University of Virginia Library

The Periodical Literature of English and American Bibliography
by
G. Thomas Tanselle

Although it is true in most fields of knowledge that new discoveries are often announced first in periodical articles and only later consolidated into more comprehensive books, this situation is particularly characteristic of bibliography. Given the nature of the subject, many contributions inevitably consist of brief notes or articles on individual copies of a book, providing facts which supplement a previously published bibliography or which augment the accumulated evidence about a given printing or publishing practice. As time passes and a sizable body of information develops, a new book, drawing the scattered material together, may be called for; but until that time, those periodical pieces represent the current state of knowledge. Perhaps the classic instance in the field of bibliography is McKerrow's Introduction to Bibliography (1927), which has been the standard guide for over forty years but which has naturally (and increasingly) required supplementing by reference to current research as reported in the journals.

Obviously a cumulated index to periodical articles is an essential reference tool in any field, but the surprising thing about bibliography is what little effort has been made, until recently, to provide this kind of coverage.[1] When Studies in Bibliography included in its third volume a "Selective Check List of Bibliographical Scholarship" for 1949,

it was inaugurating what was to become one of its most important services to bibliographers—a listing of the principal contributions of each year, including separately published monographs as well as articles in periodicals. That service has now covered more than twenty years' work and has twice been provided with cumulative indexes (in the separate issue of the lists for 1949-55 and for 1956-62), making it even more convenient to consult. One has no complaint, therefore, about the indexing of bibliographical articles from 1949 on—though the SB lists cannot hope to be complete and do not try to be (they are called "Selective Check Lists"). It may therefore be necessary in certain kinds of bibliographical research to consult other general indexes for items not included (such as a brief history of a publishing firm in Publishers' Weekly or a book review on a bibliographical subject),[2] but these lists do an outstanding job of recording what can sensibly be called "scholarship" and have caused 1949 to be regarded as the great dividing line by anyone in the process of searching out bibliographical articles.[3]

For the period before 1949 a few guides to bibliographical work exist, but they are not comparable to the SB lists in coverage of periodical material on English and American books. The principal one is probably the series of current lists[4] which have appeared in the Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen since its inception in 1884; though the emphasis is on separate publications, especially those relating to libraries, the lists do contain some English and American articles. For the periods 1904-12 and 1922-26 annual (and indexed) cumulations, issued under the title Bibliographie des Bibliotheks- und Buchwesens (1905-27), make these lists easier to consult; and the expanded cumulation which followed, the Internationale Bibliographie des Buch- und Bibliothekswesens [IBBB] (1928-41), covering 1926-40, is particularly

useful, since it includes about two dozen prominent English-language journals, such as the Library, the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America [PBSA], Publishers' Weekly, Publishers' Circular, and Penrose Annual. Similarly, Library Literature surveys a field which overlaps bibliography, and it indexes—besides a great many library periodicals, as would be expected—the Library, PBSA, Publishers' Weekly, and Publishers' Circular.[5] In addition, a selection of English and American items can be located in the "Bibliography" section of the Modern Humanities Research Association's Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (1921- ), with coverage from 1920, and in the sections on printing, publishing, periodicals, and book arts in Writings on American History (covering 1902-03, 1906-40, 1948-57; published 1904-64), Writings on British History (covering 1901-45; published 1937-68), Bibliography of British History (1928- ), and Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (1940, 1957, 1969- ). Other cumulative lists which may yield additional periodical material include E. C. Bigmore and C. W. H. Wyman's great Bibliography of Printing (1880-86); Talbot B. Reed's "A List of Books and Papers on Printers and Printing, under the Countries and Towns to Which They Refer," Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 3 (1895-96), 81-152; George T. Watkins's Bibliography of Printing in America (1906); Clark S. Northup's A Register of Bibliographies of the English Language and Literature (1925); Nathan Van Patten's An Index to Bibliographies and Bibliographical Contributions Relating to the Work of American and British Authors, 1923-1932 (1934); Alan R. Eager's A Guide to Irish Bibliographical Material (1964); T. H. Howard-Hill's Index to British Literary Bibliography (1969- ); and G. T. Tanselle's Guide to the Study of United States Imprints (1971).[6]

Even after checking these lists, a bibliographer still cannot be sure that he is drawing from a reservoir containing all the articles in all the principal bibliographical journals of the period. What he must do, to come closer to this goal, is to consult several further kinds of index. One is the guide to articles in a specified group of bibliographical journals. The best-known of these is George Watson Cole's excellent Index to Bibliographical Papers Published by the Bibliographical Society and the Library Association (1933), covering the period 1877-1932—essentially an index to the Bibliographical Society's Transactions (1893-1920), the Library (1889-1932), Bibliographica (1895-97), and the Library Association Record (1899-1929). A successor to this index is Michael Turner's forthcoming "Bodleian Index to Certain Bibliographical Journals," which will cover, from 1933 through 1965, the Library, PBSA, Studies in Bibliography, Book Handbook, Book Collector, and Bibliotheck, as well as the publications of the bibliographical societies of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Another kind of index, which can be used to supplement both of these works, is the cumulative index to a single periodical—such as that for PBSA (as of 1931 and 1951) and for the Bulletin of the New York Public Library (as of 1936, 1946, and 1962).[7] Cumulative indexes before 1942 can be located through Daniel C. Haskell's A Check List of Cumulative Indexes to Individual Periodicals in the New York Public Library(1942).[8]

