Index Bibliographicus. Weltliste laufender bibliographischer Zeitschriften by Marcel Godet;Joris VorstiusReview by: Henry Bartlett Van HoesenThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan., 1932), pp. 73-74Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4301862 .

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REVIEWS

Index Bibliographicus. Weltliste laufender bibliographischer Zeit- schriften. Edited by MARCEL GODET and JORIS VORSTIUS. 2d ed., enlarged. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter & CO., I931. Pp. xxiii+420. Rm. IS.

The first Index Bibliographicus (092S) asserted the importance of a bibliog- raphy of current bibliographies for scientific workers, libraries, booksellers, and "tous les esprits curieux de suivre le mouvement intellectuel," and claimed further the incidental merits of showing duplication and lacunae in our bibliographical organization and of drawing attention to the lesser known intellectual activity of "certains pays exotiques ou nouvellement constitu6s." The second edition properly enough takes its audience for granted, but, in so doing, loses sight of the national organization of bibliography and the national intellectual activity, on which, even at the pains of duplication of effort, inter- national bibliography and international Intellectual activity must depend. The former Index, in its list arranged by countries and in its inclusion of bibliographical information bureaus, gave us a significant, even though incom- plete conspectus, e.g., of American bibliographical strengths and weaknesses. In the new Index, one must study it out.

In the chief concern, however, "la liste m6thodique et descriptive de toutes les bibliographies courantes," the new Index is a distinguished success where the first Index was a distinguished effort. The new Index has 37 collaborators instead of 34 (more of the collaborators are now the national libraries); and, while South Africa, Danzig, Spain, Wales, and Portugal have dropped from the list of collaborators and though Chile is still the only Latin American contributor, much has been added by the co-operation of Bulgaria, Canada, India, Indo-China, Ireland, New Zealand, Turkey, and the Ukraine.

The first Index contained i,oo0 numbers, this one has x,goo. Both aimed at completeness and neither attained it-in fact, one of the great improve- ments in the new Index is its judicious exclusions. Not that all the omissions noted in the first edition' have been remedied, but of the omitted titles which the reviewer has in mind many would only be listed in want of better bibliog- raphies for their subjects and countries.

X Cf. H. B. Van Hoesen and F. K. Walter, Bibliography (New York, 1928), p. 257.

2E.g., American anthropologist, astrophysical journal, Books abroad (University of Oklahoma Press), Classical philology, Geographical journal, Mississippi Valley his- torical review, Monthly notices of thc Royal Astronomical Society, Political science quarterly, Research quarterly of the American Physical Education Association, etc.

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74 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

How many titles in the old Index have ceased publication, the reviewer does not presume to estimate, but the birth-rate has been staggering; nearly one-fourth of this second list began in I926 or since (and there is the Library quarterly besides). Derive what comfort we can from the dozen which have passed their centenary! Be impressed with the number of current local bibliographies and give a hearty welcome to the new or newly listed national bibliographies, government-documents bibliographies, periodical indexes, and "cumulative" lists.

The program of descriptive information has been more fully and system- atically carried out than in the first edition. We now have the editors, pub- lishers, and their mailing address, the size of the journal, its date of beginning, its interval of publication, the period covered by its bibliographies, the subject and scope (national or international, general or special, inclusive of books or periodical articles or both), the treatment (title-list, critical, analytical, ab- stract), and the arrangement (alphabetical or classified). There are perhaps thirty or forty titles for which these details are lacking or incomplete, and there are a few cases where, in spite of all this detail, one may still remain uncertain as to whether the journal is an independent enterprise or is the organ of a learned society or of the trade.

The reviewer's greatest complaint is of the classification. Waiving all objec- tions to the D.C. in general as a library classification and in particular as a bibliographical classification,' there should be double entries, not mere numerical references, e.g., in "50 Naturwissenschaften" and "OOI Wissen- schaft im allgemeinen," in "02 Bibliothekswesen" (where we find Bulletin of bibliography and Zentralblatt fiur Bibliothekswesen) and "oo2 Buchwesen," "OI Bibliographie der bibliographischen Literatur," "OII Allgemeine inter- nationale Bibliographien" (Bibliographe moderne is here), etc. Social Science abstracts is listed under "Social sciences" only, so also the League of Nations Library Monthly list of books catalogued; "Bursian's" fahresbericht is listed in "Philology" only, the Revue des Itudes anciennes in "Ancient history," the Progress of mediaeval studies in "Medieval history" only, the Zeitschrift des Pallstina-Fereins in "Regional bibliographies," and so on. Government docu- ment bibliographies, of which there is now a notable number, are listed under "National bibliographies" only-learned societies and theses likewise.

The index of authors, editors, and titles, indispensable to such a long classified list, is vastly improved over that of the first edition, in both form and detail. A topical index would also have been welcome.

The book is very flimsily sewn. The reviewer's copy of the first edition is still in good condition, in its original paper covers, after five years' use. The new edition falls apart at the first reading.

HENRY BARTLETT VAN HoESEN BROWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

'Cf. review of twelfth edition of the Dewey Decimal classification (Library journal, LIII [i928], 1027-30).

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