College and Research Libraries EUGENE P. SHEEHY Selected Reference Books of 1981-82 THIS ARTICLE continues the semiannual se- ries originally edited by Constance M. Win- chell. Although it appears under a by-line, the list is a project of the Reference Depart- ment of the Columbia University Libraries, and notes are signed with the initials of the individual staff members. 1 Since the purpose of the list is to present a selection of recent scholarly and general works of interest to reference workers in uni- versity libraries, it does not pretend to be ei- ther well balanced or comprehensive. A brief roundup of new editions of standard works, continuations, and supplements is presented at the end of the article. Code numbers (such as AJ41, BE69, 2CD13) have been used tore- fer to titles in the Guide to Reference Books and its supplements. 2 BIBLIOGRAPHY Winans, Robert B. A Descriptive Checklist of Book Catalogues Separately Printed in America, 1693-1800. Worcester, Mass., American Antiquarian Society, 1981. 207p. $35. LC 80-69713. ISBN 0-912296- 47-X. Separately published book catalogs "issued in America prior to 1801 by booksellers, pub- lishers, book auctioneers, circulatfng li- braries, social libraries, college libraries, and private libraries" (Introd.) are listed and de- scribed in this checklist. Within a chronolog- ical arrangement, items that have been lo- cated (i.e., entries for 278 located items plus 8 others not known to be extant, but for which there is good evidence of publication) are numbered, whereas unlocated items 1. Rita Keckeissen, Anita Lowry, Eileen Mcil- vaine, Mary Ann Miller; Lehman Library: Laura Binkowski, Diane Goon. 2 . Eugene P. Sheehy, Guide to Reference Books (9th ed.; Chicago: American Library Assn., 1976); Supplement (Chicago: American Li- brary Assn., 1980); 2d Supplement (Chicago: American Library Assn., 1982) . (some 393 entries "assigned a lesser status be- cause many if not most of them may be bib- liographic ghosts") are unnumbered and, in lieu of location symbols, reference is made to earlier bibliographies or other sources from which the citation derives. There is an index of authors (including libraries as corporate authors, booksellers, auctioneers, etc.), printers, subjects, and places of publication. The checklist forms the first published results of a project designed to provide simi- lar coverage for all American eighteenth- century book catalogs; further segments will list catalogs published as part of a larger unit and catalogs in manuscript. -E.S. MANUSCRIPTS Braswell, Laurel Nichols. Western Manu- scripts from Classical Antiquity to the Renaissance: A Handbook. New York, Garland, 1981. 382p. (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, V.139) $50. LC 79-7908. ISBN 0-8230-9541-3. Addressed to the student of paleography, this pioneering manual is designed to bring together bibliographies from many disci- plines "to facilitate the study of Western manuscripts" (Introd.) from classical antiq- uity to the early Renaissance. Emphasis is on sources important for British manuscripts in- ·asmuch as the work will be used chiefly in the English -speaking world. Materials are presented in fifteen sections, each with appropriate subdivisions, con- ceived as successive stages in identification, transcription, and interpretation of a manu- script, its cultural context, and ultimately, its edition. Subsections for individual specialties (e.g., writing and script, diplomatics, codi- cology, illumination, textual criticism), however, have their own interest and can be used profitably by the student of calligraphy, of medieval studies, of the history of the book, etc., a circumstance that bears out the compiler's conviction of the interdisciplinary I 331 332 I College & Research Libraries • july 1982 character of paleography. Both books and articles are listed, with each entry carrying full bibliographical details as well as a brief descriptive or evaluative annotation. There is a high percentage of English-language works, but important writings in foreign lan- guages are also included. The index is chiefly of authors and editors; for a subject ap- proach, the reader must depend on the de- tailed table of contents prefixed to each section. -R.K. LIBRARY RESOURCES Grant, Steven A., and Brown, John H. The Russian Empire and Soviet Union: A Guide to Manuscripts and Archival Mate- rials in the United States. Boston, G. K. Hall, 1981. 632p. $75. LC 81-6306. ISBN 0-8161-1300-9. University and research libraries and ar- chives, museums, business, ethnic and other organizations, federal and state archives, his- torical societies, and owners of private col- lections in the continental United States, Ha- waii, and Alaska are all included in this catalog of manuscript holdings "that relate to the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and the many distinct nationalities therein."