College and Research Libraries 372 College & Research Libraries brary in an "electronic campus" (by Lynne Brindley of Aston University); a de- scription of the "role" of the British Li- brary by Kenneth Cooper, its present chief executive; a discussion on the "gap be- tween ideal and reality'' in academic li- braries (Brian Enright, University of New- castle upon Tyne); a retrospective look at the Atkinson Report by J. Michael Sme- thurst of the British Library; Alexander Wilson's discussion on library preserva- tion strategies; and Maurice Line's views on what might constitute a "universal li- brary." In physical appearance this is an attrac- tive book although it is somewhat marred by careless errors (e.g., the title of Enright's article refers to "ideals and real- ity"). As to the contents, the heteroge- neous nature of the contributions make it exceedingly difficult to appraise. I would judge it to be of limited appeal to librarians in the U.S. because of its almost exclusive emphasis on the British scene and the fact - that, despite the eminence of the authors, many of the essays are quite lightweight. While they serve the intended purpose of honoring a great man they do not collec- tively make a profound contribution to the literature of librarianship.-F. W. Lancas- ter, University of lllinois, at Urbana-Cham- paign. American Literary Magazines: The Eight- eenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Ed. by Edward E. Chielens. New York: Green- wood, 1986. 503p. $65 (ISBN 0-313- 23985-1). LC 85-24793. American Literary Magazines will be in two volumes, the subtitle indicating the scope of this first installment, leaving the substantial body of twentieth-century American literary magazines to volume 2. The editor, Edward E. Chielens, has pre- viously published annotated bibliographi- cal guides to information sources, The Lit- erary Journal in America to 1900 and The Literary Journal iri America, 1900-1950, in 1975 and 1977 respectively in a Gale Re- search guide series. The present work provides "profile" es- says of usually no more than three to five pages, each followed by notes, a bibliogra- phy of information sources, and a publica- July 1988 tionhistory for (as the introduction puts it) "ninety-two of the most important" American literary magazines of the speci- fied period, with another ninety-nine ''less important titles . . . covered in an ac- companying appendix.'' The editor read- ily acknowledges the difficulty in deciding ''which magazines of the thousands pub- lished deserved coverage in full profiles,'' and, despite the pains he takes to explain and justify his choices, a number of inclu- sions and exclusions may strike some readers as capricious. The exclusion of Vanity Fair, Puck, the Philistine, and similar journals ''because they are being included in another book in this series on humor magazines" seems unfortunate (however defensible from the publisher's point of view) for a collection and its projected companion volume that "are intended as comprehensive sources of information" on their subject. The claim for comprehensiveness works against other exclusions as well-or, at least, decisions to provide a profile or rele- gate a journal to the category of ''less im- portant titles.'' Choosing to include a pro- file of Godey 's Ladies Book over its popular, long-running competitor, Peterson's Maga- zine, may be defensible, since the latter published fewer distinguished and subse- quently less influential literary figures than did Godey's. However, it seems a bit eccentric to relegate Lippincott's magazine to the list of "less important titles" (actu- ally an appendix entitled "Minor and Nonliterary Magazines," which includes very brief annotations for its ninety-nine entries). Lippincott's may have been ulti- mately less successful than Scribner's or the Atlantic, as its annotation claims, but it included among its contributors Sidney Lanier, William Gilmore Simms, Octave Thanet, Lafcadio Hearn, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Grace King, Henry James, and Anthony Trollope. Lippincott's published Oscar Wilde's ''Picture of Dorian Grey'' and introduced Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes to American readers. The deci- sion not to profile Lippincott's, Harper's Weekly, Colliers, The American, or De- morest's Monthly Magazine, and numerous others that have varying claims to literary interest or significance could be left to the editor's discretion-when faced with pos- sible constraints from the publisher-were it not for the claim of comprehensiveness and conversely puzzling decisions to pro- vide full profiles for such titles as Holden's Dollar Magazine, which, apart from having reprinted Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand" in its first issue, catered purposely to popu- lar tastes at the expense of literary merit. In fact, its lengthy profile reveals that the magazine is "probably better known to- day" for Herman Melville's "refusal to lend either pen or portrait to it.'' Elizabeth Peabody's Aesthetic Papers clearly had lit- erary distinction, but it published only a single issue, and its concerns and most of its· contributors were also associated with the long lived and more significant Boston Dial, which is appropriately profiled as well. The Lowell Offering is also given a full profile, certainly an interesting magazine, probably for more reasons than because all its writers were