College and Research Libraries 64 I College & Research Libraries • january 1972 Bef01·e the Mast, Benjamin Franklin's Auto- biography, Henry George's Progress and Poverty, and the Kinsey reports. One can- not fault Downs for his inclusions or omis- sions; the book is admittedly a subjective list, but one which reflects a wide acquaint- ance with works in the social sciences by a man quite close to the world of books. What does Downs consider an "influen- tial book"? Differing types of influence be- come apparent as the reader is led through the author's selections. Common Sense and Uncle Tom's Cabin are examples of books which were read by and exerted a direct influence on large numbers of people. An- other type of influence is found in the book which is read by a small number of impor- tant people who can apply its lessons and thus affect the public: Abraham Flexner's Medical Education in the United States and Canada is of this sort. America has been in- fluenced by individuals from without com- menting on the manners and mores of the country: Downs includes a work of this type in Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. At times, the writing of Ameri- cans has influenced foreign powers and the results have been brought home to the American public in sundry ways: such is the case with Alfred T. Mahan's The Influ- ence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660- 1783, to which most authorities attribute the establishment of modern navies. An influential book, then, is one which has the power to affect the lives of people, either directly or indirectly. Downs has compiled a most interesting list of books of this genre, replete with very readable com- mentaries on each. Downs has written that one of his goals in this work was to demon- strate that books have power; he has suc- ceeded admirably. Books That Changed America has the ability to send the inquisi- tive reader off in search of the original works. Downs has written a book which is worthwhile reading for all librarians.-Da- vid H. Eyman, Central Michigan Univer- sity. Research Guide to Argentine Literature. David William Foster and Virginia Ra- mos Foster. Metuchen, N.J.: The Scare- crow Press, 1970. $5.00. This book is an attempt at organizing a guide to the criticism of Argentine litera- ture and literary figures. It is primarily in- tended as a tool for the student of the field in response to the need for some kind of re- trieval of the literary criticism "of an im- portant segment of a vital Latin American literary tradition." While this type of work can be valuable, this particular book contains certain inade- quacies which must be mentioned. Al- though the authors state in the preface that their work is to be the "first comprehensive guide" to Argentine literary criticism, their exclusion of Alberdi, Ricardo Rojas, and, most particularly, Sarmiento, is incongruent with their presumed comprehensiveness. While some of the extant research does deal with literary issues, it is negligible when com- pared with the enormous bulk of opinion on the role of these three individuals, not in the development of Argentine literature, but in the formation of a national cultural and intel- lectual heritage. ( Pref., IV) Sarmiento is perhaps one of the most significant Argentine literary figures, and if the authors are capable of separating the importance of the "formation of a national cultural and intellectual heritage" from "lit- erary issues," they should have at least in- cluded that "negligible" portion of research which is available. The work is divided into four parts. Part I lists general bibliographic sources; Part II, journals publishing research on Ar- gentine literature; Part III, general works on Argentine literature; and Part IV, arti- cles and books about Argentine litera1y fig- ures. Each part has various subsections. From the standpoint of completeness, Parts I and III have serious omissions. For example, works such as Palau y Dulcet's bibliography, J. R. Fernandez's Historia del Periodismo Argentino, the index of Enrique Peiia's periodical and newspaper collection, Sabor and Revello's Bibliografia Argentina de Artes y Letras and Armaria del T eatro Argentino are each valuable in their own field. Part II is a well-organized and extensive listing of journals publishing research on Argentine literature. Each entry is accom- panied by a conventional abbreviation which is used in other sections of the book when referring to that particular journal. The imprint date is also included. The most valuable part of the book is un- I ... doubtedly Part IV, which deals with indi- vidual Argentine literary figures. With the exception of the authors mentioned in the preface, all rna jor figures as well as many "minor" authors are included. Under the name of each author are listed all relevant works about the author and his works. From the librarian's viewpoint, an outstand- ing aspect of this part of the book is the references whose bibliographical accurate- ness and briefness add a quality of excel- lence to the entries.-Antonio Rodriquez- Buckingham, Harvard University. The History of Book Illustration: The n- luminated Manuscript and the Printed Book. David Bland. 2d rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor- nia Press, 1969. 459p. $25.00. The first edition of this book, published in 1958, reviewed the history of book illus- tration, by all techniques, from ancient Egypt until the 1950s. The second edition is largely a reprint of the first, although four new color plates have been added, the total amount of numbered illustrations in- creased from 395 to 412, the text updated and corrected in details, and some addi- tions made to include more about Eastern Europe and the Orient. Throughout most of the book, the text and illustrations in the text have been reproduced without change by photolithographic offset. The original half-tone blocks seem to have been used to reproduce the original black and white plates by letterpress. In reprinting the original color plates, the printer of the second revised edition appar- ently did not have the use of the progres- sive proofs used to control color in the first edition. In every case, the color tones are slightly different, with red and yellow gen- erally more predominant in the first edition plates, black in the second. Both editions, however, are well printed in good register. Which of the reproductions is more faithful to any given original could be judged only by comparison with the original. The black and white illustrations in the text appear brighter in the second edition, largely be- cause the paper is whiter. How much this difference in paper tone can be attributed to a change in printing fashions and how much to pape! deterioration is hard to judge. Recent Publications I 65 The major changes in text occur in the last thirty pages of the new edition, but some revisions occur throughout. In chap- ter 7, "The Nineteenth Century," revisions include the addition of a color plate for Henry Noel Humphreys and added exam- ples of English, American, German, and Russian illustrations, all inserted so as to disturb as little as possible the original printing formes. Some errors in dating were corrected, but the revision was not always completed. On page 254 the date for an edition of William Somerville's H obbinol is corrected in the text but left uncorrected in the legend of the illustration appearing on the same page. In other places, the insertion of new text fails to adapt to the old. On page 428 of the new edition, a subheading used on page 424 of the first edition, "Poland and Rus- sia," is changed to "Poland and The Bal- kans" to allow for two paragraphs on the Balkans and a sepamte subheading for Rus- sia alone. The text under the new heading, however, continues undisturbed: "Both these countries excel in two types of illus- tration." Which both? In common with most historians of book illustration, Bland inadequately cites the printed books that contain his examples. One could give many instances, but "Vega: Flos Sanctorum, c. 1521" (Fig. 162), with- out any further elaboration of the author's name in text or index will send the search- er on a merry chase. The first edition was a unique contribu- tion to the history of book illustration. The second edition, though not greatly nor al- ways carefully revised, is an improvement on the first.-Howard W. Winger, Univer- sity of Chicago. National Index of American Imprints Through 1800: The Short-Title Evans. Clifford K. Shipton and James E. Moon- ey. 2v. Barre, Mass.: American Anti- quarian Society and Barre Publishers, 1969. 102,8p. $45.00. The subtitle of this publication is both overly modest and misleading. To see it only in relation to Evans greatly underesti- mates its contribution to research, valuable though it is when used with that "most im- portant general list of early American pub- lications." This beautifully bound, moder-