College and Research Libraries 468 I College & Research Libraries • September 1979 tive mind, McMurtrie seems to have had it. One of McMurtrie's essays details his solu- tion to a national system of location symbols for libraries; today it serves as the basis of the NUC codes. If greatness means being indefatigable, several of the articles reprinted here attest to that trait, for instance, Herbert Keller's biographical sketch or McMurtrie's own dis- cussion of his search for the earliest printed items of United States history. If greatness is acquired through attention to detail, then consider the procedure man- ual reprinted here that directed the thousands of lay workers on the Historical Records Survey; in it McMurtrie covered nearly every eventuality. If greatness is acquired through depth and breadth of knowledge, McMurtrie had that as well. Several generations of librar- ians and booksellers will recognize the selection from his 1943 text The Book . If greatness is also accompanied by a propensity for insanity (thinking that one might ever accomplish universal control for any literature), McMurtrie had it. There is a selection from his uncompleted magnum opus, A History of Printing in the United States-the first such comprehensive survey in 125 years. All of the above selections serve to reveal McMurtrie's ; nventive intelligence, his in- defatigable spirit, a prodigiously prolific production, and at the same time the irony of incompleteness due to his untimely death in 1944. Yet, other writers have pointed out that McMurtrie never " receive[d] the ac- colades of scholarly bibliographers while he was alive" (Dictionary of American Library Biography, p.354). While that might have been due to professional jealousy, it seems more likely due to his unbelievable output and the residual question in some minds about "who was intellectually responsible for his publications" (ibid.) The latter point is confounded by the compilers' statement that "characteristically, McMurtrie acknowl- edged all who had helped him with a publi- cation" (p.xiv), unless, of course, they are countering it. Perhaps they may be excused the egregious sin of an overly affectionate high regard for their subject. But one is still left with the initial ques- tion and some alternative explanations left unexplored by the compilers. McMurtrie's cleverness and profitable productivity may have been motivated by his impecunious background and early business failures. His strong managerial skills may have been ac- quired by necessity; but, in all fairness, one cannot question his influence in advertising, bibliography, fine printing, history of print- ing, and typography. A sage once told us, "Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Someone other than these compilers will have to con- vince us it was not the latter in McMurtrie's case.-]ohn V. Richardson, University of California , Los Angeles. Reader in the History of Books and Print- ing. Edited by Paul A. Winckler. Readers in Librarianship and Information Science, 26. Englewood, Colo.: Information Han- dling Services, 1978. 406p. $22. LC 78- 17260. ISBN 0-910972-78-8. Reader in the History of Books and Print- ing, compiled by Paul A. Winckler, a spe- cialist in this field, is the most recent title in a series. of readers for students of librar- ianship. Its purpose is to serve as a text, and as such Winckler has selected samples from the classic studies of the history of the book. None of the chapters are irrelevant and many are beautifully written. The giants in the field are represented: McMurtrie, Diringer, and Chappell on the alphabet; Morison and Jackson on type ; Lehmann- Haupt, Blumenthal, Bland; even McLuhan, addressing the subject "Do Books Matter?" The introductory selection in section II from Falconer Madan's Books in Manu- script, a favorite of this reviewer, leads into the subject of the materials of books and printing and sets the tone for what follows. Winckler has gathered together the best in the literature for the student to sample, and his selection of "Additional Readings" at the end of each of the four sections of the book is comprehensive. The book fills a void in the library school curriculum; and one hopes that after sampling some of the de- licious morsels in this buffet some students will want to read the original works in their entirety. Following an introductory section, sec- tions II and III are devoted to the book in Available in 1979 ... Send today for our FREE booklet that details the many advantages the two SSCI™ 5-YEAR CUMULATIONS can offer you, your staff, and your patrons. 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Just fill in the coupon and mail it to lSI~ ----------0 Please send me your FREE brochure about the two SOCIAL SCIENCES CITATION INDEXTM 5-YEAR CUMULATIONS. I Name Title Institution __________________ Dept.----------- Address _______________________________ __ I City _______________ State/Province _____ ZIP _____ _ I I ~~fit®lnstitute for Country Phone _______ _ I u~u Scientific Information® I 325ChestnutStreet, Philadelphia, Pa.19106, U.S .A. 101-1537 C19191SI • Tel : (215) 923-3300, Cable: SCINFO. Telex: 84-5305 ------- - - --...1 470 I College & Research Libraries • September 1979 antiquity and to the development of print- ing in the incunable period. As a student of the history of early books and printing, I thoroughly enjoyed rereading the selections and finding points of issue. Since Bland completed his History of Book Illustration in 1958, for example, it is generally ac- cepted that Queen Mary's Psalter is dated circa 1310-15 rather than the 1330 date he ascribes to it (p.171). As this reader contains reprints of seminal works rather than a col- lection of articles representing current scholarship, there are a number of small er- rors in dating and attribution in the text. However, the overview of the historical de- velopment of books and printing that these selections provide gives the student perspective on librarianship. While these sections are fascinating , it might have been more useful to have in- cluded less of this material and more on the development of the book from 1550 to date . The sociological influence of the book dur- ing the past 500 years is enormous. Modern technology has led to the mass production of a book that is inferior to that of the fifteenth century in many respects , but there is more to the book than its physical qualities. The history of its development after the cradle period, even the history of its deterioration, is worth studying. Lehmann-Haupt touches upon this in the introduction to his chapter, "The Heritage of the Manuscript," and I regret that it is not explored further in the reader, although the relevant titles are cited in the list of "Additional Readings" at the end of section IV. As selections by specialists such as Clair, Moran, and Ransom are not included, the teacher can encourage the student , to explore this reading list. The book is sturdy and readable, but the illustrations, with the exception of those of typefaces, are. reproductions of reproduc- tions and as such virtually useless . While the cost of including adequate illustrations in this reader would have been prohibitive, their lack will prove a handicap to students who are not familiar with the manuscripts being discussed and compared in many of the selections. The Braziller series of books on illuminated manuscripts will prove a use- French Periodical Index (Rep riex): 1977 The fourth volume of the series ·· language journals: L'Actualite, Lc::.:>-·,,,,, :vv·» Le Franfiais dans le Monde, ......... "",.,,,_,, hebdomadaire, Le nouvel nh.~IOrvRtiOit.it. This Index provides access to t and in the world. It is convenient! ~r.·~nn10. ed in weekly newsmagaz.iif:dl'S'f''40!CiudirlC Religion, Education, Lite .. In the Useful Referen .... ISBN 0-87305-121·1 a:s ... .a;,.,,.-.. ,,,,,,,,,,_ by Jean- Pierre Ponchie 1977 editions of ten major French- documents du Mpnde, L'Express, Monde de L'education, Le Monde and Realites. view on current events in France ''"r't\, __ ..,;v categories based on those us- d Economy, World, Nation, Health, and Films. $25.00 FRENCH PERIODICAL INB.i,;~~'itl~~t· ISBN 0-87305-106·8 $28.00 FRENCH PERIODICAL INDEX: 1 ISBN 0-87305-115-7 446 pp. $24.00 FRENCH PERIODICAL INDEX: 1976 ISBN 0·87305·117·3 429 pp. $24.00 flOOB F. w. FA N mPADY, 1nc. Publications Division 15 Southwest Park. Westwood . Massachusetts 02090 r ful companion to this reader, as many of the manuscripts discussed are reproduced in this series. Winckler introduces the student to the history of books and printing. As we enter the era of Gutenberg II, a period of rapid technological development and an explosion of information, it is good for the student of librarianship to have a historical perspec- tive. This reader provides it. -Susan G. Swartzburg, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Reader in Undergraduate Libraries. Edited by Billy R. Wilkinson. Readers in Librar- ianship and Information Science, 25. En- glewood , Colo.: Information Handling Services, 1978. 447p. $20. LC 78-9504. ISBN 0-910972-76-1. This new volume in the Reader Series in Librarianship and Information Science goes a long way towards filling the gap in litera- ture available on undergraduate libraries. The paucity of literature on the subject is reflected in the number of times the writers chosen for inclusion (both from the U.S. and the UK) refer to the other selected arti- cles or to their authors. It suffers from a fault common to all publications of this type, in that its major role is to republish items that have previously been available in a variety of sources and is, therefore, re- stricted to material that is already familiar to most of its potential audience. Most of Billy Wilkinson's present selec- tions have been readily available-even out- side the U gLi fraternity. Bringing them all together in this way, however, justifies the undertaking, but why are there only passing references to more recent articles? And was the cutoff date for the "general reading list" really May 1, 1971? Ellen Keever, in one of the two more recent articles included, lists a few more modern references, and Wilkin- son himself refers to the 1976 statistical edi- tion of the UgLi Newsletter and to Win- gate's 1978 article in C allege & Research Libraries. But one does wonder if he might not have been able to include some more up-to-date references and statistics from the UgLi Newsletter and other sources. For this reviewer , at least, the book's value would have been enhanced if the editor had expanded his brief introductory Recent Publications I 471 comments for each section. A critical as- sessment from Wilkinson would have made for interesting reading-though it was prob- ably not within the terms of reference for this series! The material presented effectively takes undergraduate libraries into the 1960s and early 70s (at least until the early months of 1973), and the summary of Braden's 1967 thesis still provides a realistic checklist of the special contribution that can be made by an undergraduate library , especially where it supplements a major research li- brary. The articles are well written and touch on a fairly wide spectrum of the topic. The his- torical aspects receive most space and are well covered by a list of writers that sounds like a miniature "who's who" in academic librarianship-Keyes Metcalf, Philip McNiff, Edwin Williams , Arthur McAnally, William Dix, Frederick Wagman, Ellsworth Mason, and so on. Wilkinson devotes almost half of this vol- ume to the proceedings of four conferences. Patricia Knapp's chapter should be required reading far beyond the undergraduate li- brary, as should the papers of the Institute on the Undergraduate Environment. James Davis ' contribution to this institute eloquently sums up the U gLi role as "Coping-an UgLi Way of Life." This at- titude may well be the bridge that carries some undergraduate libraries over the pres- ent budget crises and beyond the doubts expressed by Wilkinson, into the future. If that future is based on the objectives spelled out by Braden (and others) there should indeed be a future volume on the 1970s and 1980s. For, as Davis says in the one quote Wilkinson gives from a later arti- cle, " undergraduate libraries are not a nos- trum for many of the ills presently besetting academic libraries. Many undergraduate li- braries have needlessly been established as unrealistic solutions to problems unrelated to service for undergraduate students . But judiciously conceived and properly sup- ported, both administratively and fiscally, they can infuse all components of the com- munity of an academic library with a new spirit of enthusiasm and interest. " 1 This reviewer would like to have seen more critical and analytical material on the