- Introd. Wide as the net is, there is no claim that the result is an exhaustive listing; only highlights will have been mentioned for some collections; others may have been in- adequately described. Nevertheless, this am- bitious work, covering materials in many forms- correspondence, organizational rec- ords, diaries, memoirs, literary manuscripts, photographs, films, tape recordings, and graphic materials- which bear on political, historical, social, economic, diplomatic, ar- tistic, religious, and military matters, will be a welcome addition at any institution in which advanced work in Slavic studies is im- portant. Descriptions (collected by personal visits, by correspondence, and from published find- ing aids) are arranged alphabetically by state, then city, then repository. Entries in- clude names and dates of persons or organi- zations; subject; general description of the collection; details of the Russian-related items; conditions affecting access; and cita- tions to finding aids. There is a full index of names and subjects. -R.K. GovERNMENT PuBLICATIONS Coxon, Howard. Australian Official Publi- cations. Oxford, Pergamon Pr., [1980]. 122p. il. (Guides to Official Publications, V.5) $36. LC 80-40046. ISBN 0-08- 023131-4. Richard, Stephen. Directory of British Offi- cial Publications: A Guide to Sources. [London], Mansell (dist. in U.S. by H. W. Wilson), [1981]. 360p. $58. ISBN 0-7201- 1596-5. Westfall, Gloria. French Official Publica- tions. Oxford, Pergamon Pr., [1980]. 209p. il. (Guides to Official Publications, V.6) $35. LC 80-40418. ISBN 0-08- 021838-5. Several volumes of Pergamon's "Guides to Official Publications" series offer surveys of governmental publishing in individual coun- tries presented with some degree of confor- mity but without strict adherence to a pat- tern: the Coxon and Westfall volumes are representative additions to the series. Both provide information on the types of official publications and their dissemination, the his- torical background, problems of acquisition, and citations to bibliographies and indexes. As an English-language guide to French gov- ernment documents and related publica- tions, the Westfall work is particularly welcome- not least because of its separate chapter on the journal Officiel . In many respects, Coxon's volume com- pares favorably with the volume of the same title edited by D. H. Borchardt (Melbourne, Lpngman Cheshire, 1979; Suppl. 2AG14), although the latter may be preferred for its somewhat more discursive essay style and more extensive bibliographies. As the title clearly indicates, Richard's work is a directory to the sources of British official publications- the organizations which issue and distribute them- not a bibli- ography of the publications themselves. Or- ganizations are grouped geographically (i.e., United Kingdom, Great Britain, England and Wales; Northern Ireland; Scotland, etc.), then by type (central government; li- braries, museums, galleries; research council establishments, etc.). Entries provide infor- mation on the types of publications issued, the subjects covered, availability of the pub- lications, and addresses to which orders or requests for further information should be directed. -E.S. BIOGRAPHY Bartke, Wolfgang. Who's Who in the Peo- ple's Republic of China. Armonk, N.Y., M. E. Sharpe; Brighton, Eng., Harvester Pr., [1981]. 729p. il. $100. LC 80-27599. ISBN 0-87332-183-9. "A publication of the Institute of Asian Mfairs in Hamburg." -t.p. Intended as a guide to the currently active leaders of the People's Republic of China, this new biographical dictionary focuses on government, party, and mass organization officials. The work is based on files main- tained by the compiler from 1958, with in- formation drawn "primarily from the. daily Chinese press . . . and reports from the Sum- mary of World Broadcasts of the BBC."- Prej. Details concerning date and place of birth, education, etc., were often not avail- able, and numerous entries consist only of in- dication of positions held and a chronology of appointments and official activities. Many entries include' a photograph of the biogra- phee. Names are entered according to the pinyin system of transliteration; Chinese characters and Wade-Giles romanization of the names are also given. An extensive ap- pendix offers background tables and various lists of party, government, and mass organi- zation officials. -E.S. Biographical Dictionary of American May- ors, 1820-1980: Big City Mayors. Ed. by Melvin G. Rolli and Peter d'A. Jones. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Pr., 1981. 451p. $69.50. LC 80-1797. ISBN 0-313- 21134-5. The big cities whose mayors are docu- mented in this volume are: Baltimore, Bos- ton, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleve- land, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pitts- burgh, San Francisco, and St. Louis. Though recent years have seen certain shifts in the centers of population and influence toward newer, sunnier cities, these fifteen great ur- ban centers of the East, Midwest, and coastal waters are those that have "maintained con- sistent leadership in population and histori- cal importance since the 1820s."