distributive list of scientific bibliographies, so full as to leave little to be desired, except for later issues of the press. One of the curiosities of this work is its catalogue of all the issues of the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum", books forbidden to be read, including 185 separate catalogues, from A. D. 1510 to A. D. 1862.

or

The next bibliographical work claiming to cover this field was in the French language, being the Bibliographie des bibliographies of Léon Vallée, published in 1883 at Paris. This book, though beautifully printed, is so full of errors, and still fuller of omissions, that it is regarded by competent scholars as a failure, though still having its uses to the librarian. It is amazing that any writer should put forth a book seventeen years after the great and successful work of Petzholdt, purporting to be a catalogue of bibliographies, and yet fail to record such a multitude of printed contributions to the science of sciences as Vallée has overlooked.

Some ten years later, or in 1897, there came from the French press, a far better bibliographical work, covering the modern issues of books of bibliography more especially, with greater fullness and superior plan. This is the Manuel de Bibliographie générale, by Henri Stein. Thus work contains, in 915 well-printed pages, 1st. a list of universal bibliographies: 2d. a catalogue of national bibliographies, in alphabetical order of countries: 3d. a list of classified bibliographies of subjects, divided into seventeen classes, namely, religious sciences, philosophical sciences, juridical, economic, social, and educational sciences, pure and applied sciences, medical sciences, philology and belles lettres, geographical and historical sciences, sciences auxiliary to history, archaeology and fine arts, music, and biography. Besides these extremely useful categories of bibliographical aids, in which the freshest publi

cations of catalogues and lists of books in each field are set forth, M. Stein gives us a complete geographical bibliography of printing, on a new plan. This he entitles "Géographie bibliographique," or systematic lists of localities in every part of the world which possessed a printing press prior to the 19th century. It gives, after the modern or current name of each place, the Latin, or ancient name, the country in which located, the year in which the first printed publication appeared in each place, and finally, the authority for the statement. This handy-list of information alone, is worth the cost of the work, since it will save much time of the inquirer, in hunting over many volumes of Panzer, Maittaire, Hain, Dibdin, Thomas, or other authors on printing, to find the origin of the art, or early name of the place where it was introduced. The work contains, in addition, a general table of the periodicals of all countries, (of course not exhaustive) divided into classes, and filling seventy-five pages. It closes with a "repertory of the principal libraries of the entire world," and with an index to the whole work, in which the early names in Latin, of all places where books were printed, are interspersed in the alphabet, distinguished by italic type, and with the modern name of each town or city affixed. This admirable feature will render unnecessary any reference to the Orbis Latinus of Graess, or to any other vocabulary of geography, to identify the place in which early-printed books appeared. Stein is by no means free from errors, and some surprising omissions. One cardinal defect is the absence of any full index of authors whose books are cited.

There are also quite brief catalogues of works on bibliography in J. Power's Handy Book about Books, London, 1870, and in J. Sabin's Bibliography: a handy book about

books which relate to books, N. Y., 1877. The latter work is an expansion of the first-named.

We come now to the second class of our bibliographies, viz: those of various countries. Here the reader must be on his guard not to be misled into too general an interpretation of geographical terms. Thus, he will find many books and pamphlets ambitiously styled "Catalogue Américaine", which are so far from being general bibliographies of books relating to America, that they are merely lists of a few books for sale by some book-dealer, which have something American in their subject. To know what catalogues are comprehensive, and what period they cover, as well as the limitations of nearly all of them, is a necessary part of the training of a bibliographer, and is essential to the librarian who would economize his time and enlarge his usefulness.

Let us begin with our own country. Here we are met at the outset by the great paucity of general catalogues of American literature, and the utter impossibility of finding any really comprehensive lists of the books published in the United States, during certain periods. We can get along tolerably well for the publications within the last thirty years, which nearly represent the time since systematic weekly bibliographical journals have been published, containing lists of the current issues of books. But for the period just before the Civil War, back to the year 1775, or for very nearly a century, we are without any systematic bibliography of the product of the American press. The fragmentary attempts which have been made. toward supplying an account of what books have been published in the United States from the beginning, will hereafter be briefly noted. At the outset, you are to observe the wide distinction that exists between books treating of America, or any part of it, and books printed in

America. The former may have been printed anywhere, at any time since 1492, and in any language: and to such books, the broad significant term "Americana" may properly be applied, as implying books relating to America. But this class of works is wholly different from that of books written or produced by Americans, or printed in America. It is these latter that we mean when we lament the want of a comprehensive American catalogue. There have been published in the United States alone (to go no farther into America at present) thousands of books, whose titles are not found anywhere, except widely scattered in the catalogues of libraries, public and private, in which they exist. Nay, there are multitudes of publications which have been issued in this country during the last two hundred years, whose titles cannot be found anywhere in print. This is not, generally, because the books have perished utterly, though this is unquestionably true of some, but because multitudes of books that have appeared, and do appear, wholly escape the eye of the literary, or critical, or bibliographical chronicler. It is, beyond doubt true even now, that what are commonly accepted as complete catalogues of the issues of the press of any year, are wofully incomplete, and that too, through no fault of their compilers. Many works are printed in obscure towns, or in newspaper offices, which never reach the great eastern cities, where our principal bibliographies, both periodical and permanent, are prepared. Many books, too, are "privately printed," to gratify the pride or the taste of their authors, and a few copies distributed to friends, or sometimes to selected libraries, or public men. In these cases, not only are the public chroniclers of new issues of the press in ignorance of the printing of many books, but they are purposely kept in ignorance. Charles Lamb, of humorous and perhaps immortal memory, used to com

plain of the multitudes of books which are no books; and we of to-day may complain, if we choose, of the vast number of publications that are not published.

Take a single example of the failure of even large and imposing volumes to be included in the "American Catalogue," for whose aid, librarians are so immeasurably indebted to the enterprise of its publishers. A single publishing house west of New York, printed and circulated in about four years time, no less than thirty-two elaborate and costly histories, of western counties and towns, not one of which was ever recorded by title in our only comprehensive American bibliography. Why was this? Simply because the works referred to were published only as subscription books, circulated by agents, carefully kept out of booksellers' hands, and never sent to the Eastern press for notice or review. When circumstances like these exist as to even very recent American publications (and they are continually happening) is it any wonder that our bibliographies are incomplete?

Perhaps some will suggest that there must be one record of American publications which is complete, namely, the office of Copyright at Washington. It is true that the titles of all copyright publications are required by law to be there registered, and copies deposited as soon as printed. It is also true that a weekly catalogue of all books and other copyright publications is printed, and distributed by the Treasury, to all our custom-houses, to intercept piratical re-prints which might be imported. But the books just referred to were not entered for copyright at all, the publishers apparently preferring the risk of any rival's reprinting them, rather than to incur the cost of the small copyright fee, and the deposit of copies. In such cases, there is no law requiring publishers to furnish copies of their books. The government guarantees no monopoly of