tionary exists for the town or province of his origin. Many of these exist such as Fantuzzi for Bolognese authors, Rotermund on Hanover authors, etc. The majority of these exceedingly useful works can be found by reference to Courtney's Register of National Bibliography, a work which in spite of its title is the most useful bibliography of bibliographies in existence.

Before we leave the author there is one other source of reference which must not be ignored. If the author was a member of a religious order search should be made in the works describing the writings of members of that order. De Backer on the Jesuit authors, Wadding on the Franciscans, and Quetif and Echard on the Dominicans are examples of this type of bibliography. Reference can be made to Courtney under the order required.

Turning now from the author to the book itself, the most important thing after the author and title is the place and date of printing. This gives us another line of research altogether. I have already mentioned National bibliographies, but in addition there exist many local bibliographies and histories of printing in specific places that may be used to obtain further information. Dickson and Edmund's Annals of Scottish Printing may be taken as a very fine specimen of the class I refer to, while Baudrier's work on Lyons and De Theux on Liège are on similar lines. Again reference should be made to Courtney for the specific work required. Further than this it may be possible that the printer of the book under investigation may have been the subject of a monograph. Of course, the great presses of Aldus, Stephanus, Giunta and Elzevier have had volumes devoted to them, and any works bearing their names must be looked up in the works of Renouard and Willems, but many lesser known printers have been dealt with in separate monographs and in articles in the bibliographical journals.

The date of the book is an important factor if such date is prior to the year 1501. The whole of the printed literature produced from the introduction of the art of printing to the year 1500 is dealt with by bibliographers on entirely separate lines to that produced during later periods. The identification and description of a 15th century book is comparatively easy if the necessary bibliographies and reference books are available. From the author point of view the works of Hain, Copinger, and Reichling must be consulted together with my own Conspectus Incunabulorum, unfortunately only complete to the letter G. Printers and their works are indexed by Burger and Proctor. National bibliographies for this period exist by Gordon Duff for England, Claudin for France, Campbell for the Low Countries, and Haebler for Spain and Portugal. Many monographs also exist on special towns and printers. For all these and other methods of identifying Incunabula by types and illustrations and for information as to special catalogues of 15th century books I must refer you to my Fifteenth Century Books which is an attempt to bring together all the titles of books necessary for the worker in this field.

There remains the subject matter of the book as a clue. There are two great classes of subject bibliographies, the one giving the whole of the available information on each book and the other

giving the bare title often from an inaccurate source. If the book in question is on one of Prof. Ferguson's subjects you will find your work done for you, unless the book is that exceedingly rare thing "unknown to Ferguson." The same thing applies to such works as Cockle's Military Bibliography and Medina's Biblioteca Hispano-Americana. The subject bibliography containing a mere list of titles is very often more bother than it is worth. Many titles of non-existent books have come down to us through these lists and will continue to travel until someone nails them to the counter as bibliographical lies. I recollect chasing a book on Demerara for a long time before I discovered that it really was a legal tome on Demurrer. If there does not appear to be a definite bibliography on the subject sought for it is advisable to consider whether there is likely to be what may be described as an inclusive bibliography of a larger class of books including the subject of the book under discussion. For instance, a book on the Franciscans in Brazil may be looked for in the Bibliographies of Brazil and even of America if a more specific authority cannot be found. If you have exhausted the lines of research I have now indicated and found no reference to the particular book on which you are seeking information, the book may be of such superlative rarity that no bibliographer or biographer has seen a copy, or it may be intrinsically of so little interest that no one has taken the trouble to record it.

After the above systematic research there remains a vast amount of unsystematic bibliographical material which the real enthusiast can proceed to investigate. I refer to catalogues of libraries. Practically the whole of the printed catalogues of the important libraries of the world are recorded in the appendix to Stein's Manuel de Bibliographie Générale, so that the likely catalogues can be picked out. Beyond these catalogues of libraries which exist and from which definite copies of books can be located, there are the exceedingly numerous Auction Catalogues of Private Libraries, and the larger of these, such as the Heber, Sunderland, Beckford, Huth, etc., are of considerable importance in the genealogy of printed matter. Finally we arrive at Booksellers' Catalogues, and these can be made to yield no small stock of information. The great lists of Maggs, Quaritch, and Pickering are almost bibliographies, but many smaller lists contain bibliographical information on rare books which is not to be found elsewhere. Catalogues of booksellers are difficult to store in such a way as to be able to use for actual bibliographical research. My own bibliographical collection is largely made up of booksellers' catalogues and cuttings therefrom. It is arranged in one alphabet, including both authors and subjects, and is estimated to contain somewhere about eight or nine million titles of books. I have little difficulty in finding some record of any book which has been in the possession either of an English or Foreign bookseller in recent years.

In concluding the first part of my paper I think I can say that the main direction posts which show the line of research have been indicated. If I have "legislated by reference" too largely it must be put down to the necessity for compression and to my desire rather to indicate the wood than the trees.

(To be continued.)

PUBLICITY PAPERS

BY THE AUTHOR OF "LIBRARY ADVERTISING."

LOCAL LIBRARY PUBLICITY.

