humanistic overly modest "however slight." An binding' of gold-tooled leather, at first antiquarian and erudite contribution, and over wooden boards, later over also a notable one, to cultural history is pasteboards" (p.l). Feliciano and Sanvito preciselywhatHumanists and Bookbinders particularly were to contribute to the provides. Librarians and bibliographers creation of this intellectual context. Also, are sometimes made uneasy by the through their own exemplary frequently repeated, and usually ignorant, bookbindings, they would prOvide early allegation that we overvalue physical models of what would become the evidence, as compared to the obviously humanistic binding style. Feliciano is more significant intellectual content of already well known to book historians for the manuscripts and printed books for his letterforrns, studied, inter alia, by which we care. Therefore, we will read Giovanni Mardersteig in his edition of this book about the physical covers of Feliciano's Alphabetum Romanum Renaissance books with pleasure and profit (Verona: Officina Bodoni, 1960, pp. 14-30 even beyond what its author may have et passim). But he was also a binder. One thought to provide. pleasure of Hobson' s bookis his convincing Hobson begins his tale in Florence association of Feliciano and Sanvito with and Padua at the end of the fourteenth particular bookbindings, both intrinsically and early in the fifteenth centuries. A Significant as aesthetic objects in their circle ofPaduan scribes and scholars busy own right and also histOrically important vivifying the concept of "Renaissance" in to the development of the humanistic their enthusiastic retrieval of antiquity's bookbinding style. remains-archaeological, artistic, and The Paduans did not invent the new literary, preserved in monuments, style completely independent of prior inSCriptions, statuary, and manuscripts- decorative efforts. In Lombardy, because RECENT PUBLICATIONS III