-p.xii. Selected Reference Books I 333 (Washington, D.C., was excluded as a rather special case, but is to be included in a future volume.) The editors (codirectors of the Project for the Study of American Mayors) and the 100 other contributors have drawn largely on ar- chival and primary resource research in writ- ing about each of the 679 mayors. Basic bio- graphical information, electoral statistics, brief political analysis, and bibliographic sources are provided for every mayor, living or dead, from the most famous to the most obscure (many of the latter would not easily be found in other sources). There are five ap- pendixes listing the mayors by city, political party, ethnic background, religious affilia- tion, and place of birth; seven additional ap- pendixes provide historical demographic sta- tistics (up through the 1970 census) for the fifteen cities. An index of names and subjects completes the volume.-· A . L. LITERATURE Foster, David William. Mexican Literature: A Bibliography of Secondary Sources. Me- tuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Pr., 1981. 386p. $22.50. LC 81-8871. ISBN 0-8108-1499-8. Foster points out that the three "touch- stones" of Spanish AmeriCan literature- Argentina, Mexico, and Peru- have long been lacking bibliographies of representative criticism of their major authors (time and burgeoning scholarly activity having left his 1970 Research Guide to Argentine Literature incomplete and out of date). This work is an attempt to remedy that situation for Mexican literature. Fifty authors since the colonial period were chosen on the "basis of their historical and aesthetic importance and on the basis of available critical references."- Pref. These references include criticism and review arti- cles in scholarly and cultural journals, arti- cles reprinted in collective works, mono- graphs, doctoral dissertations, and bibliographies. Reviews are cited only if an author has not accumulated a large body of criticism. Preceding the sections for individ- ual authors are seventy-six pages of general references arranged hierarchically (begin- ning with bibliographies, general histories, collected essays, etc.), then by period, genre, and region. Mexico's indigenous literature is 334 I College & Research Libraries· July 1982 excluded; the cutoff date is 1978179. The bibliography's extensiveness is testi- mony to the industry of the compiler, who was handicapped by lack of consecutive, cu- mulative Latin American periodical indexes for much of the period of coverage. We are much in his debt. -M.A.M. Hager, Philip E. and Taylor, Desmond. The Novels of World War I: An Annotated Bib- liography. New York, Garland, 1981. 513p. (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, V.232) $40. LC 80-8496. ISBN 0-8240-9491-3. Hager's 800-entry checklist (published in Bulletin of Bibliography, Oct.-Dec . 1977) has here been expanded to include some 900 adult and 370 juvenile novels which "use World War I conflict either as a substantial part of the action or whose plot is set wholly or in part against the 1914-1918 war period." -Pref. Policies of inclusion and ex- clusion are set forth in some detail: e.g., in- cluded are short novels if bound separately; excluded are war memoirs; included are En- glish translations; excluded are novels "that show the effect of the war on postwar life and activities." Earliest publication date and complete bibliographical details are given for each novel cited. If a copy of the novel could not be located, the source of the citation is given. Annotations are carefully prepared, for in a few sentences the work is described in suffi- cient detail to indicate the story line and its relation to the war, its value, and the in- tended audience. Arrangement is chronolog- ical within the separate adult and juvenile sections. Of special interest are the essays (giving a brief survey of the various themes in the nov- els) that precede each section, and the exten- sive bibliography of critical materials- books, dissertations, essays, and periodical articles. There are author and title indexes, but some topical indexing would have been welcome: for example, an approach to novels that focus on trench warfare or those set in India. General readers, collectors, and re- searchers, however, should find this a useful compilation. -E.M. O'Neill, Patrick. German Literature in En- glish Translation: A Select Bibliography. Toronto, Univ. of Toronto Pr., [1981]. 242p. $15. LC 81-195851. ISBN 0-8020- 2409-2. This compilation of 1,894 entries, useful for the "teaching scholar in the humanities, the student of comparative literature, and the educated general reader" (Prej.), covers the whole range of German literature from the Middle Ages to the present. Closing date is 1979. More than half the listings are of twentieth-century writing, but good modern translations of earlier works are an impor- tant ingredient. Unlike the earlier standard lists, B. Q. Morgan's Critical Bibliography of German Literature in English Translation and its Supplement covering through 1955 (see Guide BD615), and M. F. Smith's comple- mentary Selected Bibliography ... 1956- 1960 (Guide BD617), which included many disciplines, O'Neill's compilation is limited to literature as such. And for that subject the new list virtually supersedes the older ones. Philosophy, history, anthropology, etc., are in general excluded. Nor does the compiler attempt evaluative comment as Morgan did, since his prime criterion for inclusion is liter- ary excellence, and secondly, cultural inter- est. Arrangement is in five chronological divi- sions: general, pre-1700, eighteenth, nine- teenth, and twentieth centuries. Within each section books appear alphabetically by au- thor. For each entry author, title, translator, place, publisher, and date are given, and the original German title is often supplied. Pa- perback format is noted, but in-print status is not. A useful work for both graduate and un- dergraduate literature collections. -R.K. PERFORMING ARTS Balet: entsiklopediia. Gl. red. IV. N. Gri- gorovich. Moskva, Sovetskaia Entsiklope- diia, 1981. 623p. il. 9r., 10k. LC 81- 482546. Articles on dancers, choreographers, cos- tume and set designers, composers of ballet music, ballet companies, dance terms, and individual ballets are all included in this in- ternational encyclopedia of ballet. Coverage is also extended to such areas as modern dance (e.g., there are articles on Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham), and re- lated dance forms such as Indian classical dance and Spanish dance, and Japanese noh theater. Despite the international scope, however, Soviet dancers who have "de- fected" to the West (e.g., Makarova, Nu- reyev) are ignored. Signed articles predomi- nate; many have bibliographies appended. French terms from classical ballet are en- tered in roman type, but non-Russian names are given in Cyrillic transliteration, with the original form of the surname in roman fol- lowing the entry word. Similar treatment is accorded entries for ballets of non-Russian origin: those titles are given in Russian trans- lation. Illustrations abound and, although small in size, reproduction of both black- and-white and color photographs is usually clear. Line drawings illustrate dance steps and positions. -E.S. EcoNOMIC HISTORY Encyclopedia of American Economic His- tory: Studies of the Principal Movements and Ideas. Glenn Porter, ed. New York, Scribner, [1980]. 3v. (1,286p.) $130. LC 79-4946. ISBN 0-684-16271-7. The general editor of this new encyclope- dia points out that "despite its central place in the evolution of American civilization, ec- onomic history has never been well inte- grated into most historians' or most educated Americans' view of the past." -Pref. The same holds true of libraries, for in a decen- tralized library system, where does economic history belong? Within broad topical sections the encyclo- pedia treats the "collective American eco- nomic experience as it is understood in the latter part of the 1970s." Volume I begins with a historiographical article, then moves on to an overview of the American economy in six chronological sections from "European Backgrounds" to "Economy since 1914." The rest of the set is divided into three large sections, each reflecting the interests of a subdiscipline of history, and each showing a further topical breakdown. Thus, within "The Framework of American Economic Growth," the articles follow the approaches of economists and the "new" economic histo- rians by surveying such topics as "Natural Resources and Energy" and "Business Cycles, Panics and Depressions." Within "The Insti- Selected Reference Books I 335 tutional Framework," appear such topics as "Slavery" and "American Business Institu- tions before the Railroad." Finally, under "The Social Framework," such groups as blacks and women and social forces such as the military-industrial complex and the auto- mobile are treated. Contributors were instructed to write for the "educated, intelligent layman," and, for the most part, each author has succeeded, writing straightforward prose and including tables and charts as well as a helpful anno- tated bibliography. The extensive index is a great help in moving around in such a com- plicated work, and there are cross-references to related articles. A list of tables would have been welcome. While the volumes are handy for definitions, they are not really quick- reference tools. Rather, the reference librar- ian can look forward to using this encyclope- dia with students and researchers as a beginning point for research and for suggest- ing new approaches and methodologies.- E.M. STATISTICS Alderson, Michael. International Mortality Statistics. London, Macmillan; New York, Facts On File, [1981]. 524p. $55. LC 80- 22536. ISBN 0-87196-514-3. Serial mortality tables for the period 1901-75 for thirty-one countries (mainly Eu- ropean nations, but including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Tur- key, and the United States) are presented in this compilation. Selection of countries was based on the availability of data "in a contin- uous sequence throughout this century, or at least for a great part of it."- Introd. Follow- ing a series of chapters (with supporting ta- bles and bibliographies) on the validity of mortality statistics, the effects of wars and migration on mortality statistics, published trends in the field, and the statistical methods employed, 178 "Cause of Death" tables present the data by sex, calendar period, cause of death, and country. In addition to tables for specific causes, there are some figures for broader causes or combinations of specific causes of death, as well as tables of population estimates. There is a detailed table of contents and an alpha- betical index of causes of death. The volume 336 I College & Research Libraries • July 1982 should prove useful to the person wanting comparative statistics, statistics for a given country, or information on the field of mor- tality statistics in general.