College and Research Libraries


items follows. M a n y of the latter seem more 
pertinent to the subject matter of the book, 
and more necessary to qualify and summarize 
because they are less familiar to the average 
librarian. 

A s a brief, introductory volume to certain 
of the problems encountered in the education 
of librarians, this text w i l l no doubt serve a 
useful role. O n e might quarrel with the title, 
since there are other m a j o r problems which 
have not been included. F o r instance, are 
there no difficulties in the training of r e f e r -
ence librarians, catalogers and administrators? 
In a second edition the present title might be 
amended so as to suggest more clearly the 
trend of the contents.—Harriet D. Mac-
Pherson, Drexel Institute of Technology. 

R a r e Bibles 
Rare Bibles; an Introduction for Collectors 

and a Descriptive Checklist. By E d w i n 
A . R. R u m b a l l - P e t r e . N e w Y o r k , Philip 
C . Duschnes, 1954. 53 p. $6.00. 
T h i s is a revised edition of the w o r k of the 

same title issued in 1938. Its compiler, the 
late Rev. R u m b a l l - P e t r e , w h o died in July, 
1954, is said to have been the only bookman 
who dealt exclusively with rare editions of the 
Bible. 

In scope and arrangement the two editions 
are similar, beginning with " I n c u n a b u l a , " 
continuing w i t h " P o l y g l o t s , " "English Bibles," 
"Bibles Printed in A m e r i c a , " " H e b r e w , G r e e k 
and L a t i n Bibles," and "Bibles in M o d e r n 
L a n g u a g e s other than English." T h e sections 
f o r " M i s c e l l a n e o u s Bible Portions" and " C u r i -
ous Editions of the Bible" cut across the 
other categories both in time and language. 

T h e r e are 378 items listed as against 345 
in the first edition, the incunabula section, 
increased from twenty to forty items, being 
responsible f o r the greatest number of addi-
tions. Aside f r o m this, the main difference 
between the t w o editions is in the character 
of the notes. In the first edition there w e r e 
occasional references to prices but these have 
been omitted in the revision and the descrip-
tions are limited to bibliographical and his-
torical data. 

Revision barely touched the bibliography. 
O n l y a half-dozen additions appear and one 
of these w a s published in 1838. I t seems 
strange that it w a s added while such a w o r t h -

APRIL, 1955 

while aid to the modern collector as the Pier-
pont M o r g a n L i b r a r y ' s catalog of their 
exhibition of Bibles in 1947 w a s not included. 
T h e number of volumes of the Gesamtkatalog 
has not been brought up to date nor w e r e 
later editions of w o r k s mentioned that have 
been brought out in new editions since 1938. 

T h e compiler made it clear that the basis 
f o r his selection w a s rarity coupled with some 
historic or distinctive feature. But for some 
unexplained reason he did not include a single 
one of the Bibles famous because of their il-
lustrations, for example, the Cologne Bible, 
the Lubeck Bible or the M a l e r m i Bible. 
A m o n g famous modern editions Bruce Roger's 
Lectern Bible is listed but not his W o r l d 
Bible. H o w e v e r it is individual taste that 
makes collectorship interesting and this is a 
useful handbook f o r a collector or historian 
of printing. 

T h e t w o editions are witnesses of the 
change in book production during these last 
t w o decades. T h e 1938 publication of 500 
copies reflects the fine printing of the day in 
the quality of the paper, the generous margins, 
and the eight illustrations which enliven the 
text. T h e 1954 edition of 600 copies has a 
slightly longer text compressed into ten less 
pages by crowding more w o r d s on a page of 
less attractive paper; there are no illustrations 
and the price is exactly double that of the 
1938 edition.—Bertha M. Frick, School of 
Library Service, Columbia University. 

Book Collectors 
Private Book Collectors in the United States 

and Canada. 10th rev. ed. N e w Y o r k , 
R. R. B o w k e r , 1953. 417 p. $20.00. 

T h e importance of the private book collector 
to librarians and to the f u t u r e of the libraries 
under their care is something too clearly evi-
dent and, indeed, too widely recognized to 
require either persuasive argument or elab-
orate demonstration. 

O n e has but to reflect upon some of the 
names which adorn the fagades and which are 
found engraved upon the bookplates of li-
braries large and small all across the land 
to realize that the private collector has in the 
past played, and in an increasingly prominent 
manner continues to play, a vital role in the 
development and enrichment of American 
libraries. 

