College and Research Libraries


well illustrated. Appendix B was unfortunate-
ly misbound in the review copy, but we trust 
this to be an error not repeated in the rest 
of the e d i t i o n . — R u d o l f Hirsch, University of 
Pennsylvania Library. 

State Author Headings 
Author Headings for the Official Publications 

of the State of Wisconsin. By Ruth Lillian 
Whitlock Jackson. Chicago: American Li-
brary Association, 1954. 21 lp. $5. 

Author Headings for the Official Publications 
of the State of Oklahoma. Compiled by Ruth 
Fulton Cramer; revised and extended by 
Carolyn Curtis Mohr. Chicago: American 
Library Association, 1954. ix, 114p. $3.85. 

T w o volumes have been added to the series 
of state author headings published by the 
American Library Association. Earlier lists pro-
vide headings for Alabama (Markley), Loui-
siana (Foote) and Wyoming (Fischer). Like 
the Markley volume, the new additions are 
based on theses for the master's degree at the 
University of Illinois Library School. Despite 
its belated publication, the Wisconsin list was 
the first such compilation to be undertaken 
at the school in 1941. 

T h e theoretical utility of listing author head-
ings for official state publications lies in the 
difficulty of determining the legal form of an 
agency name. T h e compiler of such a list 
seeks to establish agency names authoritative-
ly by systematically combing state laws, blue 
books, bibliographies of state publications, 
and similar sources. Any cataloger who has 
scanned the fine print of session laws to verify 
the name of a minor state agency can appre-
ciate the boon of having the task done for 
him. Reference librarians, too, will find use 
for such tools in their own work. 

T h e Wisconsin list covers agencies of the 
territorial government from 1836 to 1848 and 
the state government from 1848 to 1951. It of-
fers about 1,000 author headings together with 
some 1,500 cross references. T h e Oklahoma list 
covers agencies of the territorial government 
from 1890 to 1907 and the state government 
from 1907 to 1953. It gives some 444 author 
headings with approximately 1,270 cross ref-
erences. Both lists include numerous see-also 
references. 

Of the two, the Oklahoma list seems to be 
the sounder piece of work. As the foregoing 
figures suggest, its proportion of cross refer-
ences to headings more nearly conforms to 
the terrible necessity of providing catalog ac-
cess to government publications. Even more 
important, it avoids useless proliferation of 
headings. 

T h e Wisconsin list is unrestrained. It strives 
to give a heading for every subdivision of the 
main state departments, even though, admit-
tedly, subdivision names are seldom estab-
lished by law. As a result, it provides 64 dif-
ferent forms for each of two headings: WIS-
CONSIN. P U B L I C SERVICE C O M M I S S I O N ; a n d WIS-

CONSIN. S T A T E CONSERVATION D E P A R T M E N T . T h e 

heading WISCONSIN, P U B L I C SERVICE C O M M I S -
SION. ADMINISTRATIVE D E P A R T M E N T h a s 2 1 s u b -

divisions. Most of them transcend the bounds 
of cataloging propriety. What collection of 
state documents would ever require the head-
i n g WISCONSIN. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION. AD-

M I N I S T R A T I O N D E P A R T M E N T . I N F O R M A T I O N DE-

P A R T M E N T . M A I N O F F I C E SECTION? As a prac-
tical matter, few libraries use corporate en-
tries in more than three parts unless they 
want the heading to wag the card. 

T h e compilers of the Oklahoma list wisely 
chose to exclude headings for "temporary 
bodies appointed to complete a specific func-
tion, as construction of a building, where no 
publications were issued and the agency ob-
viously no longer functions" (p. vi). In the 
Wisconsin list one finds: 

WISCONSIN. A G E N T T O PROCURE A BLOCK O F 

M A R B L E OR G R A N I T E T O BE P L A C E D IN T H E 

N A T I O N A L M O N U M E N T A T T H E C I T Y O F 

WASHINGTON. 

WISCONSIN. BOARD T O HEAR, T R Y AND DETER-

M I N E C O M P L A I N T S REGARDING T H E F A I L U R E 

OF RAILROADS T O M A K E CONNECTIONS A T 

J U N C T I O N A L POINTS W I T H I N THIS S T A T E . 

WISCONSIN. COMMISSIONERS T O PROCURE T O BE 

PUBLISHED SO M U C H O F T H E D O C U M E N T A R Y 

HISTORY O F THIS S T A T E AS HAD BEEN PRE-

PARED FOR P U B L I C A T I O N BY W I L L I A M R. 