- E. S. PoLITICAL SciENCE Arkin, William M. Research Guide to Cur- rent Military and Strategic Affairs. Wash- ington, D.C., Institute for Policy Studies, 1981. 232p. $15.95; $7.95 paper. ISBN 0- 89758-032-X. U.S. defense posture, Soviet military doc- trine, regional security, arms control and dis- armament: the importance and complexity of these issues and similar ones are under- scored by the overwhelming number of sources available to researchers in military and strategic affairs. Arkin, a defense and in- telligence analyst, has compiled an impres- sive guide' to the basic sources in the field, dis- cussing more than 1,000 reference items and 600 periodicals in a series of bibliographic es- says. The opening chapter, on general informa- tion sources, is a miniguide to the entire field of international relations. The next chapter deals with U.S. government publications, describing hundreds of documents issued by congressional and executive agencies. The section on the U.S. military presents general and specialized sources on the background, organization, budget, and programs of the Defense Department and the four armed ser- vices, as well as information on national se- curity policy, current defense posture, the military-industrial complex, and military personnel issues. A final chapter is devoted to other countries, regional security networks, and transnational military issues such as weapons systems, arms control, and interna- tional organizations. Each chapter highlights the major English-language handbooks, bibliogra- phies, indexes, abstracts, dictionaries, direc~ tories, yearbooks, statistical sources, transla- tion services, and periodical literature. A recurring theme is that all researchers should exploit the raw data, the insight, and the analysis contained in U.S. government publi- cations and current journals. The serial list- ings are impressive indeed: 600 titles, from the major international relations journals to the very specialized military press, are listed. Students, researchers, journalists, activists, government workers, and librarians will all appreciate the meticulous effort that pro- duced this outstanding guide. -L.B. Goehlert, Robert U., and Sayre, John R. The United States Congress: A Bibliography. New York, Free Pr.; London, Collier Mac- millan, [1982]. 376p. $50. LC 81-19526. ISBN 0-02-911900-6. Books, edited volumes, journal articles, re- search notes, dissertations, and theses deal- ing with the history, development, and legis- lative process of the United States Congress are included in this effort to list all the rele- vant "scholarly research material published in English over the last two hundred years."- Introd. General studies of national politics and government policy are not in- cluded, nor are "secondary and peripheral materials on the federal government, foreign affairs, campaigns and current events." More than 5,600 items are entered in a de- tailed, classified arrangement that makes for easy scanning. A good subject index permits the user to fo- cus on very specific topics, individual con- gressional elections and presidential adminis- trations, and precise terms and areas of congressional activity. There is also an au- thor index. While the stated emphasis on scholarly works is to be applauded, the many references to unpublished doctoral disserta- tiorlS and to articles in law reviews may somewhat limit the bibliography's usefulness for "the general reader and serious students" mentioned as part of the intended audience. -E.S. HISTORY AND AREA STUDIES Murray, Jocelyn. Cultural Atlas of Africa. New York, Facts On File; Oxford, Phaidon, 1981. 240p. il., maps. $29.95. LC 80-27762. ISBN 0-87196-558-5. As the editor says in the introduction, "Whatever is said about Africa needs to be grounded in the physical realities of the con- tinent. [This] book is first of all an atlas, but it is an atlas set within the historical context." That context, contemporary as well as histor- ical, is provided in the accompanying text and numerous illustrations, including many beautifully reproduced (and informative) color photographs. Attractive as the book is, it is much more than a picture book; for within its moderate-sized (31cm) format it encompasses an extremely dense but well- organized collection of maps, articles, illus- trations, and captions. In each chapter the pictures, graphics, and text (including signed articles) work together to present facts and expert opinion about all aspects of Mrica's geography, culture, and national identities. Although intended pri- marily to provide synthesis and overview, the work is surprisingly detailed and covers a broad range of topics relating to physical ge- ography, languages and peoples, religion, arts, archaeology and history, education, plus a number of special topics such as "Tra- ditional House Types" and "Game Parks and Conservation." Approximately half of the atlas is devoted to articles and large maps for each of there- gions and nations of Africa (including recent basic statistics). The thoroughness and so- phistication of this endeavor is confirmed by the list of contributors, the careful identifica- tion of each illustration, the up-to-date bibli- ography, the gazetteer/index, and the sub- ject/name index. All for under $301-A.L. Neely, Mark E. The Abraham Lincoln Ency- clopedia. New York, McGraw-Hill, [1982]. 