"Italy had no early tradition of decorated of the materials needed by the newer leather bindings" and where "manuscript style (compared to the cost of the "cloth illuminators already had a pronounced of gold, velvet and satin, the gilt bosses taste for the French style:' binders seeking and enamelled gold clasps of the gothic models, like illuminators, had looked to tradition "); the sheer novelty of the new the north (I" 13). Elsewhere, Italian style and its lack of any association with "binders were more receptive to models the contents of gothic books bound in from the Moslem countries to the south gothic bindings: these factors all and east" (I" 19). Small tools massed into encouraged adoption of "the 'humanistic geometrical patterns, originally blind­ binding' ... [of] gold-tooled covers tooled but later "enlivened with punch­ popularised by the Paduan Renaissance" gilt or coloured roundels," formed the (pl" 58--59). basis ofa "Florentine" style clearly Islamic Islamic motifs did not foreverdominate in inspiration (I" 19). Surviving exemplars the new bookbinding styles, however. of this style indicate that "gold-tooling I magery derived from classical sources was not a late fifteenth-centul)' discovel)' (e.g., palmettes, bound laurel, two cranes .. . [but] was practised in Florence at the drinking from an urn) gradually became vel)' beginning of the Renaissance." By more common. "A progressive evolution the 1450s, gold-toolingwas"widely known away from Islamic motifs" (I" 82), in an in Italy." Variations evolved from direct effort to achieve an entirely classical experience of Islamic bindings, brought vocabulary of decorative patterns, home via Italy's extensive trade networks characterized the 1490s. Classical, Islamic, or through imitation, adaptation, and and indigenous elements would eventually assimilation of Islamic motifs observed in com bine to prOvide the repertoire of the practice of European binders (I" 30). sixteenth-century Italian bookbinders. But only after its adoption and extension Their art was quickly transformed by by the men responsible for the Paduan "gilt-tooling, polychrome filigree, [and] stylistic shift of about 1460 did the new architectural and plaquette ornament" humanistic binding become a widespread which developed rapidly at the end of the option outside Florence for binders treating fifteenth centul)'. Afterinitial confinement book coverings. to work performed for "a small elite on Why should a style so heavily dependent presentation copies," these elements upon Islamic bookbinding elements have became the "forerunners" of commercial been developed by a group of humanists binding in the next century (I" 90). interested in the rediscovery of classical The spread of the humanistic binding antiquity? Hobson points out that "no style to transalpine Europe accompanied ancient bindings had survived to be copied, the spread of humanism itself. "France or at least they [the scribes, scholars, and was the countl)' most receptive to the binders] knew of none"-and so they had humanistic style" (I" 131 ), Hobson writes, no obviously appropriate models (I" 37). which will surprise no one familiar with In addition, the aesthetic contrast between the bindings created for Jean Grolier. Islamic and gothic binding styles; the Even in his earliest years, as a French suitability of filigree work for opulent official in Milan, Grolier had begun to presentation bindings; the lower cost [sic!] acquire books and have them bound in 112 RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANSHIP the new style. By mid-century, however, of Francois l. The influence on other arts the tastes he had developed in Italy could of the school of Fontainebleau is well be satisfied by French bookbinders. They known. Hobson shows how consideration proved as adept as their Italian of the Fontainebleau Library bindings predecessors in using plaquettes, allows for a new view of French sixteenth­ medallions, and other aspects of the century bookbinding history. humanistic bookbinder's armory; indeed, Fran~ois, like Grolier, was caught up they made innovations which were in in enthusiasm for the program of the some respects to represent"fresh advances" Italian humanists. Eventually, he began (p . 145) over the Italians. Hobson's to build a serious royal library. Henri II "Appendix 7: Jean Grolier's Binders" (pp. continued this library building. Its 267-71), drawing on the archival research intentions were culturally imperialistic: ofAnnie Parent-Charon as well as Howard created for other than purely bibliophilic Nixon's studies of Grolier, identifies two reasons, the library was part of a broader of Grolier's binders as Jean Picard (the effort to demonstrate French intellectual "Entrelac Binder") and Gommar Estienne preeminence (p. 207). Under Fran~ois , (the" atelier au trefle"); their work indicates great bindings entered the library; but just how innovative such advances could under Henri II, a great bookbinderworked be. The Italians gradually lost the tastes on the books acquired for the library, "a they had pioneered. Within the century binder who had more right than any other that Hobson's book spans, the humanistic to be considered a genius" (p. 206). style was diffused from Italy to France Working the same detective vein he had and thence to Geneva, Antwerp, and earlier mined in identifying Feliciano and London. The style itself was not static: Sanvito with certain early Italian bindings constantly evolving and changing, it came in the humanistic style, Hobson rejects toward the end of the century to reflect the traditional identification of Henri's newly dominant "national sentiment" binder as Claude de Picques and identifies rather than the humanists' interests in him instead as Gommar Estienne, Grolier's "classical scholarship" (p. 146). binder of the "atelier au trefle." Hobson's next-to-last chapter looks at The volume ends with a census of some of the most spectacular later bindings historiated plaquette and medallion that reflect the humanistic style. It also Renaissance bindings. It appears to be of offers useful analyses of some of the such completeness that the tag "Not in conventional symbols that, in the tradition Hobson" is certain to add significantly to of the emblematists, the binders adopted the price any additional exemplars will to their book covers. His last chapter fetch-although their beauty will have relates the spread of the style in France commanded high prices right from the speCifically. start. A variety of appendixes illuminate Hobson seeks to alter the approach special topics, such as Grolier's binders that writes the history ofsixteenth-century (mentioned above) orthe use ofpasteboard French bookbinding from the point of in bindings. view of Jean Grolier's books alone (p. The value of such fleshing out of the 178). He looks instead at the influence on human and historical record is great. But French bookbinding practice of the court the larger value of Hobson's book does RECENT PUBLICATIONS 113

not reside in this detail alone, no matter lies in the conjunction he makes how valuable. To hegin with, HUllumists inescapable between the two nouns of his and Bookbinders is a ple'Lsure to read, title. To study the intellectual. the scholar. which is its first virtue and a great one. It the politician. and the craftsman. the is also a model of wide and deep learning artisan. the hand bookbinder. sometimes modestly borne. Hobson can occasionally joined in the same person. sometimes be sharp with an errant predecessor (see, merely joined as allies builrung towards e.g., chap. 5, n. 95). But one reads his the same aesthetic goals. is to show that text-and his notes-with mounting study of the physical book is also study of awareness that few scholars in any intellectual history. This book about discipline today can carry on so forward­ bookbinrung's history is a real contribution looking a dialogue with the scholarly past. to our understanding of the European In its breadth of reference alone, this is a Renaissance. book firmly within the great tradition of Le style, c'est l'lwmme. But it may also modem Renaissance scholarship. be the ideology. The bookbindings of For Hobson, decorative arts, like the Renaissance Europe-well studied, arts ofpainting, sculpture. and architecture. beautifully and generously illustrated, and are good indexes to the interests and brilliantly illuminated in Hobson's book­ concerns of the people who commission still prOvide glorious testimony to this and use them. Form and content are possibility in the libraries that preserve related, in binding as in other merua. The them.-Daniel Traister, Special development ofa humanistic binrungstyle Collections, Van Pelt Library, University to accommodate a change in the interests of Pennsylvania. of scribes. scholars. and. ultimately. civil servants and royal persons ought to Moebs, Thomas Truxtun, compiler. occasion no surprise. You can tell a book U.S. Reference-iana (1481-1899). by its cover-or. at least. can do so some Williamsburg, Virginia: Moebs of the time. espeCially if the cover has Publishing Company, 1989. 850p. been designed. as those Hobson considers $85.00, plus $2.75 for domestic so clearly were. to reflect interests at very shipping. Order from Thomas T. real variance with the interests of a Moebs, PO Box 247, Williamsburg, precerungage (the "gothic"). "To someone VA 23187. steeped in Renaissance ideas as Grolier In the subtitle for U. S. Reference-iana, was anything . . . [other than the gilt Thomas T. Moebs states that this Single leather binrung invented by the Italian volume is a "concise guide to over 4,000 Renaissance] would have seemed books and articles for researching art, inappropriate on an Alrune" (p. 268). books. broadsides. ephemera, manu­ This is physical evidence-and often scripts, newspapers, maps, pamphlets, uniquely lovely physical evidence-that. photographs and prints." Intended in its veryphysicality. is part ofthe surviving speCifically for collectors, dealers. his­ evidence of the intellectual and political torians, and librarians, it brings together change at the heart of the European a rich variety of sources of information. Renaissance. The triumph of Anthony The 8S0-page book is arranged in one Hobson's Humanists and Bookbinders alphabetical indexof subjects, geographical 114 RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIYfS L1BRARIANSHIP regions, and historical periods. Subjects and agencies, and works in the book arts are indexed by keyword ornaturallanguage and trades. indicators. Entries for each book or article No attempt is made to include all imprint consist of at least two, and often three or bibliographies and checklists in the guide. more, descriptors followed by a For comprehensive listings in these areas, bibliographic citation with frequent serious researchers are encouraged to annotations and comments. Annotations consult C. Thomas Tanselle's classic, would be clearer if Moebs had indented essential work, Guide to the Study of U. S. and placed them nearer the citations to Imprints (1971). In fact, Moebs draws which they refer, but as the user accepts heavily upon Tanselle's citations and genre his typographical style, it becomes fairly lists. straightforward to scan and select en­ For his lengthy section on biography, tries. Moebs note that all biographical references When consulting this guide, the user are grouped under the generic heading should keep in mind the stated intentions Persons; what remains unknown to all but of its compiler. Moebs, a bookdealer of the compiler is a clear understanding of Americana and fine books, makes it clear what criteria were used in selecting in his preface that he does not list every individuals for inclusion in this fascinating subject and every reference for each section. In a listing that spans Sixty-six subject. That would be not only pages, beginning with the naturalist artist presumptuous but certainly unrealistic John Abbot and ending with the illustrator for a guide book that was never intended Rufus F. Zogbaum, Moebs prOvides a to be a comprehenSive or current survey curious mix of characters that range from ofAmericana. In fact, except forthe section printers to literary figures to politicians, on Price Guicks, most of the references with all sorlsin between. While this volume are for works published prior to the early is particularly strong in biographical 1980s, with a majority of citations for material for American printers, there are earlier decades. What this book does for disappOintments for some researchers. us, and does very well, is to prOvide a To be speCific, there is only a Single, quick start on investigating many areas of modest citation for Isaiah Thomas, this American history, literature, and culture. nation's leading printer, publisher, Moebs shares with us his trove ofresources bookseller and collector of his day. Users that includes well-mown classics and gems of the guide deserve a more detailed in more obscure sources. Citations to scope note clarifYing the eclectic nature articles in scholarly journals and the of this lengthy biographical section. publications of learned societies are Despite some shortcomings, the range especially noteworthy. For example, the of subjects that Moebs includes in U. S. user is led to a number of important Reference-iana is remarkably illuminating. works published in the Proceedings ofthe There are, for example, sections with American Antiquarian Society and the extensive references on the American Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Revolution, Black History, Cartography, America, as well as numerous references Music, Travel Literature, and the to articles in prominent library journals, Confederate States ofAmerica, along with publications of state historical societies Single citations for checklists to more RECENT PUBLICATIONS 115