Finally, one can turn to the general periodical indexes, most of which cover at least a few journals of bibliographical interest. Poole's Index, for example, covers the early years of the Library and Library Journal, along with the Bibliographer, Bibliographica, and such other late nineteenth-century journals as Book-Lore, Bookworm, and the American Bibliopolist. For the twentieth century, the Readers' Guide indexes Publishers' Weekly and several of the library periodicals, while the Social Sciences and Humanities Index (formerly International Index) includes, during part of its run, PBSA and the Library, as well as Colophon, Library Quarterly, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, and a few other periodicals with occasional bibliographical material. The Annual Magazine Subject Index [9] also takes up PBSA and the Library, plus certain library journals and a number of typographical publications, such as Printing Art, Print, and Graphic Arts. The central group of library journals is again surveyed in the Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur [IBZ], along with Publishers' Weekly, Publishers' Circular, the Library, and, for a few years, American Printer, British Printer, and Printing Art; in recent years the coverage of IBZ has been so enormous (now roughly 13,000 periodicals) that one might expect more bibliographical journals to be included—indeed, there are considerably more of them in recent years—but for the pre-1949 period the IBZ is not markedly richer in bibliographical material than the other periodical indexes. Similarly, the British Humanities Index (formerly Subject Index to Periodicals), aside from a dozen or so library journals, records only a few bibliographical journals—the Library and PBSA, the publications of the bibliographical societies of Oxford and Glasgow, and—only after the beginning of the SB lists—Signature, Typographica, Penrose Annual, and Book Collector. Although there is much overlapping of coverage among these periodical indexes,[10] and although many bibliographical journals are not covered in them at all, they are worth checking, since stray articles of a bibliographical nature can always turn up in some of the general magazines indexed in them.

One could go on making further suggestions for tracking down articles, but the point is clear: for pre-1949 material, no one index to bibliographical literature provides a counterpart to the SB lists, and,

if one wishes to approximate the SB coverage, one must make a time-consuming check of a number of lists. Periodical indexes can of course be constructed in either of two ways—as an attempted record of all material, wherever published, that is relevant to a given subject, or as a survey of a specified list of journals. Of the indexes mentioned here, Library Literature and the guides to historical writings are good examples of the subject approach, while the standard general periodical indexes are examples of indexes based on fixed groups of journals. Since the subject areas covered—such as librarianship and printing—are less broad than the whole field of bibliography and since the bibliographical journals covered in the general indexes naturally represent only a selection from the full range of bibliographical periodicals, neither group of presently existing indexes provides a really satisfactory control of serial bibliographical material before 1949. Of course, persons interested primarily in a particular author will find bibliographical articles gathered together with other material about that author in each year's issue of the MLA International Bibliography and the MHRA Annual Bibliography and in other guides to literary scholarship. But the fact that bibliographical articles do get listed in this way does not mean that a listing devoted exclusively to bibliographical articles is superfluous—an article on a particular writer, for example, may employ an unfamiliar bibliographical technique, and the bibliographical importance of the article may not be as readily recognized if it is not recorded in a bibliographical context. There is simply no substitute for a serial listing which takes bibliography as its field of knowledge. The SB lists are important because they do more than cover a limited list of periodicals; instead, they try to include all the significant scholarship in physical bibliography, wherever it happens to appear, and, in doing so, they provide a means for measuring the growth of bibliographical knowledge at the same time that they furnish a tool which facilitates the further accumulation of that knowledge.[11]

Since there is no real counterpart for the period before 1949, it becomes particularly important to be aware of the main bibliographical journals of the period and of the places (if any) where each is indexed. Surveying the journals which might reasonably be expected to publish bibliographical material is complicated, however, by the variety of fields and publications that are related to the study of the book in its broadest sense—ranging from the scholarly papers of bibliographical societies to the trade journals of the printing industry. While a journal of librarianship may not very often have an article relevant to physical bibliography and while a book-trade magazine may not usually publish anything that could be called scholarship, both are undeniably sources of information which may be helpful to bibliographers. The most extensive convenient listing of these journals is Carolyn F. Ulrich and Karl Küp's Books and Printing: A Selected List of Periodicals, 1800-1942 (1943); its thousands of entries show the great extent of this literature and provide a place where one can turn for the names of lesser-known journals relevant to all aspects of book production.[12] Because I had occasion, in preparing my Guide to the Study of United States Imprints, to examine the indexing of these varieties of journals somewhat more systematically than I had done before, and perhaps more systematically than bibliographers generally have time to do, I thought it might prove useful to draw this information together in concise form. Accordingly, I shall make some comments in the following pages on the indexing of five classes of periodicals:[13] journals of bibliographical societies (and related scholarly bibliographical journals of a general nature); book-collecting journals; magazines dealing with printing and typography; trade journals of the publishing industry (or other industries—aside from printing—related

to the production or distribution of printed books); and library journals (both general periodicals and those associated with particular libraries). Following these discussions is a table surveying more precisely the coverage of the principal journals in the nine most prominent relevant indexes.[14]

