College and Research Libraries


240 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 

Science and Technology, by John F. 
Harvey. 

The growing national role of information 
science and technology is well demonstrated 
by the developments reviewed in these two 
chapters. Much of the emphasis in Chapter 
13 is placed on "information networks," and 
the chapter concludes "the progress attained 
. . . in the development of an efficient na-
tional information system is impressive." 
The concluding chapter reviews the activi-
ties of professional societies and summarizes 
the educational programs being created in 
universities throughout the country.—Rob-
ert M. Hayes—UCLA. 

The American Printer, 1787-1825. By 
Rollo G. Silver. Charlottesville: Published 
for the Bibliographical Society of the Uni-
versity of Virginia by the University 
Press of Virginia, 1967. xii, 189p. $7.50 
(67-22310). 

Here is an important book. Recent years 
have seen a healthy increase in the quantity 
and quality of specific studies within the 
historical American printing industry—ac-
counts of particular printers, or of printing 
in particular communities or in particular 
circumstances. The number of comprehen-
sive comparative studies, however, which 
examine printers and printing horizontally, 
"across the board" as it were, has remained 
quite small. Studies of the latter kind, of 
course, are more difficult to make and re-
quire men of greater breadth of learning 
to prepare them. 

Nevertheless the book here being re-
viewed is such a study, and its author is 
such a man, and therein lies its importance. 
It is one of the few attempts thus far made 
to generalize a comprehensive printing 
history out of documented scholarly studies 
and sources, instead of from the reminis-
cences and memoirs of old printers which, 
although interesting, are often inaccurate 
of fact and sometimes misleading of spirit. 

Although this book unquestionably suc-
ceeds in establishing its claim to a place 
of significance, it is not truly a definitive 
history of printing in America during its 
designated period. The narrative moves 
smoothly through a well integrated whole, 
but the book remains rather a series of 

meaningful and fascinating, carefully re-
searched, documented, interconnected es-
says in the history of American printing. 
The book opens appropriately, for example, 
with the best account thus far written of 
the conditions of apprenticeship in the 
printing trade. There are also essays—again 
the best done to date—on such subjects as: 
early labor organizations for journeymen 
printers; the handling of government print-
ing contracts on the federal, state, and ter-
ritorial levels; the business minutiae of op-
erating a printing office; and there is an 
excellent account of early American typog-
raphy and illustration. There are also es-
says which have been attempted before, 
such as the technical details of press con-
struction and operation, and the movement 
of the press across the western frontier. In 
the judgment of this reviewer, they have 
never been better told. 

In addition to its six chapters, the book 
also includes as an appendix a selection of 
examples of the sizes of some forty editions 
(250 to 5,000 copies) issued by Mathew 
Carey between 1792 and 1813. There is 
a full index and thorough documentation. 
Twenty-four fine plates illustrate and em-
bellish the text, and-—as readers are coming 
increasingly to expect of volumes published 
for the Bibliographical Society of the Uni-
versity of Virginia—the book is handsomely 
designed. It is highly recommended to all 
libraries and readers having an interest in 
this subject.—D.K. 

The Research Triangle of North Caro-
lina. By Louis R. Wilson. Chapel Hill, 
N.C.: The Colonial Press, 1967. 48p. 
(67-31234). 

The Research Triangle has been the sub-
ject of a number of articles and news re-
leases but Dr. Wilson here provides the 
most up-to-date and complete account of 
its development. This study should be of 
particular interest to librarians because of 
the vital role that university libraries have 
played in making the Research Triangle 
one of the most successful of the industrial 
research parks. Dr. Wilson makes it clear 
that the Research Triangle is more than a 
research park. The park itself consists of 
five thousand acres near three great univer-