2 1 9 



T o the academic l i b r a r i a n — a n d especially 
in times like these when the book dollar f r o m 
the college or university treasury buys less 
and less while the ever-pressing need is f o r 
more and m o r e — t h e potential usefulness of 
the private collector is a prospect bulging and 
bristling w i t h alluring possibilities. A n d this 
is particularly true in the area of rarities and 
special collections. 

N o t every institution, of course, w i l l find a 
munificent patron whose biblio-philanthropy 
w i l l transform its rare books holdings f r o m 
a handful of tattered, but venerable, volumes 
(in which the "s's look like f ' s " ) into a 
veritable treasure grove incased in gleaming 
leather and glittering gold, and w h e r e the 
shelflist reads like some sort of grand anni-
versary anthology of M a g g s and Rosenbach 
catalogs. B u t the practicing bibliophile w h o 
possesses a nice balance of acquisitive instinct 
and generous impulse, be he "ever so humble," 
can contribute something t o w a r d increasing 
the strength and the stature of a library's 
collections, and a group of such collectors, of 
varied interests and enthusiasms, can together 
do much. 

T h e evident g r o w i n g and widespread trend 
t o w a r d the establishment of Friends of the 
L i b r a r y organizations is ample evidence of the 
validity and the success of this concept of 
persons joining together to make common 
cause of the requirement of increased library 
resources. 

A n d , it should be pointed out, one of the 
perhaps surprising things which our colleges 
and universities are discovering as they go 
about the business of fostering these Friends 
of the L i b r a r y groups and putting their 
Friends to w o r k f o r them is that the col-
lectors and others w h o are enthusiastically 
taking part in these activities are not neces-
sarily alumni of the particular institutions 
concerned. A n interest in a projected pro-
gram and a sense of being themselves sig-
nificant and appreciated, even if modest, par-
ticipants are, among other things, often more 
important factors to these individuals than 
"old school" associations, if any. 

T h e moral may readily be d r a w n from this 
that it behooves the academic librarian to 
know as many private book collectors as 
possible, be they alumni of his college or uni-
versity or not, f o r they are all " f a i r g a m e " 
— t h o u g h , as the optimistic should be warned, 

by no means "sitting pigeons." 
It is w i t h a timeliness appropriate to the 

need f o r an up-to-date guide that the R. R. 
B o w k e r Company has published its tenth 
revised edition of Private Book Collectors, a 
register of collectors in both the United States 
and C a n a d a , listing them ( i ) alphabetically 
by name, ( 2 ) geographically, and ( 3 ) accord-
ing to collecting specialty or specialties. 
W i t h i n each of these three separate sections, 
collectors' addresses are given in full, and in 
the geographical part, a summary of all of 
an individual's collecting interests is provided. 

N a m e s for inclusion h a v e been taken from 
the B o w k e r Company files and rolls of the 
leading "book societies, collectors' groups and 
private clubs," as w e l l as having been sug-
gested by libraries and collectors themselves. 
T h e present edition carries around 200 more 
names than the previous one ( t h a t of 1948), 
and it introduces for the first time a section 
of dealer-collectors, which runs to nearly 150 
additional entries, f o r a grand total of over 
2,000 collectors in all. 

T h e directory is eminently u s e f u l as a 
reference tool to the librarian, w h e t h e r it be 
in connection w i t h the recruitment of g i f t s 
or new Friends of the L i b r a r y , or in negoti-
ating f o r loans of materials for exhibition 
purposes, or simply in determining how much 
collecting activity exists centering upon a par-
ticular author's w o r k s or relating to some 
specific subject or area. 

T h e book itself suffers somewhat, but not 
seriously, f r o m the handling of its catchwords 
and headings, which are in a f e w instances 
inaccurate, inconsistent, or confusing. O f 
some consequence in this latter connection is 
the disconcerting use of f u l l names set in 
capitals and in normal order w h e r e the catch-
w o r d happens to be an author's name. B e -
cause in such cases the first names are given 
equal prominence in typographical treatment 
and are not inverted w i t h the surname, a 
person hurriedly fanning through the pages 
may find it somewhat difficult to be able to 
tell at a glance j u s t w h e r e he is in the 
alphabetical sequence, his eye focusing upon 
the first name rather than the last, which is 
of course the important element. T h i s is a 
f e a t u r e of minor confusion that might easily 
have been eliminated or at least minimized. 