1. Bibliographical Society Journals

The organs of bibliographical societies naturally constitute the central group of journals for bibliographical study, both because they are scholarly in approach and because they are not usually limited to any one aspect of the book. The Library, the publication of the Bibliographical Society (London), has the most distinguished history of any such journal, for even before it became officially connected with the Bibliographical Society in 1920 it was oriented as much toward physical bibliography as toward librarianship and was publishing the work of Pollard, Plomer, and Greg. Even though it was not a bibliographical society journal from 1889 through 1919, therefore, it deserves a place in this group as a general scholarly journal of bibliography. Because of its importance, it has probably been indexed more times than any other bibliographical journal: its entire run is covered in Library Literature; the Cole and Turner indexes cover it through 1965; the IBZ takes it from 1911 forward; and practically all the other major periodical indexes treat substantial segments of it. Before the Bibliographical Society took over the Library, it published its Transactions (1893-1919) separately, and they, too, are covered both in Library Literature and in Cole.[15] The principal American journal, the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (1904- ), is much less satisfactorily indexed in these guides: although it turns up in a number of indexes, the periods involved are so scattered that, in order to cover the pre-SB years (other than in PBSA's own cumulative indexes),[16] one must consult at least two different indexes (Library Literature for 1904-14 and the Annual Magazine Subject Index for the remaining years through 1949). Studies in Bibliography, the other

major bibliographical journal in English, has not been extensively indexed in the general indexes,[17] but there is no problem in locating its contents since it is obviously included in the annual lists of scholarship which it publishes.

Of the remaining journals of local bibliographical societies—principally the bibliographical societies of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Wales—the years from 1933 on are taken care of in Turner's forthcoming index, but the earlier years are only haphazardly covered. The Subject Index is the best that one can do for this purpose, since it includes the Glasgow society as of 1912, the Welsh as of 1915, and the Oxford as of 1926. Bibliographical societies such as those of Cambridge, Canada, and Australia and New Zealand, whose publications began after 1948, are of course included in the SB checklist, but the earlier publications of the Bibliographical Society of Ireland are not listed in any of the basic indexes. Finally, a few other general journals, technically not organs of bibliographical societies, belong in this group. The most illustrious early one, Bibliographica (planned from the beginning to last only three years, 1895-97, and full of contributions by Pollard, Plomer, Madan, Proctor, and Redgrave), is completely indexed in Cole; the Bibliographical Register (1905-07), significant if not equally important, does not appear in the lists of any of the standard indexes; the Gutenberg Jahrbuch (1926- ), which over the years has contained many important articles in English on all aspects of bibliography, is not adequately covered in the periodical indexes, not even appearing in IBZ until 1963 (the first fifteen years are indexed in IBBB, but a gap of over twenty years still remains); and the Bibliotheck, containing much valuable Scottish material, only began in 1956 and is recorded in SB. The situation can therefore be summarized in this way: for the pre-SB years, Turner's index takes care of most of the bibliographical society journals back to 1933; but for the years before that, aside from Cole's coverage of the few major English publications, the indexing of these journals—including such important ones as PBSA and Gutenberg Jahrbuch—is either confusingly spread over several indexes or nonexistent.

2. Book-Collecting Journals

The other principal category of general bibliographical journals consists of those ostensibly directed toward an audience of book collectors.

They are not necessarily less scholarly, and indeed many of them are notable for their learned commentary. Thus the dividing line between this category and the previous one is not distinct; but it makes some sense, for purposes of classification, to separate those journals associated with book collecting—by virtue of their title, their content, or their sponsoring organization—from those journals associated with bibliographical societies. In practice, of course, the two groups together constitute the central core of general journals in the field of bibliography. The principal book-collecting journal in English at present, the Book Collector, illustrates the point, for its editorials, bibliographical descriptions, notes and queries, and reviews maintain a high scholarly standard. Because it began in 1952—that is, after the start of the SB checklists—there is no problem about its indexing; but part of the run of its predecessor, Book Handbook (1947-52), appeared before the SB coverage, as did all of Bibliographical Notes and Queries (1935-39), the forerunner of the notes and queries section of the Book Collector—and while Book Handbook is indexed in Turner, Bibliographical Notes and Queries is unfortunately not indexed anywhere.

In fact, the indexing of book-collecting journals in general is extremely sparse, with only a few of the important ones receiving even fragmentary coverage. Thus one can go to the English Subject Index for nearly all (1919-30) of the Bookman's Journal and Print Collector and for a small segment (1915-22) of the Irish Book Lover; to the IBBB for most (1930-34) of Desmond Flower and A. J. A. Symons's Book Collector's Quarterly and for Charles F. Heartman's American Book Collector (1932-35); to the International Index for part (1934-39) of the Colophon; and to Library Literature for the New Colophon (1948-50) and part (1936-39) of the Book Collector's Packet. But even after consulting four indexes, one has only partial coverage of most of the journals included and no coverage at all of such landmarks as Paul Leicester Ford's Bibliographer (1902-03), Heartman's American Collector (1925-28), the Limited Editions Club's Dolphin (1933-41), and the publications of the Grolier Club, the Book Club of California, and the Zamorano Club (Hoja Volante). As for the numerous book-collecting journals which flourished around the turn of the century, their contents may now be outdated, but the best of them contained a great amount of material which is still useful—if for no other reason—as a source of information about individual copies of books; this material certainly deserves to be made accessible through a consolidated index. Yet of all these periodicals, only Wheatley's Bibliographer (later Book-Lore, then Bookworm) is included in a standard