356p. il. $45. LC 81-7296. ISBN 0- 07-046145-7. Neely's encyclopedia is a model of what an encyclopedia should be. Audience and sub- ject are well defined, and the articles are fo- cused, authoritative, and well researched. Each article treats some particular aspect of Lincoln: his relations with contemporaries and family members, his conduct as com- mander in chief (no battles are included since Lincoln was not a field general), events in which Lincoln had the major role, elements of the man (education, physical appear- ance), and his ideas (e.g., attitude toward the Indians). Consideration is also given to persons associated with Lincoln, such as fa- mous biographers, collectors, and "latter- day Lincoln-haters.'' Each article presents a synthesis of what is known on the topic, based on previously published research as well as on Neely's own research; each concludes with a discussion of published sources. The many illustrations- Selected Reference Books I 337 photographs, portraits, cartoons, prints- seem particularly well chosen and appropri- ate. The index is careful and detailed, with the major article on a subject set in boldface type. This encyclopedia is invaluable for anyone with an interest in Abraham Lincoln. - E.M. Patterson, Maureen L. P. South Asian Civili- zations: A Bibliographic Synthesis. Chi- cago, Univ. of Chicago Pr., [1981]. 853p. maps. $50. LC 81-52518. ISBN 0-226- 64910-5. It has been more than twenty years since publication of Patterson and Inden's South Asia: An Introductory Bibliography (Chi- cago, 1961), a guide to selected Western- language works on ludic civilization. The present work has evolved from that title, al- though not without a complete reorganiza- tion of the original classification scheme, which followed "Eurocentric" academic cat- egories. In order "to do justice to the com- plexity and 'foreignness' of Indic civilization [and] show interrelationships and juxtaposi- tions of ideas and events within chronologi- cal blocs," a classification scheme was devel- oped "from the earliest to the latest; from subcontinental or pan-Indian to regional and local; from the general to the specific."- In trod. The system "gathers materials from sev- eral disciplines within a single period, sorts it by spatial [geographic] unit, and presents it in a consistent sequence- political context, economic conditions, social development, religio-philosophical traditions, and literary and artistic expression." The "Outline of Headings," a very detailed table of contents, covers eighty-three pages and is virtually an outline of Indic civilization. Modestly describing this as a "highly selec- tive work limited to western-language sources," the compiler provides citations to more than 28,000 generally available andre- cent books, essay collections, substantive pe- riodical articles, government reports, and dissertations. Chapters are grouped in five main sections: (1) an overview of Indic civili- zation and the Hindu world view; (2) a chronological survey from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century; (3) a historical outline of the development of the indepen- 338 I College & Research Libraries • july 1982 dent nation states of India, Pakistan, Bangla- desh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives; (4) a survey of eight geocultural areas; and (5) general reference sources, traveler's guides, teaching materials, lan- guage tools, and union catalogs. Author and subject indexes conclude the volume. The product of a very special and individ- ualistic scholarship, sensitivity to Indic civili- zation, and bibliographic skill, the work is handsomely produced, reasonably priced, and a fitting tribute to the impressive civili- zation it so ably introduces.- D. G. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Jayawardene, S. A. Reference Books for the Historian of Science: A Handlist. London, Science Museum, 1982. 229p. (Science Museum. Library. Occasional Publica- tion, 2) £3 paper. ISBN 0-901805-14-9. More than a thousand entries are included in this guide for historians of science to satisfy their requirements for historical and general reference works as well as for titles in their areas of specialization. The "list does not pre- tend to offer the historian of science a ready answer to every problem," but "aims at pro- viding him with a wide range of tools to help him solve them." -Introd. Entries are presented in three sections ("History of Science and Its Sources," "His- tory and Related Subjects," "General Refer- ence"), which are appropriately subdivided into forty-four classes by subject, period, or form. Many types of reference works are in- cluded, e.g., guides, manuals, bibliogra- phies, histories, dissertation lists, and period- icals. Bibliographical information is complete, and locations (in London li- braries) are often noted. There is an index of authors/titles, and an index of subjects.