II.

"PUBLIC LIBRARIES ARE NECESSARY FOR THE EDUCATION AND BETTERMENT OF THE PEOPLE." This striking phrase of Sir James Barrie's is given prominence in the Northern Daily Mail, and is included in a commendation on the activities of the West Hartlepool Public Library. The Mayor (Councillor J. W. Wilson), it is therein reported, stated: "The Public Library is more than ever fulfilling its educational and recreative functions, and is now issuing more than twice the number of books daily than at any time previously in its history. The Council fully realizes the importance of books in the lives of the people, and is thoroughly in agreement with Sir James Barrie, who recently said " (as above quoted). The increased popularity of the Library is in a great measure due to Major J. A. Louis Downey, D.S.O., who is a keen advocate of everything pertaining to local publicity, and who believes in advertising his Library by attractive posters and other devices.

Mr. W. T. Beeston (Wolverhampton) congratulates the L.A. Publicity Committee upon the splendid work that has already been accomplished, and writes to say that it may be of some interest to us to know that for some few years he has been doing something in the way of advertising his libraries.

Every Librarian can, if he chooses to, do much to lay the claims of his library before the public by the writing of posters which should be placed in a prominent position at the entrance to the library," writes Mr. Beeston.

"Every Librarian can become his own advertising agent. Everyone can do a little ticket writing, and it will be no hard task to write on a larger scale and produce your own posters. All you require is a little printers' ink (red and black) and one or two small camel-hair brushes, and a sheet of paper 40ins. by 30ins. Of course, a front-page advertisement in your local paper is very helpful, but this is an item of expenditure that needs careful considerationespecially with the smaller libraries; and the 'home-made poster meets the eye of a large section of the community, and only costs about 3d. a poster-of course, not counting your own time. A couple of hours will see your poster completed a really live librarian will not take this into consideration at all; his object is to reach his public.

Another valuable form of advertising is through the medium of streamers across the front of the building: it attracts! If theatres, cinemas, and business houses find it to their advantage to advertise, so should we who have so much that ought to be advertised, and so much that the public ought to know respecting what we are for. I do not see that judicious advertising by library authorities in any way detracts from the dignity of the library or

Messrs. W. & R. HOLMES,

of Dunlop Street, Glasgow,
and

Yorkshire Street, Rochdale,
give service through their
Library Department in all

parts of the British Isles.

3-11 DUNLOP ST., GLASGOW, and at 95 YORKSHIRE ST., ROCHDALE.

JUST PUBLISHED. I

More Toasts.

JOKES, STORIES, AND QUOTATIONS.

Compiled by

MARION DIX MOSHER.

Cloth, 552 pp., 10s.6d. net.

A complementary The Toaster's Handbook

volume to: ::

By PEGGY EDMOND & HAROLD WORKMAN WILLIAMS.
Cloth, 501 pp., 7s.6d. net.

"The up-to-date toaster needs up-to-date stories to fit the up-to-date

subjects."

LONDON: GRAFTON & CO. NEW YORK: THE H. W. WILSON CO.

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

SCHOOL OF LIBRARIANSHIP.

An ENTRANCE EXHIBITION, of the value of £40 a year for 2 years, may be awarded to a student entering the SCHOOL OF LIBRARIANSHIP in OCTOBER, 1923. Application must be made on or before 30th May, 1923. Full particulars may be obtained on application to the undersigned. WALTER W. SETON, Secretary, University College, London. (Gower Street. W.C.1.)

the town it is serving. I have had several streamers measuring 18ft. by 3ft.; one, for instance, six years ago, was as follows: Do YOU USE THE PUBLIC LIBRARY?

About four times a year I advertise the different sections of our work through the medium of the poster, and occasional circulars addressed to the borrowers: thus it will be seen that one can do one's advertising very cheaply and efficiently "

Mr. Z. Moon, of Leyton, uses the wording of one of these posters on his admirable Lecture-list:

Books for every phase of thought.

Books for every taste and age.
Books for every class and trade.

Books for every home and every day

This, and various literary quotations make the leaflet appear to be out of the ordinary run of lists, and this, of course, is where the ability to attract notice comes in, and where the spirit of the "publicist" is evident.

In the matter of a publicity brochure we specially commend the admirable booklet issued by Mr. D. W. Herdman, of the Cheltenham Public Library. This neat little publication gives a programme of the monthly lectures delivered in the Reference Library, with Library particulars printed on the first page. The librarian has secured 3,000 of these for a very small sum, owing to the number of advertisements included. It is a relief to know that the printer collects the advertisements, so the commercial side of the business is not the librarian's added worry. This venture is a decidedly useful publicity medium, and Mr. Herdman is to be congratulated on the success of his efforts.

All communications regarding the Library film should be addressed to Messrs. Grafton & Co. direct.

With regard to W. H. Hudson's booklet, On the Friendship of Books, referred to in our December issue, we are informed by Messrs. W. & G. Foyle, Ltd., that they will be happy to send a supply (free of charge) of the booklet to any librarian who would wish to present them to his borrowers. The number of copies should be mentioned when applying.