index (Poole).[18] A thorough index to bibliographical literature should also cover at least Bibliomane (later Bibliophile and Book-Worm; 1881-94), Book Lovers' Almanac (1893-97), Legler's American Book-Lore (1898-99),[19] Literary Collector (1900-05), the Edinburgh Book-Lover's Magazine (1900-09), and Bibliophile (1908-09), and perhaps Philobiblion (1861-63) as well. With so many book-collecting journals neglected, it is not surprising that still lesser and more specialized ones, like Dime Novel Round-Up (1931- ) and Miniature Book Collector (1960- ), are ignored; yet all these periodicals contain material of permanent interest. The two principal journals in this area, aside from the Book Collector, that have started since 1949 are the new American Book Collector (1950- ) and the Private Library (1957- ), both of which are of course covered by the SB lists. But the need for a comprehensive index to the periodical literature of book collecting for at least the period before 1949 is undeniable; such a work would make possible for the first time the systematic use of this large body of bibliographical commentary.[20]

3. Printing and Typographical Journals

Although printing and type design as fields of endeavor are distinct from bibliography, bibliographers are frequently concerned with the printing of books and the analysis of type faces; thus any printing or typographical journal—particularly if it contains historical material—may be relevant to the bibliographer's concerns. The number of journals

in this area is extremely large (as a glance at Ulrich and Küp will show), ranging from trade journals and house organs to scholarly annuals. Indeed, the field of typography has been fortunate in the number and quality of scholarly periodicals devoted to it. The most distinguished is Simon and Morison's Fleuron (1923-30), but other journals containing important historical research are Gerard Meynell's Imprint (1913), Goudy and McMurtrie's Ars Typographica (1918-34), Simon's Signature (1935-54), Harling's Typography (1936-39) and Alphabet and Image (1946-48), Nash's Printing and Graphic Arts (1953-65), Spencer's Typographica (1958-62), Moran's Black Art (1962-65), and Wrolstad's Journal of Typographic Research [now Visible Language] (1967- ). At present the only journal devoted exclusively to historical work in this area is James Mosley's Journal of the Printing Historical Society (1965- ). Of all these journals, only a few have received partial coverage in the standard indexes: part (1926-30) of the Fleuron in IBZ, one year (1926) of Ars Typographica in IBBB, and part (1947-48) of Alphabet and Image in the Subject Index constitute the total amount of such indexing in the pre-SB years, though after that time the Subject Index (British Humanities Index) did include Signature (for 1949-53), Typographica (for 1949-51), and Black Art (for 1962-65).

If these journals are probably the most important in this field for bibliographers, several others contain much useful historical material: graphic arts publications, such as Printing Art (1903-41), PM [later AD] (1934-42), Print (1940- ), Book Design and Production (1958- ), and, above all, the great Penrose Annual (1895- ); house journals, of which the outstanding example is Monotype Recorder (1901- ); and trade journals of the printing industry, such as Inland Printer (1883- ), American Printer (1885-1958), British Printer (1888- ), and Printing Review (1931-59). The only journals of this group which have received any coverage to speak of are Printing Art, most (1907-39) of which is indexed in the Annual Magazine Subject Index, and Penrose Annual, included in IBBB for 1926-38 and in the Subject Index for 1949-61, although the Inland Printer (in IBBB for 1927-37), American Printer (in IBZ for 1911-20), British Printer (in IBZ for 1911-20 and the Subject Index for 1947-61), and Print (in Annual Magazine Subject Index for 1941-49) have each received brief treatment. Many other printing-trade journals have existed, of course, ranging from the nineteenth-century Typographic Messenger to the twentieth-century Typothetae Bulletin and regional magazines like New England Printer, Pacific Printer and Publisher,

Western Printer and Lithographer, and Southern Printer. Although they are principally concerned with current news, the fact that they occasionally contain material of bibliographical interest makes it worthwhile to check the few available guides to this class of material. The Graphic Arts Index, for example, published by the United Typothetae of America in its Service Bulletins from 1932 through 1934 and in the midmonthly numbers of the Typothetae Bulletin from 1935 through 1940, provides coverage, for the period 1927-40, of the large collection of trade journals (English as well as American) received by the Typothetae library.[21] A later similar guide is Printing Abstracts (1946- ), based on the trade journals in the Leatherhead, Surrey, library of PATRA (Printing, Packaging and Allied Trades Research Association)—now called PIRA (Research Association for the Paper and Board, Printing and Packaging Industries.)[22] These guides to trade journals are naturally of limited usefulness to bibliographers, though they do include sections of historical articles; but their existence serves to emphasize the fact that, in a field like printing with an enormous periodical literature, the need is especially urgent for an index drawing together the bibliographical material scattered through these hundreds of journals, both the scholarly and the trade journals.