- R.K. Myers, Darlene. Computer Science Re- sources: A Guide to Professional Litera- ture. White Plains, N.Y., Publ. for Ameri- can Society for Information Science by Knowledge Industry Pubns., [ 1981]. 346p. LC 81-559. ISBN 0-914236-80-6. Designed as a practical guide to important and often-needed information in the com- puter science field, this reference book brings together various types of information in a single well-organized combination bibliog- raphy/directory/handbook. The bulk of the volume consists of selected bibliographies of current books, journals, technical reports, reference sources, university computer cen- ter newsletters, references on computer pro- gramming languages, and proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery Spe- cial Interest Groups. Some lists are anno- tated, and most provide subject access. Three of these bibliographic chapters are devoted to reference sources, including indexing and abstracting resources, directories, dictio- naries, handbooks, and guides to software re- sources. Address and directory information is given for academic computer centers and com- puter center libraries, associations, pub- lishers, trade fairs and shows, and other in- dustry sources. In addition, acronyms are defined, an expansion of the Library of Con- gress QA 75 and QA 76 classifications is pro- posed, and a concise overview of background information and resources is provided in the introduction to each chapter. According to the preface, this book ad- dresses "the needs of researchers, managers, librarians, consultants and systems analysts in academic, corporate and governmental data processing centers." However, because the book contains so much information so clearly presented, with such useful annota- tions and chapter introductions, it could also be valuable in many science, engineering, and general reference collections that serve students or others interested in "the descen- dants of Babbage's marvelous machine."- A.L. Rink, Evald. Technical Americana: A Checklist of Technical Publications Printed before 1831. Millwood, N.Y., Kraus International Pubns., [1981]. 776p. $60. LC 81-4036 . ISBN 0-527-7544 7-1. Technology has been defined very broadly by the compiler of this checklist to garner some 6,065 published works on the various technologies and "those which indicate the advocacy and the extent of the application of technological improvements, as well as the availability of products created by such applications." -Introd. The resulting bibli- ography demonstrates the interests and the development of technology in the United States from 1683 through 1830 (selected as the cutoff date to keep the checklist in a man- ageable form). Users of the volume should consult the introduction to learn the inclu- sion policies for certain categories of general works (e.g., encyclopedias and manuals, travel books, and gazetteers are included se- lectively, while other categories or specific subjects, such as medicine, journal articles, or cookbooks, are excluded). Materials are listed under topical headings within broad subject categories, then by date of publication. There is a good index. The bibliographical information is complete; notes explain the subject of a volume and clarify authorship or publication details. Lo- cations are given for U.S. libraries. · Item numbers for "Early American Imprints," the microform editions based on the Evans and Shaw and Shoemaker bibliographies, are given when available. When these numbers are not available, reference is made to a bib- liographical source. This is a valuable bibli- ography, carefully compiled and very thor- ough in its coverage. -E.M. NEw EDITIONS, SuPPLEMENTS, ETc. With the appearance of V. 754 (published 1981), the supplement to The National Un- ion Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints (Suppl. 2AA9) is now complete. Frequent users of the basic set who have long been encountering see references to the supplement will be pleased to have that gap closed, just as they will welcome the additional locations found at the end of each supplementary volume. A reprint of the eleventh edition of Symbols of American Libraries (Washington, D.C., 1976) is included in V. 754. Mansell Publish- ing and the NUC staff deserve warm praise for maintaining a rigid production schedule and high-quality work over the many years of publication. The 1911-65 series of the Gesamtverzeich- nis des deutschsprachigen Schrijttums (GV) (see Suppl. AA119) is now complete in 150 volumes. The final volume (Miinchen, K. G. Saur, 1981) includes a brief "Nachtrage" sec- tion, pages 399-411. The third edition of The Video Source Book (Syosset, N.Y., National Video Clear- inghouse, 1981. 1,529p. $95; 2d ed., 1980; Selected Reference Books I 339 Suppl. 2AA50) lists nearly 35,000 prere- corded programs available on video from some 650 sources. A separate listing of video- discs has been added in this edition. With successive editions promised on a tri- ennial basis, the third edition of Kenneth F. Kister's Encyclopedia Buying Guide (New York, Bowker, 1981. 