A n irregularity, however, that this reviewer, 
w h o is himself a N e w Hampshireman, finds 

220 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



difficult to comprehend and impossible to 
condone, is that N e w Jersey precedes N e w 
Hampshire in the alphabetical listing of states 
in the book's section locating collectors geo-
graphically. It is conceded, to be sure, that 
N e w Jersey may stand before N e w H a m p -
shire in certain respects of a numerical char-
acter, but heretofore the alphabetical prece-
dence of the G r a n i t e State has, I believe, 
gone unchallenged. 

Private Book Collectors is, nevertheless, 
a valuable reference w o r k of particular inter-
est and utility to head librarians, special col-
lections directors, curators of rare books and 
manuscripts, exhibits officers, and others re-
sponsible for the development of library col-
lections.—Edward Connery Lathem, Dart-
mouth College Library. 

University of Virginia Library 
The University of Virginia Library, 1825-

1950: Story of a Jeffersonian Foundation. 
By H a r r y Clemons. F o r e w o r d by D u m a s 
M a l o n e . Charlottesville, University of 
Virginia L i b r a r y , 1954. xxii, 23 ip., illus-
trated. $5.00. 

" T h e y have nearly finished the R o t u n d a — 
the P i l l a r s of the Portico are completed and 
it greatly improves the appearance of the 
w h o l e — T h e books are removed into the 
L i b r a r y — a n d w e have a very fine collection." 
So w r o t e E d g a r A l l a n Poe to his foster father 
in Richmond in 1826. T h e University of 
V i r g i n i a w a s then in its second session, and 
young Poe w a s a student there. It w a s indeed 
a fine collection. N o university in A m e r i c a 
had started with a more c a r e f u l l y selected li-
brary. T h o m a s Jefferson, the founder of the 
University, had chosen most of the 8,000 vol-
umes listed in the printed catalog issued in 
1828, and he had planned the book collection 
as c a r e f u l l y as he had planned the buildings. 

F o r t w o decades a f t e r the highly com-
mendable start, however, the library received 
scanty support. Some of the early prosperity 
w a s regained in the 1850's, but then came the 
w a r — a n d Reconstruction—and a disastrous 
fire in 1895. T h e University remained open 
through it all, but not until its second century 
did the L i b r a r y begin to attain the stature 
which Jefferson had envisioned for it. 

T h e f u l l story of the vicissitudes of the 
University of Virginia library is told here by 

H a r r y Clemons w h o directed its activities so 
wisely f r o m 1927 until his retirement in 1950. 
T h e library's history divides easily into five 
distinct periods, and each of these periods 
forms a chapter in the book. 

C h a p t e r I covers the founding period, f r o m 
1819 to 1826, during which M r . Jefferson 
prepared lists of books to be ordered, secured 
funds f o r their purchase, and selected agents 
through whom they would be acquired. 

T h e years from the death of the founder 
in 1826 to the beginning of the C i v i l W a r in 
1861 are described by D u m a s M a l o n e in the 
f o r e w o r d as "a period of torpor." T h e U n i -
versity spent about $35,000 f o r "books and 
apparatus" before 1826, more than half of 
which certainly went f o r books. Funds for 
such purposes, however, w e r e small or non-
existent in the t w o decades immediately fol-
lowing, and most of the books received came 
as gifts. B u t with a substantial increase in 
enrollment in the 1850's came heavier de-
mands for books and larger appropriations for 
their purchase. It w a s during this prosper-
ous decade that a question about the adequacy 
of the rotunda f o r library purposes w a s first 
raised, a question which w a s to be heard 
many times in the eighty years which elapsed 
before permanent relief came in the form of 
the A l d e r m a n L i b r a r y . 

T h e third period, 1861-1895, began with a 
w a r and ended w i t h a fire. T h e library had 
survived the hazards of w a r and Reconstruc-
tion, and broad progress w a s being achieved 
when fire reduced the book collections f r o m 
56,000 to 17,000 volumes, and destroyed most 
of those selected by Jefferson. 

T h e significant feature of the fourth period, 
1895-1925, w a s the extraordinary response 
of alumni and friends to requests for gifts. 
W i t h i n ten years a f t e r the rotunda fire, the 
collection had g r o w n to 60,000 volumes. 
N o t e w o r t h y collections and handsome endow-
ments w e r e liberally sprinkled among the 
gifts, and by 1925 an endowment fund of 
$200,000 for books had been accumulated. 
B u t greater demands w e r e being made on the 
library, some from a department of graduate 
study whose program required that the library 
accept continuing responsibility for the selec-
tion and acquisition of material not hitherto 
necessary in an undergraduate curriculum. 

T h e most remarkable progress of the li-
brary came during the administration of the 

APRIL, 1955 221