4. Book-Trade and Paper-Trade Journals

Other industries connected with book production, in addition to printing, have their journals, and the listings in Ulrich and Küp under the headings "Book Trade," "Paper and Papermaking," and "Ink," for example, show how numerous they are. But there are fewer journals in these areas with significant bibliographical contributions, because there are practically no scholarly journals in English exclusively

devoted to publishing or papermaking—the journals in these fields tend to be limited to trade publications more than is the case with printing. Nevertheless, their importance should not be underestimated. Publishers' Weekly (1872- ), in particular, during its long run has published a great many historical articles, both on special aspects of publishing and on individual firms, and almost no study of American publishing can be undertaken without recourse to its pages. It is fortunate that—aside from its own semi-annual indexes—it has been covered in IBZ since 1911, with some of these years duplicated in Library Literature (1921- ) and in the Readers' Guide (1929-53, 1961- ). The English counterpart, Publishers' Circular (1837- ), now called British Books, has not been so well treated, for one must consult three indexes in order to cover the journal from 1925 on (IBZ for 1925-29 and Library Literature from 1933 to the present, with IBBB filling the gap); and Whitaker's Bookseller (1858- ) has only had a tiny fraction of its long run included in IBZ. Of the several nineteenth-century American book-trade periodicals which contain useful information, Sabin's American Bibliopolist (1869-77) is, surprisingly, indexed in Poole; but such other important magazines as the American Stationer (1873-1928) and American Bookseller (1876-92) are not indexed at all. The leading journal of the antiquarian and out-of-print trade is Sol Malkin's Antiquarian Bookman (1948- ), which frequently contains signed articles worth later reference, and it is now (since 1955) indexed in Library Literature. The only publishing journal at present which seems something more than a trade journal is Toronto's Scholarly Publishing (1969- ), and the relevant articles in it will presumably be listed in SB.

Of the remaining fields related to the production of books, the paper industry probably has the most publications, but only a few need to be included in a selective list for bibliographers: Lockwood's Paper Trade Journal (1872- ), the Paper-Maker and British Paper Trade Journal (1891- ), and perhaps Direct Advertising (1912- ), as the leading trade periodicals for paper, and Hercules Chemical Company's Paper Maker (1932- ), as the most distinguished house organ, with numerous articles on the history of individual paper mills. Other memorable journals could be named, such as Paper World (1880-98), William Bond Wheelwright's Paper & Printing Digest (1935-39), and particularly Spalding's Quarterly (1923-39), with its historical studies of watermarks.[23] But virtually all material relating

to paper is conveniently listed in the excellent series of indexes called Pulp and Paper Manufacture: Bibliography and Patents, covering 1900-55 in five volumes and the years since 1955 in annual volumes; although these volumes are primarily a guide to the technical literature of the field, they do include, under the headings "History" and "Watermarks," much out-of-the-way material of interest to bibliographers.[24] For the field of bookbinding, one could cite Bookbinding Magazine (1925-),[25] and for ink the American Ink Maker (1923- ); and there are the trade journals for less closely related fields, such as Editor and Publisher (1901- ) for newspaper publishing and Printers' Ink (1888- ) for advertising. But the indexing of such periodicals is practically nonexistent in the standard indexes, and a specialized index which would pull the relatively few articles of bibliographical importance out of this mass of material would indeed be a great contribution. All such trade journals, of course, constitute important primary material for bibliographers studying the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and anyone using them in this way would want to work straight through the journals themselves; what a bibliographical index is needed for is to segregate the small number of retrospective—if not scholarly—articles from the large number concerned with current matters.

5. Library Journals

The broad field of library publications—including general studies of librarianship as well as accounts of individual libraries—is immense and, since any material dealing with books may potentially be of significance to bibliographers, cannot be ignored. It is true that most of the general journals deal almost exclusively with matters of library administration, but they occasionally have articles of a historical nature and frequently review books of bibliographical interest. Fortunately, the field is well covered by an excellent index, Library Literature (1921- ), and even the period immediately before its inception (1876-1920) is relatively well covered in H. G. T. Cannons's Bibliography of Library Economy (1927), a subject (but not author) index.[26]

Library Literature attempts to record all relevant material, wherever it appears, but it does provide a list of basic journals that are regularly and completely indexed. Thus any articles on printing, publishing, and bibliography which appear in any of the general or specialized periodicals in this field can be easily located through this index; and since, in addition, Library Literature surveys some of the important bibliographical and book-trade journals (Library, PBSA, Publishers' Weekly), it provides an extremely convenient—and sometimes over-looked—guide to bibliographical articles.[27]

Of the general library journals, those of most interest to bibliographers are probably Library Quarterly (1931- ), the leading scholarly journal in the field, Library Association Record (1899- ), especially in its earlier years, and Library Trends (1952- ), along with the more recent Journal of Library History (1966- ) and Library History (1967- ); all these journals have included articles on printers and publishers or on bibliographical trends. Most of the other established periodicals in the field—such as Library Journal (1876- ), Library World (1898- ), American Library Association Bulletin (1907- ), Special Libraries (1910- ), Wilson Library Bulletin (1914- ), Library Review (1927- ), College and Research Libraries (1939- ), and Library Resources and Technical Services (1957- )—are of less interest bibliographically, though one cannot rule them out entirely; and historical articles on printing and publishing do appear in some more specialized publications like Horn Book Magazine (1924- ), dealing with children's books, and Catholic Library World (1929- ), as well as in the Medical Library Association Bulletin (1902- ), Law Library Journal (1908- ), and Music Library Association Notes (1934- ). Many of these journals have been widely indexed—particularly in IBZ, Subject Index, and IBBB—but since all of them are taken up in Library Literature, and for a longer period of time, there is little need to consult the other indexes for this purpose.