S M I T H . 

We learn that the governor was the block-
buying agent, that Mr. Smith's book was in 
fact published, but there is nothing to re-
veal whether train service was ever improved. 
All this makes charming reading, but it seems 
unlikely that these fleeting agencies would 

MAY, 1956 273 



have issued publications under such top-heavy 
designations. 

T h i s raises the practical point: do such lists 
really make a contribution, or are they mere-
ly the by-products of "busy work"? It may be 
argued that even if they are in the latter cat-
egory, theresults are possibly useful and should 
be made available. All well and good, but part 
of the $5.00 price tag on the Wisconsin list 
is due to the padding-out of headings. Each 
library must assess the value of these lists for 
itself, weighing the advantages against the 
drawbacks. Librarians need not be reminded 
that, an Oklahoma heading to the contrary, 
there is no Santa Claus Commission.—John 
Rather, School of Library Service, Columbia 
University. 

Cambridge Publishing 
The Evolution of Cambridge Publishing. By 

S. C. Roberts. N e w York: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1956. 67 p. $2.75. 

Unlike the editors of Webster's Collegiate 
Dictionary, those Cantabrigians who guide the 
Sandars Lectures in Bibliography are well 
aware that bibliography is neither confined 
to the history or description of books and 
manuscripts, nor to lists of writings. During 
the past decade, this distinguished lecture ser-
ies has offered sound and varied fare, in-
cluding studies of manuscripts, incunabula, 
and the book trade as well as John Carter's 
penetrating comments on tendencies in book 
collecting. The Evolution of Cambridge Pub-
lishing, the latest to be published, again re-
minds us of this breadth of interest, for it 
concerns the history of publishing rather than 
the history of books. 

Although the university press at Cambridge 
has printed books since the sixteenth century, 
its publishing activities are fairly recent. In 
this volume of the Sandars Lectures for 1954, 
S. C. Roberts, master of Pembroke College 
and formerly secretary to the syndics of the 
press, presents a broad survey of publishing 
at Cambridge. Each of the three lectures is 
devoted to a particularly important period: 
the revival of the press under Richard Bent-
ley about 1700, the increased attention to 
publishing in the second half of the nine-
teenth century, and some significant develop-
ments of the twentieth century. T h e first two 

lectures supplement the author's History of 
the Cambridge University Press (1921) where 
the material on early publishing lacked the 
information provided by manuscripts since 
discovered and where the material on modern 
publishing was, with proper delicacy, subor-
dinated. Thus, the earlier book discusses works 
published or printed at the beginning of the 
eighteenth century with occasional references 
to the curators' minute-books; in the present 
volume, cash accounts are analyzed to show 
production costs. T h e "sad story of the pub-
lication of the Suidas Lexicon" (1705), in 
which, unwillingly, "the Curators were for the 
first time faced with the problems and respon-
sibilities of a publisher," is here told in de-
tail. 

T h e master of Pembroke then turns to the 
nineteenth century, discussing efforts to main-
tain the press on a profitable basis before con-
sidering the important publication projects: 
Arabia Deserta, the Revised Version, the Pitt 
Press series of textbooks, the Cambridge Mod-
ern History, and lesser works. These are re-
viewed in a rather cursory fashion; no at-
tempt is made to supply detailed information 
about production costs, number of copies 
sold, or even the editorial policies. Instead, 
emphasis is placed upon the growth of the 
publishing business conducted by the press, 
citing changes in organization as well as in 
kinds of books published. 

T h e final lecture describes "a few, only a 
few, features of the development of Cambridge 
printing and publishing in the present cen-
tury." But the few chosen are probably the 
most interesting: the syndics' experience with 
an American promoter in the publication of 
the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Bri-
tannica, the typographical renaissance under 
Bruce Rogers and Stanley Morison, and the 
success of the press in publishing textbooks 
as well as occasional best-sellers. W h e n one 
remembers that, during part of this period, 
the author was secretary to the syndics, it is 
disappointing to find comparatively little 
new information. A less objective, more per-
sonal approach might have provided a bet-
ter insight into the evolution of Cambridge 
publishing at that time. However, now that 
this study has been completed, it is to be 
hoped that an autobiographical account will 
be prepared. Certainly there is much more to 
tell. 

274 C( . L E G E AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES