College and Research Libraries

184 College & Research Libraries March 1986 special attention to making compatible ready familiar to those acquainted with that organization from one discipline to the biographies and autobiographies of another.-Charles B. Osburn, University of A. S. W. Rosenbach, Henry Stevens, Fred Cincinnati Libraries, Ohio. Rosenstock, and others, Stern has rescued any number of interesting ''ghosts'' from Stern, Madeleine B. Antiquarian Booksell oblivion. Herself an antiquarian booksel ing in the United States: A History from the ler of no small distinction, she presents Origins to the 1940s. Westport, Conn.: sympathetic and informative portraits of Greenwood, 1985. 246p. $29.95. LC 84- the men and women whose careers she 19273. ISBN 0-313-24729-3. chronicles. If she ocassionally lapses into The epigraph of this book is a quotation biblio-cliches and all too readily quotes from Sir Stanley Unwin to the effect that some of the more gongoristic language of while writing, printing, and reading earlier writers, her understanding of the books are difficult tasks, "the most diffi nature of the business saves her from cult task that a mortal man can embark on some of the pitfalls awaiting a less sympa is to sell a book." At the risk of dignifying thetic historian. Sir Stanley's hyperbole, one might re Unfortunately, this book is less a history mark that it would seem even more diffi than a. collection of essays, many of which cult to write a history of those who sell originally appeared in AB Bookman's books. Underscoring the problems inher Weekly. While she does attempt to place ent in such a history, Stem remarks in her the history of bookselling in each city cov introduction: ''That this book represents ered within a larger framework of regional the first formal attempt to record the his history, her book lacks any overall per tory of antiquarian bookselling in the spective on the development of the trade United States should cause no undue sur itself, or even a unifying sense of inquiry prise . the bookseller has always been a that might have melded her chapters into ghost, whose transactions as intermediary a connected narrative. Disavowing any at between source and market are seldom tempt to define antiquarian books or preserved." Working from what she ad booksellers, and ·evading many of the mits are meager sources, she has at questions and problems surrounding tempted to "reanimate those ghosts and what must appear to the uninitiated as es trace the history of their fascinating trade sentially a luxury trade, she has limited . to restore their tastes and tempera the audience for her book to the true be ments, their trials, their struggles, and lievers of bibliophily. In the one instance their achievements, to clothe once again in where she raises an interesting question flesh and blood the purveyors of antiquar why has the South fostered so few anti ian books." quarian booksellers and collectors?-she The book is di~ided into a series of chap avoids answering it by saying that it is a ters that outline the history of antiquarian ''strange anomaly'' caused by the superfi bookselling in Boston, Philadelphia, New cial intellectual and aesthetic culture of the York, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and region. It as she asserts, the antiquarian Kansas City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, trade "created a demand, and then sup and "Cities to the South" plied that demand . helped to shape Annapolis/Baltimore, Washington, Rich taste, and so has been an educative mond, Charleston, and New Orleans. A force," why didn't it prove educative in final chapter covers what Stern calls ''lone this place? stars,'' booksellers such as Henry Stevens Stern believes that the antiquarian of Vermont, who don't fit into the geo bookseller has been an "arbiter of learn graphical framework of her book but who ing" and a "dispenser of knowledge," cannot be ignored. Each chapter is ade but frankly one gets little sense of this quately footnoted, and there is a short bib from her history. The role of the book in liographical essay at the end of the vol our culture has only recently come under ume, as well as an index. serious study, and certainly the role of the Although she covers some ground al- specialized antiquarian bookseller must ACQUISITION PERSPECTIVES 5. Monographs in continuation and standing orders are given special atten tion. Your first volume required and all future volumes will be delivered as soon as they become available. Write or call for details about our reliable standing order service to li braries. CALL TOLL-FREE the TODAY 1-800-248-1146 BOOK In Canada & Michigan HOIJSE JOBBERS SERVING UBAAAIES WITH CALL COLLECT (517) 849-2117 ANY BOOK IN PAINT SINCE 1112 2C8 WEST CHICAGO STREET OCLC Vendor No. 17397 SAN 169-3859 JONESVILLE, MICHIGAN 49250 186 College & Research Libraries March 1986 have a place in this history if it is to have This book, part of the Contributions to Li any significance. But the study will have brarianship and Information Science se to ask serious questions about the anti ries, imparts her findings. quarian book and those who sell them if A change in academic librarianship re we are to have any understanding of the sulting from the equal-employment manner in which all types of books-new, opportunity, affirmative-action, partici used, and antiquarian-interact with each patory-management decade of the 1970s other and with other cultural resources. motivated Irvine to conduct her survey How and why did the specialized anti and write her book. What existed, in the quarian trade develop out of the second late 1960s, as a "female profession" ad hand book market? What influence does ministratively dominated by men, by 1984 the antiquarian book have beyond the had become a profession whose majority elite group of collectors and specialized li of women were substantially represented braries that purchase them? How are in the administrative ranks. These survey these elites related to other elite groups results supply unprecedented, fascinat dominant in a culture or epoch? Who was ing, and useful information on the rela the audience that comprised the earliest tionship between sex and managerial ca book collectors? How have general devel reers in librarianship. opments in Western society altered that Of the 371 administrators surveyed, 256 audience or affected the market for rare were men and 115 were women. Data books? How did the development of the from the surveys made it possible to com bookseller catalog influence the develop pare these two groups in terms of personal ment of the trade and its clientele? Why and family characteristics, mobility and are so many of the metaphors of book col career history, relationships with role lecting seemingly drawn from the English models and mentors, and professional ac sporting life? tivities. The comparisons reveal some un This is only a first attempt at a general expected surprises. The women adminis history of antiquarian bookselling in the trators, for example, have a lower average United States, and we cannot expect Stern age than the male administrators (forty-six to do everything. She is to be commended versus forty-nine), and assumed their for having at least begun the work, and present positions with less previous man the historical framework she has provided agerial and administrative experience. can serve as a starting point for later histo Certain stereotypes, e.g., that profession rians who will have to fill in the blanks and ally successful women are "first-born ask themselves the questions that will lead over-achievers who spen[d] night and day to the full treatment this peculiar trade amassing degrees and publications," are deserves.-Terence A. Tanner, Hamill & simply not supported by Irvine's statis Barker, Chicago, Illinois. tics. Not all of the findings, however, con tradict traditionally accepted notions. The Irvine, Betty Jo. Sex Segregation in Librari men, by a fairly wide margin, have higher anship: Demographic and Career Patterns of academic credentials than the women and Academic Library Administrators. West have published more prolifically. Women, port, Conn.: Greenwood, 1985. 171p. more than men, have been receiving en (Contributions in Librarianship and In couragement from mentors to apply for formation Science, no. 53) $29.95. LC promotions internally. In addition, Sex 84-21228. ISBN 0-313-24260-7. Segregation's comparative data on the fam Irvine surveyed 371 directors, associate ilies of these male and female academic li directors, and assistant directors in the brary administrators is consistent with ninety-nine academic libraries that belong data found in other studies of administra to the Association of Research Libraries tors in higher education and corporate (ARL). Her survey gathered data from management: women in administration which conclusions could be drawn regard are more likely to be single or to have ing differences between male and female fewer and older children than their male administrators in terms of demographic, counterparts. career, and institutional characteristics. Irvine's book reads a little like a celebra-.

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