College and Research Libraries


there f o l l o w e d no less than f o u r more edi-
tions. 

T h e influence of N a z i ideology on every 
phase of intellectual l i f e in totalitarian G e r -
many is excellently illustrated by this book 
in the seemingly neutral field of book lore. 
F o r its p o s t w a r appearance the book may 
have undergone certain revisions of its w a r -
time text. R e g a r d l e s s of w h e t h e r or not this 
w a s the case, its basic outlook has not 
changed; its spirit is still the s a m e . — H e l l m u t 
Lehmann-Haupt, New School for Social Re-
search. 

Eugene Stollreither 
Festschrift Eugen Stollreither zum 75-

Gehurtstage gewidmet von Fachgesen, 
Schuelern, Freunden. H e r a u s g e g e b e n von 
F r i t z Redenbacher. M i t 3 4 T a f e l n . 
E r l a n g e n , Universitaetsbibliothek, 1950. 
xii, 403P., 3 2 pi. D M 44-. 
T h i s impressive volume represents pri-

marily S o u t h - G e r m a n scholarship, edited by 
the present director of the U n i v e r s i t y L i -
b r a r y of E r l a n g e n in honor of his predecessor. 
M o s t of the 3 5 contributions deal with his-
torical problems about books, printing, bind-
ing and i l l u s t r a t i o n s ; they are in many cases 
w e l l and amply illustrated. T h e editor him-
self contributes one of the most interesting of 
these studies, dealing w i t h the shifts in inter-
preting the meaning of renaissance book 
illustration. 

E i g h t of the papers are of more than 
passing concern to librarians. T h r e e of these 
deal with three outstanding men: F r i e d r i c h 
K r a f t d i s c u s s e r Achille R a t t i , l a t e r Pope P i u s 
X I ; G e o r g L e y h adds significant i n f o r m a -
tion about A u g u s t W i l m a n n s ( P r e u s s i s c h e 
Staatsbibliothek) ; H e n r i F . R a u x gives high-
lights of the career of the F r e n c h protagonist 
of public libraries, E u g e n e M o r e l . 

F i v e papers deal with v a r i o u s aspects of 
library administration. Friedrich Bock treats 
of medieval manuscript catalogs as f o r e -
runners of the alphabetical subject catalog 
( = dictionary c a t a l o g ) ; Agnes Staehlin of 
some problems involved in making such cata-
logs today. Gustav Hofmann analyzes the 
personnel problem in G e r m a n scholarly li-
b r a r i e s ; Schnorr von Carolsfeld characterizes 
a typical scholar-librarian, d r a w i n g on his 
intimate association with an outstanding ex-
ample, his f a t h e r , w h o w a s a predecessor of 

G u s t a v H o f m a n n as the Chief D i r e c t o r of 
the B a v a r i a n State L i b r a r y and its function 
in the U . S . A . 

Anyone interested in the tradition of the 
book w i l l w a n t to glance through this fine 
treatise, read some of it, enjoy the illustra-
tions and make notes f o r f u t u r e r e f e r e n c e . — 
Icko Iben, Champaign, Illinois. 

Key Literature 
Die Schliisselliteratur. B y G e o r g Schneider. 

S t u t t g a r t , H i e r s e m a n n , 1 9 5 1 - 5 2 . 2 vols. 
D M 32.00. 
T h e distinguished author of the Handbuch 

der Bibliographie has labored f o r twenty-five 
years on another monumental w o r k which 
w i l l be an essential title in every reference 
collection. Schliisselliteratur, rather a w k -
w a r d l y translated into English as " k e y litera-
t u r e , " r e f e r s to books which portray real 
persons and events under the guise of ficti-
tious names. T h e genre poses rather difficult 
problems f o r beginning students of literary 
h i s t o r y ; but, strangely enough, the only study 
prior to Schneider's is A . F e r d i n a n d D r u j o n ' s 
Livres a clef ( 1 8 8 8 ) , which deals w i t h F r e n c h 
erotic and satirical l i t e r a t u r e of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. 

T h e first volume ("Das liter arische 
Besamtbild") contains definitions, history and 
criticism, with indexes of authors and proto-
types. T h e second volume ("Entschliisselung 
deutscher Romane und Dramen") contains a 
detailed account of all more important G e r -
man fiction and d r a m a which deal w i t h 
reality in the guise of imaginative w r i t i n g . 
E a c h title is analyzed in detail with r e f e r -
ences to pertinent critical literature. T h e 
third volume, not yet published, w i l l deal w i t h 
n o n - G e r m a n " k e y l i t e r a t u r e , " particularly in 
English, French, and the Scandinavian lan-
guages. 

T h e earliest examples of " k e y l i t e r a t u r e " 
may be found in the fifteenth century w i t h 
such w o r k s as S a n n a z a r o ' s pastoral romance, 
Arcadia, and E m p e r o r M a x i m i l i a n ' s 
Theuerdank; but the genre's possibilities w e r e 
not f u l l y recognized b e f o r e the baroque period. 
T h r o u g h o u t the periods of classicism and 
romanticism in E u r o p e the roman a clef en-
joyed unusual popularity mainly f o r reasons of 
courtesy and respect f o r the feelings of others. 
P e r h a p s the most f a m o u s example of all is 

JANUARY, 1953 109