Publications of individual research libraries present a somewhat different situation. As a general rule, they do not concentrate on library administration but rather on the contents of the libraries

involved, and as a result they frequently contain bibliographical examinations of important or newly acquired books in their collections and often in this way supplement or correct previously published bibliographies or provide new demonstrations of bibliographical techniques. Since most major research libraries (and some lesser ones) publish journals, this kind of valuable bibliographical material is widely scattered. Again Library Literature is helpful in covering some of the principal journals, but it does not cover them all. It does take up most of the best-known ones, such as those issued by the New York Public, Bodleian, Yale, Huntington, Princeton, and Harvard libraries (as well as providing partial coverage of those from Boston Public, John Rylands, Rutgers, Library of Congress, Texas, Rochester, and Columbia). But Library Literature must be supplemented by the Subject Index if one is to cover the Aberdeen and British Museum libraries, the National Library of Wales, and additional years of the New York Public and John Rylands. Similarly, IBZ is necessary for later coverage of the Boston Public and Huntington journals; and the International Index must be turned to for some (1917-55) of the important bibliographical contributions of the American Antiquarian Society.[28] But even after supplementing Library Literature in these ways, one still does not have any systematic index to a number of other useful journals, such as those from the Syracuse, Pennsylvania, Duke, Brown, Colby, Newberry, Indiana, Durham, Kansas, Iowa, Hunt Botanical, and Kent State libraries.[29] Many additional periodicals are published by the state libraries of individual states—sometimes as the organs of state or regional library associations and sometimes independently—but these journals contain much less that would normally be of interest to bibliographers[30] and need not be included in a basic list. Many of them—and especially the regional library association publica-cations—are included in Library Literature, and the bibliographer will not be missing much if he does not pursue them beyond that index. Largely as a result of Library Literature, then, the indexing situation with regard to library journals is better than that for any of the other related fields upon which bibliography impinges.

A survey of this kind (reinforced by the accompanying table) only emphasizes the fact that, for the years before 1949, the periodical literature of bibliography is not—despite the existence of several excellent indexes—brought together in any single comprehensive index. Because the amount of material is so great, if all the related fields are taken together, it is probably not realistic to expect such an index to be produced retrospectively. And since librarianship has already been well provided for, perhaps the most feasible solution would be to have similarly comprehensive guides—but limited to periodical articles—for the literature of book production and bookselling and for the contents of all book-collecting and bibliographical society publications. Until such works exist, bibliographers will have to resign themselves to time-consuming searches through several indexes. But even the most energetic bibliographer cannot continually turn through all the journals not indexed anywhere. The importance of comprehensive periodical indexes is not merely that they save time in utilizing the accumulated information of the past but that they literally make possible that utilization.

Basic Bibliographical Periodicals and Their Indexing

In the table which follows, a selective list of periodicals containing material of bibliographical interest is arranged according to the five categories discussed above. For each periodical, indication is made (with the last two digits of the years) of the period (if any) during which it is covered in each of nine indexes. By reading across, therefore, one can get an idea of the best index or indexes to use in connection with a given periodical at a particular time; and by reading down the columns for the indexes, one can see what sort of pool of bibliographical information is available in any particular index. Although the SB lists make such a table less necessary for the years following 1948, the data given here are carried through to the present, since in certain areas—such as the trade journals—one may wish to supplement those lists. This table, it must be emphasized, has a deceptively precise appearance—for the figures in many cases must be regarded only as approximate indications of periods of coverage. There are several reasons for this situation: (1) the figures given here are based solely

on the lists of indexed periodicals as printed in the indexes, but these lists are occasionally inaccurate; (2) some indexes, such as IBZ and BHI, do not specify the dates covered in their lists of periodicals, and, if the dates covered do not in fact coincide with the announced dates of coverage for the index volume as a whole, the figures as reported here will turn out to be inaccurate; (3) not all journals listed in an index may be treated with equal thoroughness, for what constitutes completeness of coverage may be susceptible of various definitions (book reviews or brief notes, for example, may be omitted)—thus a duplication in coverage by two or more indexes may not mean that the coverage is actually identical; (4) in the case of Library Literature, only those journals are noted which occur in its list of regularly indexed periodicals, but relevant articles from other journals (which in the present list appear not to be included in Library Literature) may in fact be recorded there. The abbreviations at the heads of columns stand for the following periodical indexes:

• Poole Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1887-1908), covering 1802-1906.
• LL Library Literature [including H. G. T. Cannons's Bibliography of Library Economy (1927)] (1921- ), covering 1876- .
• C/T George Watson Cole, An Index to Bibliographical Papers Published by the Bibliographical Society and the Library Association (1933), covering 1877-1932; and Michael Turner, "Bodleian Index to Certain Bibliographical Journals" (forthcoming), covering 1933-65.
• RG Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature [including Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide (1944)] (1901- ), covering 1890- .
• AMSI Annual Magazine Subject Index (1908-52), covering 1907-49.
• SSHI Social Sciences and Humanities Index [formerly International Index] (1916- ), covering 1907- .
• IBZ Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur (1912- ), covering 1911- . [This index was not published from 1944 through 1948; all references in the IBZ column should be assumed to exclude those years.]
• BHI British Humanities Index [formerly Subject Index to Periodicals] (1916- ), covering 1915- . [This index was not published in 1923, 1924, and 1925; all references in the BHI column should be assumed to exclude those years.]

