College and Research Libraries


The Printed Book Catalogue in American 
Libraries: 1723-1900. By Jim Ranz. 
(ACRL Monograph No. 26) Chicago: 
ALA, 1964. vii, 144 p. Paper. $3. (64-
17055). 

The scope of this study is broader than 
its title suggests; it is actually a concise his-
tory of cataloging in the United States to 
1900. In fact, this slender volume comes 
close to being a terse history of American 
librarianship, thus demonstrating the central 
role that cataloging has played in library 
development. The great names in American 
librarianship of the period are all here, 
Charles C. Jewett ("probably the outstand-
ing librarian of the day"), William F. Poole, 
Charles A. Cutter, Melvil Dewey, and Wil-
liam I. Fletcher, along with many of lesser 
stature. The contribution of each is told suc-
cinctly. Although biographical data are kept 
to a bare minimum, the personalities of 
these men are still clearly discernable. 

Issued originally in 1960 at the Universi-
ty of Illinois as a doctoral dissertation com-
prising some 332 pages, this work has been 
effectively abridged to about one-third its 
original length. Although produced inex-
pensively from typewritten copy, the volume 
is attractively printed and is free from 
typographical ,errors. The author's style is 
brisk, his words are well chosen, and, 
though a predilection for library history is 
probably requisite to the choice of this book 
for Sunday afternoon reading, it deserves 
the attention of every responsible cataloger 
and library administrator. Its ninety-nine 
pages of text provide the over-all view of 
the evolution of the dictionary catalog that 
is essential not only to understand why cata-
loging is done as it is today, but also as a 
basis for considering alternatives to current 
practice. Noting the misplaced enthusiasm 
that greeted such an impractical innova-
tion as the "Rudolph indexer" in the early 
1890's should give one pause before waxing 
eloquent over a modern counterpart. 

The treatment is in part chronological 
and in part topical, with, a brief initial sec-
tion on the European cataloging heritage 

Review Articles 
with which our colonial librarians began. 
The formulation of cataloging rules, the 
framing of subject headings, the evolve-
ment of corporate entry, and the long de-
bate over the very purpose of a catalog are 
all treated with remarkable clarity. Al-
though not purporting to -trace the develop-
ment of the card catalog, Dr. Ranz has, 
nevertheless, provided the essential histor-
ical data on its origin. The natural pro-
gression from the preparation of copy for 
a printed catalog on slips or cards, to the 
use of these same slips or cards as entries 
in a catalog arranged in drawers, first for 
the exclusive use of librarians, then for the 
public, is related simply and convincingly. 

During the course of his study, Dr. Ranz 
examined some one thousand library cata-
logs published by American libraries. "The 
great majority of them," he reports, "were 
rather poorly done, exhibited few innova-
tions in cataloging techniques, and were 
frank imitations of the leading library cata- . 
logs of the day." Of these one thousand, 
Ranz describes 179 "which, collectively, em-
body most of the significant developments in 
printed book catalogs prior to the end of 
the nineteenth century." This list, filling 
some fifteen pages, should prove a valuable 
source to future students of cataloging his-
tory. There is also a bibliography of the 
books and periodical articles that the au-
thor found "most useful."-Russell E. Bid-
lack, University of Michigan. 

The Myth of the Britannica. By Harvey 
Einbinder. New York: Grove Press, 1964. 
390p. 

Harvey Einbinder, a consulting physicist, 
appears to be a disillusioned young man. 
Until a few years ago he had assumed, as 
had most people, that whatever he read in 
the Encyclopaedia Britannica was accurate 
and reasonably up-to-date. Then one day 
he discovered that the article on Galileo in 
the 1958 edition of the set still retained 
the legend of the Leaning Tower, disproved 
by Cooper more than twenty years before. 

432 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES