Das amerikanische Buchwesen. Buchdruck und Buchhandel, Bibliophilie, und Bibliothekswesenin den Vereinigten Staaten von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart by Hellmut Lehmann-HauptReview by: Henry Bartlett Van HoesenThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Jan., 1938), pp. 127-129Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4302434 .

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REVIEWS

Das amerikanische Buchwesen. Buchdruck und Buchhandel, Bibliophilie, und Bibliothekswesen in den Vereinigten Staaten von den Anfangen bis zur Gegen- wart. VoN HELLMUT LEHMANN-HAUPT unter Mitarbeit von RUTH S. GRANNISS und LAWRENCE C. WROTH. Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1937. Pp. Xii + 386. Rm. I2.

That the need of a comprehensive book of this sort should have been first noted by a German instead of an American publisher is a typical bit of evi- dence in support of Dr. Lehmann-Haupt's remarks (p. 2o6) to the effect that the American publisher concentrates on best sellers. That the book is limited to less than four hundred pages, though fat enough to contain half as many more if printed on thinner paper, illustrates an international characteristic of book manufacturers.

We could easily have done with another two hundred pages. Condensation and selection, however necessary, always leave more or less to be desired, although in this case they are so skilfully done as to insure the billigen and vereben which the authors bespeak. In the Introduction one would have liked to see a more extended and specific description of the variety of country and people, of the limitations and the inevitable direction of objectives-in other words, perhaps, a more telling apologia of American "materialism." However, frequent allusions and geographical treatment in the body of the book go far toward filling in this background for the reader who is interested in assembling it.

The obvious importance of schools and colleges in promoting the produc- tion and use of books is stated in general terms, but for a study of the relation of the course of study and its changes, for example, to the number and kinds of books imported, particularly in the earlier periods, we must still remain expectant.

Modern book-binding by hand is specifically omitted, and apologies are offered for limiting paper-making to "der im Rahmen des I9. Jahrhunderts Geschilderten Industrializierung." A few individual bookplates and their de- signers are mentioned incidentally in the descriptions of certain private li- braries. Book illustration deserved more space; the mere mention of cartoons in connection with the comic strip seems to ignore the significant part they have played in politics and even in manners and morals ("Don't be a goop!"). We wish the lack of comedy in the comic strip could be explained to a foreign audience, which so frequently mistakes it for American humor.

In connection with publishing and university presses, there was occasion 127

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I28 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

for specific attention to the matter of subsidized publication of scholarly work and the important part played by learned societies other than "book clubs" in this and in the general promotion of productive scholarship.

Librarians of public libraries are put in their places by the limitation of the period since I876 to twenty pages (eight pages of "Die gr6ssten offentlichen Bibliotheken der Gegenwart," and six of "Bibliotheksorganisation"). School libraries are not mentioned; county libraries and special libraries are barely mentioned; six university libraries are mentioned as containing over half-a- million volumes.

The discrepancy in the fulness of treatment between the remote past and the recent and present times, says the Preface, "entspricht einem unvermeid- lichen Gesetz geschichtlicher Darstellung." Furthermore, the present-day his- torian is expected not merely to narrate facts in his particular department of history but to give also their political, economic, and cultural implications, and, above all, to trace tendencies and developments. As a schoolteacher told her class, "You have learned your history pretty well, now you need to learn a few facts." Thus in the modern writing of history we cannot complain if names, places, and dates have been sacrificed, and we should be content that they have been sacrificed so moderately and judiciously. However, the re- viewer would remark that the tables used in the first part of the book might have been effectively used in the other parts, not merely because they are uncamouflaged enumerations of names that must not be omitted but also because they permit of more inclusiveness (e.g., of American authors, of li- braries and special collections of various sizes, kinds, etc.), and, by the very juxtaposition of the individual items, greater significance and interest is given than any number of mentions of the "also ran" kind.

From these comments on the few things that the book is not, it should be clear what a great many things it is. Buchwesen is a comprehensive word for which we have no equivalent in English unless we give to "Bibliography" what Pollard calls an "umbrella-type" of definition. That the book does these many things well will be advisedly taken for granted by the probable readers in this country who will know what to expect from Dr. Wroth on all that concerns books in the earlier periods of American history, from Dr. Lehmann-Haupt on printing and its auxiliaries in the period since I 86o (as in any other period), and from Miss Granniss on book-collecting and book collectors.

Among the most interesting and valuable features of the book, for both American and German readers, is Dr. Lehmann-Haupt's description of the fundamental differences between American and European Kulturleben and (pp. 204 ff.) of the present state of our book-trade organization and selling methods. In discussing international copyright, he fails to mention the not entirely unreasonable fear (in a protectionist country) of foreign competi- tion in the manufacture of books by American authors. The reviewer person- ally feels that less than justice has been given to the home library in the omis- sion of the old farmhouse, its parlor, and the books on the parlor table. Other-

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REVIEWS 129

wise we have no need of the assurance in the Preface, "dass mir nichts ferner lag als die Absicht, uber die Leistungen des einen oder anderen Volkes ab- schliessend zu urteilen."

An English translation of the book is desirable, but the German version, whether written by Lehmann-Haupt or translated by Carl Spaeth, Jr., reads easily, clearly, and interestingly.

The selected, classified Bibliography (pp. 347-62, double column) is an indispensable indication of sources used (there are a few unfortunate omis- sions of books cited or described in the text). It is a valuable supplement for further detail, occasionally for people (e.g., William Williams, printer), and for topics (history of bookplates) not dealt with in the text. Composite works, like the United States Bureau of Education report of I876, and a few other titles, would have gained by contents notes, but one cannot have every- thing.

The Index is well printed in clear roman type like the rest of the book. In case of less familiar names and of entries with many references, one wishes it were detailed instead of skeleton; but more serious lacks are the omissions of book titles and, still more serious, of many names and a few topics mentioned in the text (e.g., Walt Disney rates an index entry, but Charles C. Jewett does not, nor do five out of seven of the first owners of circulating libraries mentioned on p. 3i8; Leihbibliothek is indexed for p. 3I8, but not for p. IOO).

HENRY BARTLETT VAN HOESEN Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island

a manual of archive administration. New and revised edition. By HILARY JENKINSON. London: Percy Lund, Humphries, 1937. Pp. xvi + 256. An archive, a place where records and documents are kept, has been main-

tained in most of the modern nations for many years. About these various institutions there is a great mass of literature which consists of inventories, indexes, calendars, lists, guides, and collections of documents selected from them. Although much can be gleaned from these volumes regarding archival practice, it is noteworthy that so few works have been devoted to "archiv- ology" (archival science). Thus a new edition of the pioneer work in English of Hilary Jenkinson, A manual of archive administration, is a welcome addition to archival literature.

It is not a complete general text on the subject but rather sets forth the methods as developed in the British Public Record Office, where the author has long been a member of the staff. All examples are taken from that institu- tion, and the volume reflects almost exclusively English practice, although frequent allusions are made to practices of the Continent.

In Part I, "Introductory," the author gives the dictionary definitions for "archives." He promptly dismisses the primary etymological definition-a

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