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Article
Publication date: 1 July 1968

Harry C. Bauer

WHATEVER MAN PERPETRATES, the printing press indelibly perpetuates. The salting of bibliographic borrow pits with glittery falsehoods is therefore a reprehensible imposition on…

Abstract

WHATEVER MAN PERPETRATES, the printing press indelibly perpetuates. The salting of bibliographic borrow pits with glittery falsehoods is therefore a reprehensible imposition on posterity. When hoax, forgery, mischief, and fraud are buried in tomes, they enjoy an immortality seldom accorded truth. Tricks may, perhaps, be more illustrious and diverting than truth; they certainly are more difficult to crush to earth. They have one salutary utility, however. They can be used to test the credibility of books and reference sets.

Details

Library Review, vol. 21 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1960

HARRY C. BAUER

When it comes to choosing names, man is at a loss for words. There are far too many Jones's to “keep up with”. Smith is decidedly the most popular surname in Britain and America…

Abstract

When it comes to choosing names, man is at a loss for words. There are far too many Jones's to “keep up with”. Smith is decidedly the most popular surname in Britain and America, but Johnson, Brown, and Miller are prevalent, too. Since the United States of America is a great melting pot, it enjoys a superabundance of names but does not know how to apportion them. Elsdon C. Smith, author of The Story of Our Names, estimates that there are 350,000 different surnames in the United States, but that fifty popular names suffice for ten per cent of the population. Not even a thousand names are required for fifty per cent of the population. In England, fifty common surnames provide for approximately eighteen per cent of the population. So far as appellations are concerned, however, Scotland is the thrifty nation; one hundred and fifty surnames sufficing for more than fifty per cent of all native Caledonians.

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Library Review, vol. 17 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1969

Harry C. Bauer

PETER MARK ROGET died on 12 September 1869, Nevertheless, he is more widely known today than he ever was in his heyday. His name has endured a full century, and may indeed endure…

Abstract

PETER MARK ROGET died on 12 September 1869, Nevertheless, he is more widely known today than he ever was in his heyday. His name has endured a full century, and may indeed endure for ever, primarily because of the great popularity, extraordinary sale, and unforgettable title of his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. This astonishing collection of interchangeable parts of speech, ‘classified and arranged … so as to facilitate the expression of ideas and assist in literary composition’, was first published in 1852, long after Roget had retired from medical practice and shortly after he had given up his post as secretary of the Royal Society. He was already 73 years old, but since he could not slacken his habitual pace, he continued to work unceasingly on revision after revision until there were twenty‐eight revisions when he died seventeen years later. After his death, his son, John Lewis Roget, edited the Thesaurus until 1908; a grandson, Samuel Romilly Roget, then took over the editorship and retained control over the legacy until 1936.

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Library Review, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1957

HARRY C. BAUER

Many years ago a thrifty house‐wife presided over a men's boardinghouse near the campus of a well‐known American university. Often while planning daily menus, the hard pressed…

Abstract

Many years ago a thrifty house‐wife presided over a men's boardinghouse near the campus of a well‐known American university. Often while planning daily menus, the hard pressed matron would appeal to her houseboy, “What shall we serve for dessert?” He persistently recommended, “Ice cream and cake,” but she invariably rejected this extravagant proposal, derisively reminding him, “The boys don't like ice cream and cake.” Then, with painstaking concern, she would judiciously select tapioca, chocolate pudding, or some other gelatinous concoc‐tion. Since all the young college students had ravenous appetites and greedily consumed anything set before them, they always confirmed the sagacious selections of the frugal dame. When anyone asked her what college boys liked most for dessert, she had her time‐proven answer, “Tapioca”. She knew that “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

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Library Review, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1963

HARRY C. BAUER

“Questionable” books are as easily identified and as quickly discovered as brightly dyed Easter eggs. The titles of such books invariably terminate with interrogation marks; not…

Abstract

“Questionable” books are as easily identified and as quickly discovered as brightly dyed Easter eggs. The titles of such books invariably terminate with interrogation marks; not with dots, dashes, or asterisks. Nevertheless, even a well read scholar finds himself hard put to recollect half a dozen illustrative titles unless he has previously indulged in considerable bibliographic dowsing. The reason so few examples readily come to mind is that intriguing interrogatory titles are actually few in number.

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Library Review, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1970

Harry C. Bauer

IF SONS DID NOT EXTOL, many a worthy father would sink into oblivion and forever go unsung. As filial biographers, however, sons customarily meet with intimidating scorn and…

Abstract

IF SONS DID NOT EXTOL, many a worthy father would sink into oblivion and forever go unsung. As filial biographers, however, sons customarily meet with intimidating scorn and derision. There is a generally accepted notion that consanguineous biography is fraught more with fealty and filial frailty than with disinterested depiction. The best way to disprove this false assumption is to muster meritorious biographies written by scions and compare them with representative biographies of the ‘blame and blemish’ variety. Sympathetic assessment always stands up stronger than ostensible objectivity, for writers of the ‘warts and all’ kind of biography lose track of virtues and nearly always become engrossed in the imperfections of their victims.

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Library Review, vol. 22 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1965

Harry C. Bauer

BUSY HOMEMAKERS seldom take time to itemize the many helpful reference books that are ever at hand; they simply take these invaluable assets for granted. Indeed, there are times…

Abstract

BUSY HOMEMAKERS seldom take time to itemize the many helpful reference books that are ever at hand; they simply take these invaluable assets for granted. Indeed, there are times when the household reference shelf appears to be no better stocked than Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard, because the most frequently used volumes are scattered through the home.

Details

Library Review, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1972

Harry C. Bauer

LET'S VARY LITERACEE with a little bibliographic burglaree. If you suddenly feel like humming The Pirates of Penzance or recollecting Gilbert and Sullivan, you are closely attuned…

Abstract

LET'S VARY LITERACEE with a little bibliographic burglaree. If you suddenly feel like humming The Pirates of Penzance or recollecting Gilbert and Sullivan, you are closely attuned to the bibliographic thoughts in my mind. Literary allusions are the rich overtones that make reading and writing a grand collaboration and a happy pursuit. An author may conscientiously write to convey ideas, but if a cut above the average, he always strives as did H. L. Mencken to express his ideas ‘in suave and ingratiating terms, and to discharge them with a flourish, and maybe with a phrase of pretty song’. His creative efforts will be mostly wasted, however, if his readers lack the requisite literary background and sophistication that would enable them to join in his game and share his earnest effusions. Literacy is never enough; a young child can read and understand the six one‐syllable words ‘who steals my purse, steals trash’, but that same child can grow to be a mighty old man without ever fully comprehending the sentence unless he reads Othello and studies Iago's presumptuous remarks on ‘Good name in man and woman’.

Details

Library Review, vol. 23 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1962

HARRY C. BAUER

Most librarians who are interested in the principles of reciprocity, and bent on equating the professional qualifications of British and American licentiates, naively focus…

Abstract

Most librarians who are interested in the principles of reciprocity, and bent on equating the professional qualifications of British and American licentiates, naively focus attention on professional training rather than upon trade practices. Consequently, they arrive nowhere in their meditations. The cachet of licensure in the United States is a master's degree in library studies; in Canada, a supplementary bachelor's degree in library studies; and in Britain, an academic post graduate diploma in library studies or registration as an Associate or Fellow in the Library Association. The cachets are marks of endurance, not of competence, and indicate in a general way how truly a licensee is dedicated to a career in library work.

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Library Review, vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1964

HARRY C. BAUER

American children practice certain commendable but anomalous self restraints that are hard to account for. They seem to comprehend that beer, wine, and ardent spirits are for…

Abstract

American children practice certain commendable but anomalous self restraints that are hard to account for. They seem to comprehend that beer, wine, and ardent spirits are for adults, while soda‐pops are for young people. So long as they may participate in all festivities, that is all that matters. Mother and father drink coffee, but the children clamour for milk. The reason for the abstention could possibly be that soda‐pops and milk taste sweeter than caffeine and alcohol. One further example is worthy of note. Little boys and girls like to watch their papas light up a pipe or smoke a cigar. The children may like to play with matches and pretend to smoke, but they seem to understand that smoking is not for children. Aside from these exceptions, little children assume their natural role only when they find that to be more profitable than to play “the man.”

Details

Library Review, vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

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