women factory work- ers, but its pro filer concedes that, II the pri- mary value of the magazine lies in its sta- Recent Publications 373 tus as ·an historical and sociological document." This last statement belies the editor's claim that the "reasons for including or excluding certain information and titles" is to II emphasize the literary aspects and importance of the magazines," which, Chielens points out, "is a different em- phasis from Frank Luther Mott' s in his seminal A History of American Magazines." Mott' s five-volume work remains the measure against which the present work is judged. Certainly Mott' s scope and fo- cus were much broader than is intended in American Literary Magazines, but he is thor- ough in discussing the literary signifi- cance of those journals. I owe to his work much of the information I have included here about Lippincott's and other maga- zines. My reservations about this work focus almost entirely upon the criteria for selec- tion of titles fully profiled. This first vol- ume of American Literary Magazines has many merits and much usefulness. BAIRRM HAS IT ALL! Over 1600 meetings, plus patents, books and more! With Biological Abstracts!RRM® (Reports, Reviews, Meetings) you 'll receive 260,000 entries for 1988 from over 9,000 serials and other publications from over 100 countries. 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BIOSIS" < I: a; CD ...... ....1 a: u 374 College & Research Libraries Chielens' introduction, aside from the contorted explanation of editorial choices, is an interesting and enlightening brief es- say on the history and significance of liter- ary magazines in America during the pe- riod. The profiles are uniformly well researched, well written, and synthesize a large body of disparate information on the ninety-two journals covered-a consider- able accomplishment given the number of contributors (fifty-three) and the variety of experience among them (they range in such experience from students pursuing graduate degrees to established scholars with numerous publications to their credit). The notes and bibliographies ap- pended to each profile provide a valuable and readily accessible starting point for anyone researching the profiled journals more extensively. No other source cur- rently available provides the chronologi- cal scope and focus on literary journals that this one attempts, and, until a more comprehensive work is undertaken, this work and its anticipated companion will undoubtedly prove, in conjunction with July 1988 Mott' s History of American Magazines, to be valuable sources of information as well as tools for further research on American lit- erary magazines. I have one last quibble concerning ar- rangement. The profiles are presented in alphabetical order, which assists in locat- ing specific titles. However, a chronologi- cal arrangement might have proven more interesting, and an alphabetical table of contents would have provided access to individual titles. An appendix, "A Chro- nology of Social and Literary Events and American Literary Magazines, 1774- 1900," somewhat ameliorates this situa- tion. However, nothing relieves the frus- tration ensuing from the chronological ar- rangement of the list of ''Minor Literary Magazines and Nonliterary Magazines with Literary Contents." The user must scan the list in search of specific titles-a process made more difficult the absence of references in the index.-Dale Manning, Jean & Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. OTHER PUBLICATIONS Abridged Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Ed. by Barbara McNeil. 3v. Detroit: Gale, 1987. 3,537p. $375/set (ISBN 0-8103-2149-1). LC 87-25397. American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1850-1880. Ed. by John W. Rathbun and Monica M. Grecu. Detroit: Gale, 1988. 352p. $92 (ISBN 0-8103-1742-7). LC 87-25802. Anatomy of Wonder, 3rd Edition. Ed. by Neil Bar- ron. New York: Bowker, 1987. 874p. $39.95 (ISBN 0-8352-2312-4). LC 87-9305. Awards, Honors, and Prizes: An International Di- rectory of Awards and Their Donors: United States and Canada. Ed .. by Gita Siegman. V.I. Detroit: Gale, 1988. 1, 136p. $155 (ISBN 0- 8103-0663-8). LC 85-070620. . Awards, Honors, and Prizes: An International Di- rectory of Awards and Their Donors: Interna- tional and Foreign. Ed. by Gita Siegman. 2v. Detroit: Gale, 1988. V.1: 1,136p. $155 (ISBN 0-8103-0663-8). LC 85-070620; V.2: 673p. $180 (ISBN 0-8103-0664-6). LC 85-070620. Berge, Patricia, and Carol Lee Saffioti. Basic Col- lege Research. New York: Neal-Schuman, 1987. 155p. $24.95 (ISBN 0-55570-018-7) . LC 86-33287. Bookman's Price Index: A Guide to the Values of Rare and Other Out-of-Print Books. Ed. by Dan- iel F. McGrath . V.34. Detroit: Gale, 1988. 983p. $170 (ISBN 0-8103-1805-9). LC 64-8723. Business Ethics an~ Responsibility: An Information Sourcebook. Comp. by Pamela A. Bick. Phoe- nix: Oryx, 1988, 205p. $32.50 (ISBN 0-89774- 296-6). LC 87-23191. Business Rankings and Salaries Index: An Anno- tated Bibliographic Guide to More Than 8,000 Listings in Over 1,000 Periodicals, Newspapers, Financial Services, Statistical Serials, Directories, and Books. Comp. by the Brboklyn Public Li- brary. Detroit: Gale, 1988. 587p. $140 (ISBN 0-8103-1827-X). LC 87-32668. Cargill, Jennifer, and Gisela M . Webb. Manag- ing Libraries in Transition. Phoenix: Oryx, 1987. 200p. $29.50 (ISBN 0-89774-302-4). LC 87-24703. Chant, Christopher. Compendium of Armaments