College and Research Libraries know about professional education in each and all of its aspects far exceeds what we know; (2) the problems and possibly the solutions are not much different as between the profes- sions; ( 3) we may be expecting far too much to happen to a student in one, two or even three years of professional study even though in addition to four years of college; (4) the librarians have done no worse and may well be doing better than average for the profes- sions including those with a longer experience such as Law, Medicine, and Theology; ( 5) meaningful improvements are likely to come slowly and then only if the importance of the task is recognized by the profession as a whole and in terms of substantial time, effort and energy devoted to it.-Richard H. Logsdon, Columbia, University Libraries. Books and Printing Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typo- philes. Ed. by Paul A. Bennett. Cleveland and New York, World Publishing Com- pany, 1951. 417p. $7.50. A treasury says Webster, with all the exacti- tude and cool inadequacy of a lexicographer's definition, is "a place or building in which stores of wealth are deposited ... any reposi- tory for treasure ... hence, a work contain- ing much knowledge, wit, or the like." It is to be hoped that no editor would lightly assign to a volume that he had nurtured into existence the sub-title "A Treasury of ... " or "A Treasury for ... " without first care- fully searching both his conscience and his text to be sure that he was perfectly justified in so doing. While those of the literary call- ing are less apt perhaps than are their com- mercial brothers who make patent medicines and breakfast foods to be apprehended by the guardians of the law for little misrepresenta- tions of the character of their products, one likes to think that on the whole the world of books is a realm wherein the producers are folk of honesty as well as humility who would not claim more for their wares than they really are: that any collection or anthology was a treasury unless it really was such. - Happily, it can be reported th,at Paul A. Bennett's Books and Printing as "A Treasury for Typophiles" is a treasury in a far richer sense than that expressed by the "harmless drudges" (as Doctor Johnson styled dictionary OCTOBER, 1952 makers) of the Merriam Company. Bennett presents a galaxy of great modern bookmen represented by some of their best short writings. Of the forty-two articles and essays, all save an excerpt from James Wat- son's History of the Art of Printing (1713) and a dialogue (late I 9th century) by Theo- dore Low DeVinne are of the period 1919 to r 95 I. A few of the pieces have been revised or supplemented by postcripts for inclusion in the present volume. Books and Printing is not primarily of an historical nature, nor is it a textbook. It is, rather, a blending of some historical and bio- graphical elements with treatises on a great number of different aspects of type, printing, and bookmaking in general, forming a collec- tion which may be picked up or laid down at any point and still fulfill its purpose of adding riches to "the savings account of your mem- ory." With regard to the material included, the editor notes, "Where there was a cho:ce, the preference was for the author with a point of view and the ability to express it interestingly." The measure of his success in selection lies in the realization that disparity of quality be- tween the many parts, which is sometimes great and discouraging in such works, is but little, if at all, apparent here. The opening chapter, Otto F. Ege's "The Story of the Alphabet," traces, character by character, the physical development of our twenty-six letters. Next, Lancelot Hogben's "Printing, Paper and Playing Cards" tells the history of the use of the alphabet. This sets the stage for the essays that fol- low, dealing with the specialized and the general, the theoretical and the practical in all phases of the book arts and typography. There is Ruth S. Granniss on colophons, Edward Rowe Mores on metal flowers, and Edwin Eliott Willoughby, familiar to Library Quarterly readers, on printers' marks. Pres- ent are Wroth and McKerrow, Morison and Gill, Rogers and Updike, and a host of others. Porter Garnett's engaging treatment of fine printing, "The Ideal Book," is included, while W. A. Dwiggins, Desmond Flower, and Robert J osephy each discuss quality of present- day bookmaking, its accomplishments and fail- ures. Two subjects, both of which are cov- ered by a group of interesting essays, are private presses and the concept of "traditional" 397 vs. "modern" typography. In a number of instances Mr. Bennett has performed a service that should surely endear him to librarians especially, that of putting valuable material into more readily available form. To mention but one example of this, Edwin Grabhorn's "The Fine ·Art of Print- ing" is an essay about paper, ink, . type, and also binding that did not deserve the oblivion of the fifty-copy edition in which it was pub- lished nearly twenty years ago. A charming feature of Books and Printing and a technical problem well handled is the setting of the volume in some twenty different type faces. While the· majority of the essays are in Janson, others are in faces selected to _ carry the texts of their own creators or chosen because of an appropriateness to the subject matter. Bennett adds significance to this man- ner of handling in the final essay, his "On Type Faces for Books," which includes speci- mens of and notes on each of the types used. The editor's accomplishment in amassing a rich treasury for the typophile is admirably complimented by designer Joseph Trautwein's accomplishment in providing for it a fine and worthy format, this being attested by the vol- ume's selection as one of the "Top Honor Books" in the Chicago and Midwestern Book- making Show and as one of the "Fifty Books of the Year" of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Books and Printing deserves high recom- mendation for library shelves and also · for librarians' personal collections.-:-Edward Con- nery LathemJ Dartmouth College Library. The Public Librarian The Public Librarian. A. Report of the Public Library Inquiry. By Alice I. Bryan. With a Section on the Education of Librarians by Robert D. Leigh. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952. 474P· $6.oo. Public librarians have had the stimulating experience over the last several years of look- ing at themselves as others see them. The painstaking accumulation of data by the Public Library Inquiry staff has produced one after another facet of the image that could not otherwise be seen. Some will say that the mirror is so imperfect that the image is almost a caricature. Few will deny the value of all of its parts. The Public Librarian is likely to produce as little conflict Of opinion as to its worth, accuracy, or conclusions as any in the series. It is noteworthy that this should be so., as the volume is concerned with the public librarian himself, with the basic questions of personality, training, recruitment, personnel practices and organization, economic status and individual motivation of the individual librarian at all levels. Because the materials of the book are so basic, it can be read with profit and interest by all members of the library profession whether in the public library field or not. . It is fascinating, if not vital, to know that most of the librarians queried would again choose librarianship, that they went into li- brary work because they liked books and people, that male librarians rate highest on the career potential scale as musicians, and that 87% read for recreation. However, it is sur- prising and important to learn that only 5 I% hold A.B. or B.S. degrees. Parts III and IV of the Bryan book are the sections most likely to absorb the interest of college and research librarians. Here are handled those knotty and controversial prob- lems of recruitment and training, selection and morale that are common to all types of librar- ies large and small. We all use the same training institutions and, therefore, are vitally concerned with the way the library schools are doing their job. Administrators of the smaller libraries might feel that the fundamental criticisms that are implicit in the description of personnel administration do not apply to them. How many of them could, however, take to heart and act upon the suggestions for improved methods of selection, of internal communica- tions, of public and staff relations and record keeping, especially for performance evaluation. The larger libraries which face these prob- lems in a more acute form have moved for- ward at least haltingly in the direction of meeting them. Multiple and secret classifica- tion pay plans, hit or miss training, and the mystified and bewildered staff are not limited to the large, complex institutions. Several needs fundamental to the profession as a whole emerge for the thoughtful reader as basic. The foremost is certainly improved economic status. Little progress can be made in recruiting for the profession until librarians can look forward to a reasonably adequate 398 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES '