BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PROLEGOMENA. and contents of the publication. I. Literary Intelligencer. II. American, and III. English Literary Announcements. IV. American, and V. English Publications, and VI. Advertisements. The work was ably conducted; but, at that period, not being adequately appreciated by the public, it was dropped. 8. THE LITERARY WORLD, a Gazette for Authors, Readers, and Publishers, edited by C. T. HOFFMAN (and E. A. and G. L. DUYCKINCK). New York, 1847-1853, weekly, in three columns, pp. 24, forming, in all, 13 vols. large 4to. The publication commenced on the 6th of February, 1847, and ceased in December, 1853. The first volume, ending July 31st, is all that was edited by Mr. C. T. Hoffman. The second volume contains the concluding half-year, but each volume of the rest of the series embraces an entire year. Messrs. E. A. and G. L. Duyckinck succeeded Mr. Hoffman in the editorship. Each volume has a title and table of contents, and every number is subdivided into, 1. Advertisements; 2. Reviews, Literary, Scientific, Artistic, and Dramatic Intelligence; and 3. Advertisements. In some of the numbers, under the heading of "Publishers' Circular," good lists of Foreign Literature will be found. General bibliographical accuracy is not attempted; but as the advertisers no doubt sought to sell their books by its means, the announcements are sufficient for most purposes, besides which it furnishes very complete lists of the publications of the principal American booksellers. 9. NORTON'S LITERARY ADVERTISER; large 4to, in four columns, from 4 to 18 pp. in each monthly number, published from May to December, 1851. In 1852 and 1853 it was published in monthly parts under the title of— NORTON'S LITERARY GAZETTE for 1852 and for 1853; 1852 contains 256 pp.; and 1853, 232 pp. 1 NORTON'S LITERARY GAZETTE for 1854 and for 1855, was published, up 1855 788 pp. Similar in contents to the Literary World, whose place it appears to occupy, it presents one important addition, in the List of American Publications, very carefully compiled by the editor, in which the titles are given at sufficient length, the size mentioned, the pages enumerated, and the places and names of the publishers noted. To this are added Literary and Scientific Intelligence, and other matter, both original and selected, appertaining to Science and Art. 10. THE LITERARY ALMANAC, for 1852, 1853, and 1854, was also published by MR. NORTON. It is a gossiping olio, introducing now and then some bibliographical facts; but chiefly devoted to Libraries. It appears to have been discontinued. 11. NORTON'S LITERARY REGISTER, or Annual Book List for 1856; a Catalogue of Books, including new editions and reprints, published in the United States during the year 1855. It contains the titles, number of pages, prices, and names of publishers, with an Index of publishers; New York, 1856. 8vo. The title indicates the contents, which the editor has enhanced by the addition of an alphabetical index of matters. 2. CATALOGUES AND HANDBOOKS FOR THE USE OF 1. A CATALOGUE OF ALL THE BOOKS PRINTED IN with the prices and places where published annexed. the booksellers, January, 1804; 8vo, xii. and 79 pp. THE UNITED STATES, Following something of the plan of Bent's London Catalogue, it is divided into the classes of-Law, Physics, Divinity, Bibles, Miscellanies, School-books, Omissions. It was the intention to have issued enlarged editions of the catalogue every two years. Dr. Ludewig, however, never met with any other than that mentioned above. It omits in most cases all local and occasional tracts. 2. THE AMERICAN BOOK-CIRCULAR, with Notes and Statistics. London and New York, Wiley and Putnam, April, 1843. 8vo, 64 pp. Published in reply to the remarks of Dickens, Alison, and others upon American literature. It is valuable as evidence of the state of the book-trade in America at the period of its publication, and is carefully compiled. Copies are now scarce. 3. THE AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS' COMPLETE REFERENCE TRADE-LIST, and Alphabetical Catalogue of Books, published in this country, with the Publishers' and Authors' names and prices, arranged in classes for quick and convenient reference. Compiled by ALEXANDER V. BLAKE; Claremont, N. H., 1847; 4to, 224 pp.- -SUPPLEMENT to the American Booksellers' complete reference Trade-list; containing such additional lists as have been furnished by the publishers, as well as additions to the lists, published in the original book, and an Alphabetical Catalogue of the same. Claremont, N. H., 1848, 4to, 4 leaves, 224 pp., to be placed between the body of the List and this Supplement, and then pp. 235-351. Printed for the convenience of the trade. The titles, which are very short, are arranged under the names of the respective publishers of the books, with an alphabetical index of authors and anonymous publications. As its name implies, it is a trade-list, and is sufficient for the purposes of trade, without making any pretensions to bibliographical accuracy. 4. BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA; Catalogue of American Publications, including reprints and original works, from 1820 to 1848 inclusive, compiled and arranged by O. A. ROORBACH; New York, 1849; 8vo, 360 pp.- -SUPPLEMENT to the Bibliotheca Americana, comprising a list of books (reprints and original works) which have been published in the United States within the past year; also, omissions and corrections of errors, as far as ascertained, which occurred in the former work. Together with a list of periodicals. Compiled and arranged by O. A. ROORBACH, New York, 1850; 8vo, 124 pp. Bibliotheca Americana: Catalogue of American Publications, including re prints and original works from 1820 to 1852 inclusive. Together with list of periodicals published in the United States. Compiled and arranged by O. A. ROORBACH, New York, 1852; royal 8vo, 652 pp. Somewhat on the plan of the London Catalogue, each title being, in a general way, confined to a single line. This very useful manual is chiefly intended for the use of the trade. The prices are taken from the Publishers' Trade-list; but where books are out of print, or rare, no price is given. Reprints and Translations are indicated by special marks, and Biography and Law are classed separately at the end of the volume. The alphabetical arrangement is adopted throughout, with this distinction, that in the pages devoted to Biography the name of the subject, and not that of the author, takes the lead, so that, for instance, under Washington are placed all biographies of Washington, no regard being had to the names of his various biographers. The titles of the Law Books are more fully given than those in the body of the work, and that class of the catalogue is followed by a Supplement containing State Reports, Law Digests, &c. The Papers, published at a low charge by the State of New York, up to 1848, are quoted at 555 dollars. In the enlarged edition of 1852 that class Biography is incorporated in the general alphabet; but Law is again classed by itself, followed by "Reports and Periodicals," which form part of the Supplement to that of 1849. Two Supplements have been published, alphabetically arranged, including all classes in one and the same alphabet. The first is completed up to April, 1855, and the second to March, 1858. The title of the latter is: "ADDENDA TO THE BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA, a Catalogue of American Publications (reprints and original works), from May, 1855, to March, 1858. Compiled and arranged by ORVILLE A. ROORBACH. New York: Wiley and Halsted, 351, Broadway; London: Trübner and Co., 1858. vii. pp., including title-page, and 256 pp., and 8 pp. of Catalogue of the Publications of Wiley and Halsted. 5. APPLETON AND Co.-A LIBRARY MANUAL, containing a catalogue raisonné of upwards of twelve thousand of the most important works in every department of knowledge, in all Modern Languages. In two parts. PART 1. Subjects alphabetically arranged. PART 2. Bibliography, Classics, Miscellanies, and Index to Part 1. New York: Appleton and Co.: (1847); 8vo, xvi. and 434 pp. D. APPLETON AND Co.'s NEW CATALOGUE of American and English Books, comprising a most extensive assortment of the best works in every department of Literature and Science. With a complete Index. New York, 1855. 8vo. 242 closely printed pp. in double columns. These are most useful catalogues, well adapted to meet the wants of American book-buyers. In the alphabetical arrangement of that published in 1847, subjects are introduced, as Abyssinia, Acoustics, &c., and the names of the authors in all such cases are placed in the index at the end of the volume. That plan was abandoned in the catalogue of 1855. The latter, however, does not supersede its precursor, for that of 1847 was more of an analytical character. Messrs. Appleton's name is sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of any work sent out by them, and as these catalogues do not profess to follow the strict canons of bibliography, they are entitled to every praise, containing as they do quite sufficient description to meet the wants of those for whose immediate use they were compiled. 6. THE BOOK-BUYERS' MANUAL: a Catalogue of Foreign and American Books in every branch of Literature. With a classified Index. G. P. Putnam, 1852. 8vo, 236, viii., and 48 pp. New York, A very useful manual, not pretending to great bibliographical accuracy, but sufficiently so for the purpose for which it is intended. 7. TRÜBNER'S BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO AMERICAN LITERATURE; being a classified List of Books in all departments of Literature and Science, published in the United States of America, during the last forty years. With an Introduction, Notes, three Appendices, and an Index; London, Trübner and Co., 12, Paternoster Row, 1855. xxxii. and 108 pp., in double columns. It has been said that success is the test of merit. If this be so, this Bibliographical Guide has perhaps its due proportion. The volume is quite out of print, and with one or two solitary exceptions, since its publication, no one has touched upon the subject of American Literature, without making frequent references to its pages, or speaking of it with commendation. The reader is more particularly referred to Chambers' Handbook of American Literature, Elliott's New England History, and Goodrich's Reminiscences, the authors of which acknowledge the aid they received from the historical sketch of American Literature, and the XXI. class-lists of which the volume is composed. It should be remarked, that the prices quoted are those at which the books can be supplied by London booksellers, and necessarily include the cost of importation. 