---

186




• IBBB Internationale Bibliographie des Buch- und Bibliothekswesens (1928-41), covering 1926-40.

                                 

1. Bibliographical Society Journals	Poole	LL	C/T	RG	AMSI	SSHI	IBZ	BHI	IBBB
Library (1889- )	89-06	89-	89-65	--	20-49	31-49	11-	15-53	26-39
Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Publications (1890-1935) and Transactions (1936- )	--	--	30-65	--	--	--	--	63-	--
Transactions of the Bibliographical Society (1893-1919)	--	93-19	93-19	--	--	--	--	16-19	--
Bibliographica (1895-97)	95-96	--	95-97	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliographical Society of Chicago Yearbook (1899-1903)	--	99-03	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliographical Society of Lancashire Publications (1902)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (1904- )	--	04-14, 36-	33-65	--	11-49	30-49, 65-	--	16-46	27-40
Bibliographical Register (1905-07)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Welsh Bibliographical Society Report (1906-10) and Journal (1910- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	15-22	--
Glasgow Bibliographical Society Records (1912-39)	--	--	33-39	--	--	--	--	12-39	--
Bibliographical Society of Ireland Publications (1918-58) and Irish Book (1959- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Oxford Bibliographical Society Proceedings & Papers (1922-46) and Publications (1947- )	--	--	31-65	--	--	--	--	26-45	27-38
Gutenberg Jahrbuch (1926- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	63-	--	26-40
Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History (1936- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Studies in Bibliography (1948- )	--	--	48-65	--	--	--	55-	--	--
Bibliographical Society of Canada Actualités (1949-52), Newsletter (1952-62), and Papers (1962- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

                                                     

	Poole	LL	C/T	RG	AMSI	SSHI	IBZ	BHI	IBBB
Cambridge Bibliographical Society Transactions (1949- )	--	--	49-65	--	--	--	64-	59-	--
Bibliotheck (1956- )	--	--	56-65	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin (1970- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
2. Book-Collecting Journals
Philobiblion (1861-63)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliomane [later Bibliophile and Book-Worm] (1861-70)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliographer [later Book-Lore and Bookworm] (1881-94)	82-94	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Grolier Club Transactions (1884-1919) and Gazette (1921- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Book Lovers' Almanac (1893-97)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
American Book-Lore (1898-99)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Literary Collector (1900-05)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Book-Lover's Magazine (1900-09)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliographer (1902-03)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliophile (1908-09)	--	--	--	--	08-09	--	--	--	--
Irish Book Lover (1909-57)	--	15-16	--	--	--	--	--	15-22	--
Bookman's Journal and Print Collector (1919-31)	--	--	--	--	--	--	30	19-30	26-31
American Collector (1925-28)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Book Collector's Quarterly (1930-35)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	30-34
Colophon (1930-40) and New Colophon (1948-50)	--	48-50	--	--	--	34-39	--	--	--
Book Collector's Packet (1932-46)	--	36-39	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
American Book Collector (1932-35, 1950- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	32-35
Dolphin (1933-41)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Book Club of California Quarterly News Letter (1933- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Hoja Volante (1934- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bibliographical Notes and Queries (1935-39)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Book Handbook (1947-52)	--	--	47-52	--	--	--	--	--	--

                                                           

	Poole	LL	C/T	RG	AMSI	SSHI	IBZ	BHI	IBBB
Book Collector (1952- )	--	67-	52-65	--	--	--	55-	52-53, 59-	--
Private Library (1957- )	--	67-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
3. Printing and Typographical Journals
Inland Printer (1883- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	27-37
American Printer (1885-1958)	--	--	--	--	--	--	11-20	--	--
British Printer (1888- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	11-20	47-61	--
Penrose Annual (1895- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	49-61	26-38
Monotype Recorder (1901- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Printing Art [later Printed Salesmanship and Printing Art Quarterly] (1903-41)	--	--	--	--	07-39	--	11-20	--	--
Imprint (1913)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Ars Typographica (1918-34)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	26
Fleuron (1923-30)	--	--	--	--	--	--	26-30	--	--
Printing Review (1931-59)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	47-53, 56-61	--
PM [later AD] (1934-42)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Signature (1935-40, 1946-54)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	49-53	--
Typography (1936-39)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Print (1940- )	--	46-48	--	--	41-49	--	--	--	--
Alphabet and Image (1946-48)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	47-48	--
Printing and Graphic Arts (1953-65)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Book Design and Production (1958- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Typographica (1958-62)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	49-51	--
Black Art (1962-65)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	62-65	--
Journal of the Printing Historical Society (1965- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Journal of Typographic Research [later Visual Language] (1967- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	68-	--	--
4. Book-Trade and Paper-Trade Journals
Publishers' Circular [later British Books] (1837- )	--	33-	--	--	--	--	25-29, 49-65	--	26-40
Bookseller (1858- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	11-15, 49-56	--	--
American Bibliopolist (1869-77)	69-76	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Publishers' Weekly (1872- )	--	21-	--	29-53, 61-	--	--	11-	--	26-40

