Reference book

“ It is surely apparent that one book cannot satisfy all the interests which have been here defined. It is possible, however, that a description which should show what, in the main, are the materials to be found and how they are distributed with reference to accessible sources of study might well contribute to all. ”

“ Whenever possible show the inquirer how the answer is found, so that he may next time in some measure help himself. It is surprising how many, especially of the younger people in a community, can be taught within one year, on their occasional visits, to make the proper use of at least a few reference books. ”

“ So he reaches the chapter, the page, the line which contains the desired message, and achieves his end. The untrained worker loses himself in the labyrinth of books, and finds nothing.
Such ability to use books is not a gift; it is earned by thoughtful practice. The power to use reference books comes only through wisely using them. The art begins with the use of the dictionary and the supplementary reader, and here should the teacher first apply herself to teach the use of books of reference. ”

“ Amongst the objects of the useful medium of literary communication afforded by the publication of "Notes and Queries," one appears to be a record of the casual notice of "some book or some edition, hitherto unknown or imperfectly described." ”

“ Three indexes: persons; titles; subjects (with works appearing in the lists of recommended studies indexed in only the last) . Given the principles determining placement of a work and the sometimes confusing organization, the subject index offers the best access to contents. Thorough in its annotations, usually judicious in selection and evaluation, and covering some non-English language works, Reference Guide for English Studies is a valuable complement to the present Literary Research Guide and a trustworthy companion for the novice as well as for the advanced scholar. ”

“ Describing fully the uses of kinds of reference tools, providing illuminating examples in discussions of key individual resources, detailing techniques for finding kinds of information, illustrating research processes, and perpetuating the high standards reflected by the other volumes in the series, Literary Research and the Victorian and Edwardian Ages is the essential starting point for anyone working with literature of the two periods. ”

“ Guides to Reference Works Guides to reference works identify and (in the better ones) evaluate the handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies of bibliographies, national bibliographies, surveys of research, bibliographic databases, review indexes, and other resources—print and electronic—important to research within a discipline. They are the essential first sources a scholar consults when planning how to approach a research problem. ”

“ If, therefore, my bookseller approaches me, with a nice new book under his arm, and observes coaxingly that he knows I am interested in history, I always ask him to be good enough to show me the latest work on psychology. ”

“ Entries are organized in four classified divisions: aids to research (with sections for bibliographies, guides to library collections, other reference works, and periodicals) ; background studies (with highly selective lists of autobiographies and collections of essays; slave narratives; studies of historical, social, and intellectual backgrounds; and works on art, journalism, music, and theater) ; literary history and criticism (with sections for anthologies, general studies, drama, fiction, poetry, and folklore) ”

“ The Festschriften list by fields of knowledge classifies the collections in 17 fields of knowledge, including general; book, documentation, and communication; linguistics and literary studies; art and culture; and folklore and ethnology. The subject index is a keyword index, in German with English and French cross-references, to titles of contributions. The keyword index lists, by field of knowledge, the headings used in the subject index. The author index is an index of contributors listed in the Festschriften entries. ”

“ A work of exceeding interest and value, for it is a veritable epitome of biography, dealing with all the famous characters of literature, science, and art, and presenting a wealth of instructive data such as no volume of similar compass has ever contained. A more instructive and interesting book has not been brought out the present season, and its charm exerts a hold upon the reader that leads him on from page to page. ”

“ By means of this arrangement, it is possible to find the author of a short story, the title only of which is known; the exact title of a story whose author is known, and the different places in which the story may be found, in college and high school work the demand often comes for as many copies as possible of a given story. The Index to Short Stories informs the reference librarian of resources perhaps unsuspected in his own collection. ”

“ Lawyers, doctors, clergymen, architects, engineers, and farmers, all have their alphabetical summaries of special knowledge for ready reference, until such works have long since come to be indispensable ”

“ The reviewer in Nature remarked on the First Edition of this book, “It has often been said that the practical man does not write books, but THERE IS HERE A COMPLETE REFUTATION OF THE CALUMNY.” The sale of two large editions has justified the opinion of the reviewer, and shows that the book from the practical man is valued. ”

“ A series of selective, usually evaluative bibliographical essays organized in four extensively classified divisions: general resources and reference works, general literature (with subdivisions for periods, background studies, American language, folk literature, Indian lore and antiquities, and popular literature) , movements and influences, and 239 individual authors (covering primary works, editions, biographies, criticism, bibliographies, and public collections of manuscripts) . Throughout, the emphasis is on guiding readers to the best editions and studies ”

“ It is in such places that you will find the description of literature you are in want of. You must be up and doing, sir; it will not do for an author, especially a young author, to be idle in this town. To-night you will receive my book of philosophy, and likewise books for the Review. And, by the bye, sir, it will be as well for you to review my book of philosophy for the Review ”

“ Following an admirably clear explanation of the basics of online searching are chapters on general literary reference sources (including some devoted to individual writers) ; library catalogs; print and electronic bibliographies, indexes, and annual reviews (again, with some devoted to individual writers) ; scholarly journals; seventeenth-century periodicals; resources for studying the contemporary reception of a writer or a work; manuscripts and archives; genres; translations and lexicons; microform and digital collections ”