8. THE AMERICAN CATALOGUE OF BOOKS; or, English Guide to American Literature, giving the full title of original works published in the United States since the year 1800. With especial reference to works of interest to Great Britain. With the prices at which they may be obtained in London. London, Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 47, Ludgate Hill, 1856. 8vo, vii. and 190 pp. "Ge "It has been the endeavour to avoid an arbitrary classification, whilst grouping the works together in such a way as appears to the publishers to secure, at one glance, a view of all books published upon one subject. In the department of Theology, and, again, in Fiction, it has been departed from in favour of the old style of alphabetical order, from a manifest similarity of subject rendering any other arrangement liable to confusion." These are the words of the preface, and would naturally lead the reader to expect, at least, some approach to a systematic arrangement of subjects; and without any wish to be hypercritical, such cannot surely be said to be the case, where, for instance, neral de Jomini's Political and Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo is placed between "Allen's Autocracy of Poland and Russia" and "Schimmelpenning's Sketch of the War between Turkey and Russia," with the subject of neither of which it can have the least connection; and similar instances are the rule, and not the exception. When the received canons of a science, like bibliography, are departed from, it requires great caution to devise new rules, which shall be readily as intelligible as those they are intended to supersede; and, therefore, in my case I have been content to follow in the beaten track, rather than attempt a novelty, which, however specious it might at first appear, could only tend to confuse the reader. In the "American Catalogue," too, the classes of Theology and Fiction, the "old style of alphabetical order" has not been strictly adhered to, as the preface intimates, particularly in that of Fiction, where sometimes it is necessary to refer to the name of the author, and sometimes to that of the book, although in the latter case the name of the writer is also generally carefully mentioned in the midst of the paragraph. The Index is therefore a most useful part of the book, and in using this elegantly-printed volume it claims precedence. The recent decision of the Court of Chancery in the case of Spiers v. Brown, allows Dictionary makers the greatest latitude in adapting the labours of others to their own purposes, and perhaps wisely so, and therefore I do not complain that my Bibliographical Guide to American Literature of the previous year, should have spared the compiler of The American Catalogue of Books the necessity of much of that labour and research, which, as the original pioneer, had fallen to my share; nor should I have noticed the circumstance, but that in the present reproduction of my own, I do not wish it to be surmised that I have borrowed from that catalogue anything to which a comparison of the two works will prove the priority of my claim. 9. CATALOGUE, OR ALPHABETICAL INDEX, OF THE ASTOR LIBRARY. In two parts. PART 1. AUTHORS OF BOOKS, A-E. New York, printed by R. Craighead, Caxton Building, 81, 83, and 85, Centre Street, 1857. Royal 8vo. (Vol. I.) Fly title and title; Preface, dated September 1, 1857, pp. iii.—v., followed by pp. 1-494. (Vol. II.) Repetition of the title, excepting the letters indicating the contents, which are altered to F-L., and the date to 1858; fly title and title, followed by pp. 495-1000. Printing under the revision of J. G. Cogswell, Esq., the eminent bibliographer, who is the Principal Librarian of the Astor Library. The Alphabetical Catalogue is subdivided on the plan of Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, and will probably consist of eight volumes. In a work intended to facilitate access to the treasures of a great public library, certain deviations from strict bibliographical rules may be pardoned, yet it is to be regretted when these are of an arbitrary stamp that the preface does not sufficiently explain the plan adopted. American bibliographers seem fond of inversion, and in the present catalogue the rule laid down in the preface respecting anonymous publications is an example, which bids the reader to search for the work under "the word of the title, which constitutes its main subject," whilst those which have the name of the author on the title-page, or attached to the preface or dedication, are entered in strict alphabetical order. On the whole, these rules have been adhered to, but there are some amusing exceptions. For instance, S. Augustinus will be found correctly under Augustinus; but for what reason it is impossible to say, the searcher after the works of S. Hieronymus is referred to Jerome, Saint, and when he has turned to that name in the aplhabet, he will have had his pains for nothing; for it is omitted altogether, and will probably have to be sought under Saint, to supply the omission. There is evidently a staff of cataloguers employed, but to secure accuracy the labour of revision should not be subdivided. The book is elegantly and otherwise correctly printed; and of almost every voluminous work an elaborate analysis is given. Though not |