unusual subjects such as Dream Books, of the book. The next edition of U. S. Valentine Writers, and a bibliography of Reference-woo should not only incorporate DeBow's Review. There are several such linkages but should also include an unexpected finds, including an exhibition author index to the books and articles catalogue of publications written by cited in the guide. Such additions would Americans in Paris beginning in the year greatly enhance the utility of the Single 1778 under the subject heading Paris. An volume without significantly infringing important article on subscription book upon its portability. purchases in North Carolina from 1733 This gUide, with its handsome to 1850 is found among the citations for dustjacket, pictorial endpapers, and North Carolina and again under entries memorable colophon, is dedicated to the for Book TraMs. Access pOints for all 50 Cherokee Rose, the thirty-foot sloop which states are combined with a wide array of the author proudly identifies as the base topics for each state or geographic region. of much of the preparation his book. It is Of the 4,000 references, about 20 percent difficult not to appreciate such an eclectic have been cross-indexed because they work "prepared across 14,000 miles relate to more than one subject, e.g., stretching from the u.S. East Coast to book trades in North Carolina, or Acadians Oslo, Norway." Thomas Moebs asks his in Louisiana. audience of collectors, booksellers, Moebs should certainly be commended academics, and librarians whether we are for sharing his knowledge with us by better off with this book than without it. compiling, designing and publishing this reference work. It deserves a place on the reference shelves in special libraries and research institutions with Americana FOREIGN BOOKS collections. The academic audience, particularly historians and literary scholars and PERIODICALS engaged in the study of the history of the book in American culture, will find this a CURRENT OR OUT OF PRINT useful resource because of the many references to works on the book trades, as well as copyright records, broadsides, Specialties: booksellers, publishers, bookbinding, papermaking, and newspaper and Search Service periodical sources, to name but a few. Building Special Collections Sections devoted to Americana pamphlet literature, bibliographies, and imprints are very useful. However, as a reference librarian and former rare book cataloguer, ALBERT J. PHIEBIG INC. I am disappointed that Moebs provides Box 352, White Plains. N.Y. 10602 + 0352 us with only the barest minimum of cross Telephone: (914) 948-0138 references torelatedheadings throughout FAX: (914) 948-0784 his index; this is particularly noticeable in sections relating to material on the history 116 RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANSHIP

As a librarian, and collector, habitual BLACKWELL'S browser, and constant user of Americana resources, my response would have to be RARE BOOKS "yes." u.s. Reference-iana is an informative. (B.H. Blackwell Ltd.) lively research guide, worthy of a FYFIELD MANOR respectable though certainly not a central place on the basic reference shelf. It is filled with information and enjoyment. For as many times as you ask yourself why some works are not included, you will inevitably find yourself discovering new works along the way.-Joanne D. Chaison, Head of Readers' Services, American FYFIELD Antiquarian SOciety. Nc. ABINGDON OXON OXI3 5LR ENGLAND Gauvin, Daniel. Guide Canadien du Telephone Frilford Heath (0865) 390692/3 Livre Rare/Canadian Guide to Rare Tel£x 83118 Cables Books Oxford Books. Montreal: Daniel Gauvin Editeur Inc., 1989. 217p. paperbound, $40. Order from the publisher, C.P. 603, Succ. C.-D.-N. Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3S 2V3. ISBN 2-9801501-0- x. In Canadian Guide to Rare Books, Daniel Gauvin has attempted to bring @ah Juall !}l1l1hS together in a Single volume a wide range of information on rare books. The work is SPECIALISTS IN NEW divided into two sections: a series of short AND ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS essays on various aspects of bibliophily and a directory of useful addresses. The On the HistDlY & Making of Books first section includes articles, in French Including Design, Illmtmtion, and English, on "The Canadian PTod71clw1l, Distribution Antiquarian Book Trade," "The Art of alldArqlli~dl'01l Collecting Old and Modern Books,"

~ "Reference Works," "The Appraisal of BIBLIOGRAPHY Antiquarian and Modern Books," and AND REFERENCE WORKS "Conservation. Preservation and EXAMPLES OF FINE PRINTING Restoration of Paper and Leather Documents." Selective bibliographies CATALOCUJ::S ISSUED accompany most of the articles. The Our shop isopen Mo~y tbrougb Friday 9:00 a,m. to 5:00p.m. and by appotntmem directory section provides lists ofCanadian, 414 Delaware Street, New Castle, Delaware 19720 American and European booksellers and Telephone: 302328-7232 FAX: 302 328· 7274 auctioneers, collectors of Canadian rare books, Canadian and international associations for book collectors, Canadian RECENT PUBLICATIONS 117 bookbinders and restorers, suppliers of archival and conservation materials, and CATALOGS: conservation and di saster assistance. 1. Southern Americana. Unfortunately, Mr. Gauvin has not 2. Photographica. succeeded in producing a reference tool and "indispensable for professionals and rare From stock will quote (free): book lovers alike." The articles which are 1. Science, Technology. intended to summarize current knowledge 2. Sport (Fish, deer, bears, in the areas covered fail to provide any horses, aborigines & aliens). real information for the specialist or the and layman. The directories are frequently Will search free and report on inaccurate and quite incomplete, par­ any & all ticularly the lists of Canadian booksellers, EXCEPT collectors, and bookbinders which are Pornographica and meant to be the primary focus of the Tartuffy-terroristica. book. Surprisingly, there is no information at all about the rare book collections in TELEPHONE (803) 276-6870 Canadian institutions. Mr. Gauvin intends to produce a second edition in 1992 which HAMPTON BOOKS may correct some of the most egregious Rt. 1, Box 202 errors in this version. But the Canadian NEWBERRY, SC 29108. antiquarian bookworldstill awaits a proper gUide.-Marie Korey, Toronto, Ontario.

OLD and RARE BOOKS

MEDECINE, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, VOYAGES AND TRAVELS POLnnCS, POLnnCAL ECONOMY

Catalogues on Request ($) Ubralrle F. ComeUas B.P. 19 66400 CERET France t Telephone 68-87-3722 FAX 68-87-4151 APPRAISALS of ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS We are well known for undenaking virtually every major appraisal during the past two decades. Unpublicized, however, are the hundreds of appraisals of small archives not of great commercial value, but which require proper valuations at minimum cost, with the most accurate descriptions and reports possible, commensurate with their values. Our success at detennining the appropriate balance between these factors is based on our efficient practices, extensive experience and qualified research staff. Our normal procedure is to quote a firm appraisal fee and give a general range of the fair market value based on an examination of the instirution's initial inventory. There is no obligation to proceed with the appraisal and there is no charge for this information, nor is there any fee charged if we believe the collection's value does not warrant an appraisal. Please contact Rosalie Fawcett with any questions you have. A brochure describing our experiences and the instirutions for whom we have done appraisals is available, as is a reprint of an article by Kenneth W. Rendell, published by the Society of American Archivists, "Tax Appraisals of Manuscript Collections:'

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Science, Medicine, Technology, Natural History, Early printed &Illustrated Books. Catalogues Issued.

