College and Research Libraries 442 I College & Research Libraries • September 1977 The Librarian and Reference Service. Se- lected by Arthur Ray Rowland. Contribu- tions to Library Literature. Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String Press, 1977. 281p. $12.50. LC 76-500~2. ISBN 0-208- 01600-7. This is the author's second compilation of articles relating to reference. The first, Reference Services, contained selections from the professional literature from 1930 to 1960. The present volume carries articles from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. There is a tendency to consider such col- lections the sole property of library school students, but this may be unfair; and the practicing librarian will do well to consider the miscellany of reference librarianship to be found between these covers. The articles, written by persons familiar to readers of major library journals, are grouped into three broad parts centering generally around ( 1) definitions, ( 2) direc- tions, and ( 3) desiderata of reference. In his introduction, the compiler states his aim to collect "the best writings on reference service" during the given time period. Cer- tainly, he has produced a representative collection including thirty-three articles on a wide range of contemporary concerns from the fundamental to the esoteric, the the:netical to the practical, the central to the peripheral. To this reader one of the better selections perhaps best reflecting the spirit of the vol- ume is Elvin E. Strowd's "Reader's Services -One and All," in which the author refers to all librarians as essentially "reference" librarians, since the product of our efforts is the enlightened reader. But other articles will appeal to the particular interests of practicing or prospective librarians. For ex- ample, there is automation in Jesse Shera' s "Automation and the Reference Librarian" or interpersonal relationships in Helen M. Gothbery' s "Communication Patterns in Li- brary Reference and Information Service" or policy-making in Mary Jo Lynch's "Aca- demic Library Reference Policy Statement." The one omission of this and other col- lections of this type which would have been useful is an introductory abstract with a biographical sketch of the author. A simple subject index also would have been useful since many of the articles touch on subjects hidden in their general titles. There is, how- ever, a list of contributors and an author- title index as well as an extensive bibliogra- phy of related articles from the same time period. Although lacking subject divisions, this reading list should prove valuable.- James F. Parks,. ]r., Head Librarian, Mill- saps-Wilson Library, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi. Gerulaitis, Leonardas Vytautas. Printing and Publishing in Fifteenth-Century Venice. Chicago: American Library Assn.; London: Mansell Information/ Publishing Ltd., 1976. 190p. $25.00. LC 73-21703. ISBN 0~8389-0126-3 ALA; 0- 7201-0628-1 Mansell. Behind the humanistic title of this work lies a sociological study which explores . the degree to which humanism penetrated the social fabric of the time. The study goes be- yond the incunable period in time and be- yond the confines of the Venetian Republic to prove the premise that publishing in Venice was fairly free from government in- terference on one hand and private patron- age on the other so that the books published represent the true taste of the audience which is the middle class society. Employing Venetian archives as extract- ed by Rinaldo Fulin and published in the Archivio veneto, the author analyzes the economic and technological background, monopoly, and censorship practices, both civil and ecclesiastical. Of special interest to him are the various kinds of privileges granted by the governme~t of Venice from the latter part of the fifteenth century through 1517 when all previously granted privileges were abrogated and remedial leg- islation was enacted. The decrees issued are examined and systematized, setting forth the legal thinking on the subject of privi- leges at that time. A chapter of considerable length is de- voted to content analysis of the works printed in Venice and-for comparison-another which sorts the contents of books printed in Florence, Bologna, and Nuremberg. These two chapters contain tables and sta- tistics on the basis of which the author re- flects on the interests of the audience at- tracted by these early published works and Auguste Edouart's Silhouettes of Eminent Americans, 1839-1844 Andrew Oliver NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY $22.50 The silhouettes and biographical sketches in this volume feature prominent men and women involved in every facet of nineteenth-century American life. Profiles of presi- dents, members of the Supreme Court, state governors, and distinguished doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and authors are among those included. For all those interested in the actual appearances of nineteenth-century Americans - historians, researchers, genealogists, and others - the silhouettes presented here will be indispensable. Art historians and antique collectors will especially value the fine details of clothing, furniture, and background. The 348 silhouettes illustrated here exemplify the art of silhouetting at its best, and they provide a unique history of the period. 8;,4 x 11 Ih.· xvi, 553 pp., illus., app., index. Notes on Woman Printers In Colonial America and the United States, 1639-1975 Compiled by Marjorie Dana Barlow $17.50 This record of 228 women printers from colonial days to the present offers an unusually interesting perspective on the history of American labor and printing. Though it makes no pretense to being complete, the survey gives an accurate rep- resentation of women's role in the printing trade in each era of American life. Much of the information has 'heretofore never been published. An edition limited to 600 copies printed by The Press of A. Colish. 