College and Research Libraries Book Reviews The Design of Books. By Adrian Wilson. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corpora- tion, 1967. 160p. $15. With three other books in this special- ized field already, one might ask if a fourth would have any contribution to make. Af- ter all, it has not been long since an emi- nent professor of nuclear physics exclaimed to Mr. Wilson, "I didn't know books were designed!" Since Adrian Wilson is himself something of a phenomenon, his book turns out to be, not a how-to-do-it manual, but an ode to the art of book design. Two of the three earlier books, however, are devoted almost entirely to production, with scant attention to design. These are Sean Jennett's The Making of Books (4th edition, Praeger, 1967), and Hugh Wil- liamson's Methods of Book Design (2nd edition, Oxford, 1966). The latter, despite its title, is more accurately described by its subtitle: "The Practice of an Industrial Craft." Balancing the two British view- points are Marshall Lee's Bookmaking: The Illustrated Guide to Design <6- Produc- tion (Bowker, 1965) and the book under review. Mr. Lee devotes about one-third of his book to design, and both of the American books are themselves examples of modern book design. The salient difference between Mr. Wil- son's text and the others is that a reader only mildly interested in book design will find it difficult to lay the book down. Stu- dents in the graphic arts will likely be re- cruited to a field they may never before have considered. Mr. Wilson's book is written for design- ers and thus might seem to appeal to a more limited audience than the other three volumes. But those more interested in the technical aspects of book production might well gain the most from a reading of The Design of Books. In it are enumerated the steps a designer must take, from the re- ceipt of the manuscript to the final de- tailed specifications he provides for the publisher and printer. The more one knows about book production, the more easily grasped are the designer's special qualifi- cations: a wide-ranging knowledge both of esthetics and of printing technology. Par- ticularly useful is Mr. Wilson's list of twenty-four questions which a designer needs to have answered before he decides to accept a design commission. Four of the eleven chapters are given over to typography, printing methods, pa- per, and binding; the remainder deal with "The Art of the Layout," "The Anatomy of the Book," "Design Approaches," "Trade Book Design," and types of books, such as cookbooks, children's books, legal tomes, limited editions, and dictionaries. Scholars interested in the history of the book will be intrigued by Wilson's discov- ery of the earliest book designs—layouts for the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. These layouts are reproduced for the first time, both in the text and as endpapers. Librar- ians will be startled by Mr. Wilson's com- ment on permanent/durable book paper: ". . . the ease of reproducing existing books by offset lithography has made the value of absolute permanency question- able, at least in terms of perpetuating cul- ture if not bibliophily." The range and variety of the illustra- tions is noteworthy. Much more interna- tional than any of the other books, Wilson includes examples of the work of Berle, Facetti, Frutiger, Hlavsa, Massin, Passani- si, and Zapf, as well as of Dahlstrom, Eis- enman, Ritchie, and Salter. Unfortunately, all illustrations have had to be drastically reduced in size, even though the book is a sizeable 8/2 x 11 inches. While it makes the designer's task more difficult, the measurements of the original page should be given whenever the reproduction is less than actual size. For example, the left half of the double-spread Kelmscott Chaucer title page, reproduced slightly smaller than a catalog card, gives very little idea of the impact of the original. Every book designer will want The De- sign of Books for its inspiration and in- sight, its wealth of illustration, and lively design. Since any of the other three books contains much more detailed production information and technical aids, at least one of them will also be needed. My own choice of a mate would be Marshall Lee's 7 443 444 / College 6- Research Libraries • September 1968 Bookmaking, but British colleagues espe- cially might well opt for either Jennett or Williamson. Libraries, needless to say, will purchase all four whenever the budget will allow, but Mr. Wilson's book is first among equals.—William_ R. Eshelman, Wilson Li- brary Bulletin. University Libraries for Developing Countries. By M. A. Gelfand. Paris: Unesco, 1968. 162p. $3. The primary purpose of this simply writ- ten handbook is to acquaint college and university presidents, deans, rectors, and other academic officials in the developing countries with the full meaning and value of their institutions' libraries. Such a book has been much needed, because, second perhaps only to poor faculty attitude, lack of strong administrative support and un- derstanding has probably been the major impediment in the way of improving li- brary service in such institutions—often a more effective barrier even than the ab- sence of adequate funds. In his admirable effort to educate these laymen who are so important to academic libraries, Dr. Gelfand addresses himself lu- cidly and cogently to all of the major and many of the minor problems that have so long and so miserably plagued libraries in the developing countries. He points to the critical need for adequate status for librar- ians; he demonstrates the great benefits that can derive from centralized library administration; he presents the rationale for open stacks; he deplores the pernicious results of too great librarian accountabil- ity; he explains the need for intra- as well as inter-institutional library cooperation. These and many other similar little essays make the book almost an extended position paper on modern academic library man- agement theory and practice—a kind of professional apologia pro vita sua. Dr. Gelfand draws widely for illustra- tive examples, first upon his own extensive experience working with libraries in the "have-not" countries, second upon the lit- erature and work of librarianship in the developing countries, third upon the ex- periences of the libraries of Europe, and finally and unobtrusively upon American librarianship. Appropriately for a Unesco Manual, the resulting amalgam reads like the professional travelogue of a bibliothe- cal cosmopolite, as the floor plans of the library of Ahmadu Bello University follow discussion of the cooperative acquisitions program of the Deutsche Forschungsge- meinschaft; as an explanation of the Li- brary Board of Ghana and a description of the Regional Seminar on the Development of University Libraries in Latin America precede an account of fungicides devel- oped by the Lenin State Library and a picture of a reading room in Douglass Col- lege library at Rutgers University. Perhaps in no other treatise has the world confra- ternity of academic librarianship been more dramatically displayed. Although college and university admin- istrators are the primary audience to whom Dr. Gelfand is speaking, there is much in the book that is of value to librarians as well. This is a good small textbook for courses in university library administration, discussing as it does both simply and well such diverse but important topics as uni- versity libraries in national development; the role of the university library; govern- ment and control of the university library; its organization and administration; staff and collection development; organizing the collections; reader's services; auxiliary and supplementary services; cooperative activi- ties; library buildings and equipment; fi- nancial administration; and evaluating li- brary services. Morris A. Gelfand's University Libraries for Developing Countries is an important addition to the growing series of "Unesco Manuals for Librarians."—D.K. Canadian Provincial Libraries. By John Robert Beard. (Centennial Series: CLA- ACB Occasional Paper No. 54.) Ottawa: Canadian Library Association/1'Associa- tion Canadienne des Bibliotheques, 1967. X I X , 3 0 3 p . This doctoral dissertation, prepared for the school of library service at Columbia University with financial assistance from the Canada Council, is a valuable addition to the collection of surveys of Canadian libraries that have been published during