B & L Rootenberg Post Office Box 5049' Sherman Oaks, California 91403 @ Telephone: [8 18J7 88'7765 • til. ; TeleJox: {8 18J 788.8839 "",/I .~()J-- r IV Titlvs fro fiCRL

0 Measuring Academic Library Performance: 0 Paper Terms: A Thesaurus for Rare Book A Practical Approach and Special Collections Cataloguing by Nancy Van Howe. Beth Weil. and Chulc:. McClun:. 1990. 1990, S2p. 0-8389-7421·9. S7. 95; ACRL member S6.50. 14Op. 0-8389·0529-3. S29,00; with seU·runnina databUCl S70; O·8389·0S42'(), Latest survey and research findings: 0 Western European Studies: Current 0 Academic Libraries: Your Campus Information Service Research Trends and Library Resources Eva Sanori. Ccrc.I Birkhead. John Cullars.lohn OiDon. by Edward O. Holley & Barbara B. Moran. Give this Thom .. Kihon. cdJ. 1990. l2Op. 0·8389·7461·9. S29.95; brochure to your racwty and ltudents 10 introduce them 10 ACRL member S26.~. academic librariea. SO caplet for S10 from ALA Oraphic•. Get the latest management ideas from these 0 ACRL University Library Statistics 1989-90. new CLIP Notes: compUcd by DenIse Bedford, 1990. 84p. 0-8389-7446·S. S49.95; ACRL member S29.95. 0 Performance Appraisal In Academic Libraries. CLIP Note #12 0 Directory of Curriculum Materials Centers, compiJed by Barbara WiDiam. JenkiN ""illl the ulillancc of 1990 Mil)' L Smalb. 1990. 128p. 0·8389·7444·9. S16.9S; ACRL compiled by Donald O.ier. Carol Wriaht. Janet Lawrence, member 513.95. MIU")' Ellen Collin,. Beth Andcnon. 1990. 24Op. 0·8389·7439·2. S35,~; ACRL member $29.9S. 0 College Library Newsletters. CLIP Note #13 Academic Libraries: Research compiled by Patricia Smith Butcher and $UIIJl McCarthy 0 Campbell. 1990, 154p.O·8389·7445·7. SI6.95; ACRL Perspectives (ACRL Publications In member SI3.95. Llbrarlanshlp, No. 47) Improve your cataloguing control with these MIU")' Jo Lynch and AnhW' P. Young. ccU. 199O.256p, O·8389.()S32·2. S27SO. new thesauri: 0 Type Evidence: A Thesaurus for Rare Book 0 Library Instruction Clearinghouses: and Special Collections Cataloguing A Directory, 1989 1990. 19p. 0·8389·7428·7. S7,95; ACRL member 56.50. updatcd/rcviwi by T~&a D, Mcruching. 1990.2Ip. 0-8389·7402·3, $4,95; ACRLmember S3.9S. Orden Form ______

Easy to order. 4. Fill In your shipping end bnllng oddress ... 1. Simply check oft Ihe books you wish 10 purchase. DIU to: 2. Enter the amount owed (you may toke 0 1m:. discount It you ore an AlA member,) ,$'-____ ALA membershIp number,'______3. Select a method of payment. ShIp to, ______o Ole.ckJmoney order mcl~ocI o OlalJC LO In)' Q'e4jt card: o Mastete.rd. 0 VISA o American ExprelJ

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