89 pp., index. Joyce's Notes and Early Drafts for Ulysses Selections from the Buffalo Collection Edited by Phillip F. Herring $42.50 Essential for those interested in Joyce's creative process, this volume contains the most important selections from the James Joyce Collection of the Lockwood Mem- orial Library of the State University of New York at Buffalo, including two of Joyce's notebooks and early drafts of two of Ulysses' most memorable chapters, "Cyclops" and "Circe." 260 pp. (approx.), biblio., index. The Marionettes By William Faulkner Edited, with an Introduction, by Noel Polk Written, hand-lettered, hand-bound, and illustrated by William Faulkner in the fall of 1920, The Marionettes is among the longest and most ambitious works of Faulk- ner's early career. A work as much of visual art as dramatic, The Marionettes has the tightness and concentration of the French Symbolist poets, while the nine full-page illustrations clearly show the "decadent" influence of Aubrey Beardsley. This edition features the facsimile of the Virginia copy, a critical Introduction, and a collation of the four copies known to exist. UNIVERSITY PRESS OF VIRGINIA Box 3608 University Station Charlottesville, VA 22903 444 I College & Research Libraries • September 1977 concludes that the supply and demand sit,. uation as it existed required only a very small percentage of humanistic writings in manuscript to be made available through publishing. The statistical part of the book is based mainly on the British Museum Catalogue of Books Printed in the Fifteenth Century. While, admittedly, this covers a large cross- section of incunables, greater accuracy could have been achieved if some of the many national catalogs published since were used as well. The bibliography is extensive, yet one misses standard works which may have been of help, such as the diaries of Marino Sanuto, who as senator of the Venetian Re- public faithfully recorded anything he found of interest from 1496 to 1533. Some- what 1ater, but a good source for the study of the book trade and the mobility of books, is Schwetschke's Codex nundinarius which categorizes the books for sale at the Frank- furt fairs by language, content, and place of publication. Other helpful works for this purpose are the published insurance and shipping inventory lists. The book is full of interesting facts and insights which will delight the reader such as those pertaining to joint publishing and the distinction between the printer and the entrepreneur publisher. The reader will find the book challenging as to the method and procedure used as well as to its con- clusions.-Miroslav Krek, Brandeis Univer- sity Library. Davinson, Donald. Theses and Dissertations as Information Sources. London: Clive Bingley; Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, 1977. 88p. $7.00. LC 76-54930. ISBN 0-208-01539-6 Linnet; 0-85157-227-8 Bingley. Donald Davinson's opening statement- "Academic theses provide a fascinating field of study for the librarian"-in the intro- duction whets the appetite of the reader, while the remainder of the work leaves the reader intellectually malnourished. The thin volume of eighty-eight pages itself seems undernourished. Chapter 1 begins on page 11; a postscript of three pages includes a page of five lines in presenting an unanno- tated list of thesis guides; and the work ends with five pages of indexes (author and title and subject) with more than one of the five pages left blank. Substantively, the reader will find little that is new or that has not been better pre- sented elsewhere. For example, "The Bib- liographic Control of Theses" (Chapter 3) is a superficial sampling of bibliographic sources without critical comment, while Reynolds' Guide to Theses and Disserta.,. tions (Gale, 197 5) seeks to present an ex- haustive, international annotated bibliogra- phy of such sources. Davinson' s intent to convey to the reader an international understanding of disserta- tions as information sources is seldom at- tained; the reader often is left with a hodgepodge of disjointed information. After a careful reexamination of Chapter 2, "The Nature and Purposes of Theses," the reader will be hard pressed to recall much infor- mation which in any vital way might affect the ability of the dissertation to serve as an information vehicle. Few academic librarians need be re- minded that this nation's current annual output of dissertations surpasses 30,000 titles, a number which dwarfs this nation's annual output of commercially published, scholarly monographic titles. Given these and other nations' outpourings of scholarly information contained in dissertations, the importance of the dissertation as an infor- mation source is self-evident. There is no dearth of questions concerning the disserta- tion that need answers-for example, do the perceptions of librarians concerning dis- sertations differ from those of dissertation authors? Would inclusion of dissertations in book review columns affect libra1y acqui- sition programs? Does the acquisition of dissertations by libraries in microformat ad- versely affect subsequent use? Recent inquiries into the role and use of dissertations by the Universities of Michi- gan and Texas attest to the continuing con- cern of others outside libraries for greater insights into the dissertation as an informa- tion vehicle. Unfortunately for interested readers, Davinson's book adds little or no insight. The dissertation as a topic deserves better treatment than accorded by this title. -'"Calvin ]. Boyer, The University of Mis- sissippi.