“ Primary and some secondary works are organized by author or subject in 16 divisions: book production and distribution, literary relations with the Continent, poetry, novel (including children’s literature) , drama, prose, history, political economy, philosophy and science, religion, English studies, travel, household books, sport, education, and newspapers and magazines. The main entry for an author who writes in several genres or on a variety of subjects is located under the genre or subject with which he or she is most closely associated ”

“ Before proceeding to a description of the various manipulations required in gilding a book, it will be necessary to direct the attention of the young workman again to what has been advanced relative to care and attention in previous parts of this work, and follow up the remarks there made with others on the taste necessary to be displayed in this most important part of the art of bookbinding. ”

“ In style and treatment it is adapted to the general reader, abounds with valuable instruction expressed in clear, practical terms, and the work constitutes by far the best Text-book on Phrenology published, and is adapted to both private and class study.
The illustrations of the Special Organs and Faculties are for the most part from portraits of men and women whose characters are known, and great pains have been taken to exemplify with accuracy the significance of the text in each case. ”

“ Those for genres survey major developments and works. Most entries conclude with a very brief list of standard editions, reference works, and major critical studies. Indexed in Biography and Genealogy Master Index (J565) . Although a useful compendium, whose commentary is frequently more illuminating than one expects in a handbook, the work must be used with care, since there are inexplicable omissions, questionable evaluations, untrustworthy or outdated bibliographies, and numerous factual errors. ”

“ A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies: An Annotated Checklist of Primary and Secondary Sources for Fantasy and Science Fiction. New York: Garland, 1977. 165 pp. Garland Reference Lib. of the Humanities 87. A selective, classified guide to about 400 important bibliographies, reference works, biographical dictionaries, indexes, surveys and histories, studies of individual authors, and periodicals published in the United States and England through 1976. The annotations are only occasionally evaluative but usually indicate when a work supersedes an earlier one. ”

“ The keen inquiring reader, however, the reader who wants to know values and to get, in the eloquent phrase of the day, all that's coming to him, will have the whole story by beginning the book with the note on the Appreciation of Scenery, and reading it consecutively, interpolated notes and all. ”

“ To this day I often dream of being in a book-shop, turning over endless piles of marvellously quaint parchment bound books in letres blake, and what is singular, they are generally works quite unknown to the world—first discoveries—unique! ”

“ To attempt an exhaustive treatment of any one writer, however eminent or however insignificant, to supply analyses of well-known books which are, or should be, on the same shelves as those which may hold these volumes, or to devote much space to the repetition of biographical facts—all this has seemed to lie outside the scope of the present work. ”

“ Since entries are not numbered, users must search an entire page to track down an index reference and can easily overlook other references to a person or subject on the same page. Although poorly indexed and lacking a clear statement of principles guiding the selection of studies, Biography is the best guide to English-language publications on the theory and practice of biography. ”

“ INTRODUCTION Of all the difficult, hazardous and thankless tasks which well-meaning persons can choose for the improvement of their fellows, perhaps none is so unproductive, in some quarters, as book-selection and the recommendation of reading matter. In ninety cases out of a hundred, persons who read books recommended by others will contemn the judgment and taste of the recommender, and even hint at a certain lack of knowledge and critical perception. ”

“ A capital class of book, eminently suitable for the purpose, will be found in small collections of anecdotes like Joe Miller, Chambers, Seton, Laird of Logan, and dozens of others which need not be named. ”

“ We have endeavoured in most cases to keep down what we had to say to mere citation of the ordinary standard books of reference—the tools with which all literary men work. It is well for them that our literature can boast of instruments so well suited to their purpose as Dr. ”

“ When you have got the outline of your plot, and the characters that seem appropriate to play in it, you turn to that so-called 'commonplace book,' in which, if you know your trade, you will have set down anything noteworthy and illustrative of human nature that has come under your notice, and single out such instances as are most fitting ”

“ The former qualities are needed for rapid classification of books in all the various fields of human knowledge, from abstruse to practical, from grave to gay, and for placing them under subject headings in the catalog useful and specific, to student, scholar and every day reader alike, and are by far the more important and indispensable. ”

“ A collection of introductions to the interdisciplinary study of literature and linguistics, philosophy, religion, myth, folklore, sociology, politics, law, science, psychology, music, visual arts, and film. Although the emphasis varies from essay to essay, each essay typically outlines the nature of the relation, provides a historical overview, comments on important studies, describes major theories and approaches, suggests areas for research, and concludes with a selective, briefly annotated bibliography. A glossary covers all essays. ”

“ Our annual collection of papers announces itself as "a Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, and Custom," a programme which sufficiently describes the present scheme of our work. In our early days we had some misgivings whether our objects and methods were really scientific. ”

“ Can write in English as brightly and as clearly as the old-time Frenchmen ... a book that the ordinary reader can read with thorough enjoyment and understanding and that the specialist can turn to with profit as well ... in his text he explains the controversy so that the plain man may understand it, while in the notes he adduces the evidence that the specialist requires. ”

“ As regards the particular consideration, when people see a book, and know that its author is skilled in the branch of science of which it treats, and is thoroughly versed therein, they judge its merits more fairly and apply themselves more seriously to read and remember it, so that both author and reader are better satisfied. ”