                                                   

	Poole	LL	C/T	RG	AMSI	SSHI	IBZ	BHI	IBBB
Paper Trade Journal (1872- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	49-	--	--
American Stationer (1873-1928)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
American Bookseller (1876-92)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Paper-Maker and British Paper Trade Journal (1891- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	49-66	14-16	--
Direct Advertising (1912- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bookbinding Magazine [later Bookbinding and Book Production and Book Production Industry] (1925- )	--	36-51	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Paper Maker (1932- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Antiquarian Bookman [later AB Bookman's Weekly] (1948- )	--	55-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Scholarly Publishing (1969- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
5. Library Journals (a) General
Library Journal (1876- )	76-06	76-	--	20-	18-19	--	11-	15-46	26-40
Library Chronicle (1884-88)	--	--	84-88	--	--	--	--	--	--
Bulletin of Bibliography (1897- )	--	10-	--	--	97-49	30-39	--	18-38	26-40
Library World (1898- )	--	98-	--	--	--	31-40	12-24, 30-43, 69-	15-46	26-40
Library Association Record (1899- )	--	99-	99-29	--	20-49	31-40	30-	15-46	26-40
Medical Library Association Bulletin (1902- )	--	21-	--	--	--	--	--	--	37-40
American Library Association Bulletin [later American Libraries] (1907- )	--	07-	--	61-	18-49	--	63-	--	26-40
Law Library Journal (1908- )	--	21-	--	--	--	--	--	26-32	27-40
Librarian and Book World (1910-61)	--	21-61	--	--	--	--	49-67	--	26-40
Special Libraries (1910- )	--	10-	--	--	--	--	30-43	15-46	27-40
Wilson Library Bulletin (1914- )	--	21-	--	27-	--	--	--	--	--
Horn Book Magazine (1924- )	--	33-	--	39-	--	--	--	--	--
Library Review (1927- )	--	27-	--	--	--	--	30-	35-46	27-40
Catholic Library World (1929- )	--	33-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Library Quarterly (1931- )	--	31-	--	--	--	31-49	33-	44-46	31-40

                                           

	Poole	LL	C/T	RG	AMSI	SSHI	IBZ	BHI	IBBB
Music Library Association Notes (1934- )	--	43-	--	--	--	48-65	--	--	--
College and Research Libraries (1939- )	--	39-	--	--	--	--	--	--	40
Library Trends (1952- )	--	52-	--	--	--	--	53-	--	--
Library Resources and Technical Services (1957- )	--	57-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Journal of Library History (1966- )	--	66-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Library History (1967- )	--	67-	--	--	--	--	69-	69-	--
Journal of Librarianship (1969- )	--	69-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
(b) Individual Libraries
American Antiquarian Society Proceedings (1812- )	--	--	--	--	--	17-55	--	15-45	--
Boston Public Library Bulletin [including More Books] (1867-1948) and Quarterly (1949-60)	--	21-42	--	--	--	--	49-60	--	--
New York Public Library Bulletin (1897- )	--	21-	--	--	--	--	25-	15-46	26-40
John Rylands Library Bulletin (1903- )	--	49-57	--	--	--	31-49	49-	14-	--
Aberdeen University Library Bulletin (1911-31)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	12-31	--
Bodleian Quarterly Record (1914-38) and Bodleian Library Record (1938- )	--	14-	--	--	--	--	49-	15-40	--
British Museum Quarterly (1926- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	51-	27-40, 51-53, 59-	--
Yale University Library Gazette (1926- )	--	26-	--	--	--	--	53-	--	--
Syracuse University Library Chronicle (1929- ) and Courier (1958- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Huntington Library Bulletin (1931-37) and Quarterly (1937- )	--	31-42	--	--	--	--	55-	--	--
Headlight on Books at Penn State (1932- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
University of Pennsylvania Library Chronicle (1933- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Library Notes [Duke University] (1936- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

                                     

	Poole	LL	C/T	RG	AMSI	SSHI	IBZ	BHI	IBBB
Rutgers University Library Journal (1937- )	--	37-42	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Books at Brown (1938- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
National Library of Wales Journal (1939- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	43-61, 69-	--
Princeton University Library Chronicle (1939- )	--	39-	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Colby Library Quarterly (1943- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Library of Congress Quarterly Journal (1943- )	--	49-57	--	--	--	--	64-	--	--
Newberry Library Bulletin (1944- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
University of Texas Library Chronicle (1944- )	--	45-51	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
University of Rochester Library Bulletin (1945- )	--	45-69	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Indiana Quarterly for Bookmen (1945-49) and Indiana University Bookman (1956- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Friends of the Library of Trinity College Dublin Bulletin (1946-58) and Long Room (1970- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Harvard Library Bulletin (1947- )	--	47-69	--	--	--	--	49-	--	--
Durham Philobiblon (1949- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Columbia Library Columns (1951- )	--	51-69	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Books and Libraries at the University of Kansas (1952- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Books at Iowa (1964- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Huntia (1964- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Serif (1964- )	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

Notes