530p. $22.50) evaluates thirty-six in-print English-language encyclo- pedias published or distributed in the United States and Canada. A major change since the previous edition (1977; Suppl. AC1) is the grouping of entries in five size/user categories (e.g., multivolume adult encyclopedias) rather than a single alphabetical listing of ti- tles. Ralph DeSola's Abbreviations Dictionary has appeared in an "expanded international sixth edition" (New York, Elsevier, 1981. 966p. $35) with the text fully revised andre- set. As in the fifth edition (1978; Suppl. AD7), acronyms, appellations, eponyms, nicknames, and a variety of other short forms, pseudonyms, geographic names, etc., are interfiled with the abbreviations. There has been a number of additions to the ap- pended lists and tables. Leland G. Alkire is again the editor of Pe- riodical Title Abbreviations, the third edi- tion of which has appeared in two volumes (Detroit, Gale, 1981. V.1, by abbreviation, $75; V .2, by title, $85). The more than 35,000 abbreviations included represent an increase of about 75 percent over the second edition (1977; Suppl. AE5). An annual sup- plement to V .1 will be entitled New Periodi- cal Titles and is to be designated as V .3 of the set. Biography and Genealogy Master Index (Detroit, Gale, 1980. 8v. $575) forms a sec- ond edition of Biographical Dictionaries Master Index (1975; Suppl. AJ2). As indi- cated in the subtitle, this edition has been ex- panded to index some 3,200,000 bio- graphical sketches in more than 350 works of collective biography and related sources. A list of additions and corrections for the first five volumes of the Dictionary of La- bour Biography (London, Macmillan, 1972- ; Guide AJ167a, Suppl. AJ47, 2AJ38) is included in V.6 of the set (pub- lished 1982). That volume also concentrates "to some extent on radicals of the pre-1850 decades" in the hope that "this emphasis 340 I College & Research Libraries • july 1982 upon Chartists, Owenites and other individ- uals involved in the radical movements of these early decades will help to redress the balance of ... previous coverage."- [p. vii]. With the 572 biographies included in Sup- plement Seven , 1961-1965 (New York , Scribner, 1981. 854p. $55), theDictionaryof American Biography (Guide AJ41) now en- compasses a total of 17,656 sketches. John A. Garraty continued as editor of this latest sup- plement. J. P. Wearing's The London Stage, 1900-1909: A Calendar of Plays and Players (Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Pr., 1981. 2v. $50) offers a continuation of the compiler's earlier listings (see Suppl. BG12), the two sets now providing a day-by-day record of London stage productions for the period 1890-1909. The second edition of the Handbuch der Museen/Handbook of Museums: Bundesre- publik Deutschland, Deutsche Demokrati- sche Republik, Osterreich, Schweiz, Liech- · tenstein (Miinchen, K. G. Saur, 1981 [dist. in U.S. by Gale]. 779p. $175) offers directory information on 1, 760 museums in the coun- tries indicated. Adoption of a larger page size has resulted in the single-volume presenta- tion rather than the two-volume format of the 1971 edition (Guide BE69). Francis P. Prucha's Indian-White Rela- tions in the United States: A Bibliography of Works Published 1975- 1980 (Lincoln, Univ. ofNebraskaPr., 1982. 179p. $14.95) forms a supplement to the same compiler's Biblio- graphical Guide to the History of Indian- White Relations . .. (1977; Suppl. CC195). Classification of entries is basically the same as in the earlier volume, with a few new sub- heads added and a few others eliminated in view of the shorter time space covered. Any post-1974 items listed in the original volume are repeated here. Subarctic, edited by June Helm (Washing- ton, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, 1981. 837p. $22) , forms V.6 of the Handbook of North American Indians (Suppl. CD25 , 2CD 13). It is the fourth volume to be pub- lished in the twenty-volume set. The culture area dealt with in this volume "encompasses approximately 2,000,000 square miles and extends from the coast of Labrador on the At- lantic Ocean to Cook Inlet and beyond on the Pacific. " - In trod. Signed contributions by some fifty scholars are included; full citations to all works referred to in the articles are brought together in the bibliography on pages 741-804. The ]ames Ford Bell Library: An Anno- tated Catalog of Original Source Materials Relating to the History of European Expan- sion 1400- 1800 (Boston , G. K. Hall , 1981. 493p. $95) is a main-entry listing of the Uni- versity of Minnesota Library's James Ford Bell Collection as of December 31 , 1980. It incorporates the listings in the previously published catalogs of the collection: jesuit Relations and Other Americana in the Li- brary of ]ames Ford Bell (1950; Guide DB14) and the lists of additions thereto (Guide DB15, Suppl. DB6). The earlier catalogs re- main useful for their chronological approach and for the fuller descriptions, collations, and facsimiles found in the basic volume. - E .S.