A Letter From
America
#7
New
Americana
State
Bibliographies
From
the Antiquarian Book Review
Away
back when in 1942, the great collector Thomas W. Streeter, then President of the
Bibliographical Society of America, gave an address to that organization on what
he called "North American Regional Bibliographies". In practical
terms, what Streeter described and advocated were annotated bibliographies
focused on specific States of the
United States
. Himself at work on what
became the classic of the genre, the five volume Bibliography of Texas
1795-1845, as well as being the greatest Americana collector of his era,
Streeter certainly knew whereof his spoke. But he engaged in some serious
wishful thinking. Fresh from the era of WPA-sponsored state imprint
bibliographies, he envisioned national funding for expanded, annotated works to
build on the privately organized efforts which had laid the foundations of the
field. Not surprisingly, everybody in the field agreed with the Streeter except
the master contrarian bookseller Charles F. Heartman, who promptly wrote a
pamphlet attacking Streeter’s ideas- just the kind of client relations some
members of the trade find so refreshing. Sadly, little came of the Streeter
vision. The Federal government’s enthusiasm for
Americana
bibliography pretty much died
with the WPA, and the advance of such tools has been sporadic at best over the
last half century. In the last decade, however, four states have received superb
coverage from determined individuals working in their areas of personal
enthusiasm, and their work has provided some new energy in the genre spelled out
by Streeter. The first of these is Joseph Felcone, a
Princeton
,
New Jersey
bookseller who has
single-handedly created much of what there is in
New Jersey
bibliography. His primary work
is the two volume catalogue of his own collection, 1698-1860, self-published in
1992 and 1996, and listing 1449 items in alphabetical order. Felcone provides
detailed collations of his copies with specific descriptions of their physical
format and references to other bibliographies. The collection blends works about
New Jersey
published elsewhere with imprints. Most useful are
Felcone’s extensive notes on authors and content. Felcone eventually plans a
third volume volume with addenda and advancing the terminal date, and is also at
work on a highly detailed bibliography of 18th century
New Jersey
imprints. All published works
can be ordered from him at
P.O. Box 366
,
Princeton
,
N.J.
08542
(felcone@felcone.com.)
A very different approach has been taken by James and Lana Servies, who have
toiled for several decades now on their Bibliography of Florida. Three
volumes of this project have been published so far, arranged chronologically
from 1507 to 1899, and two more volumes are projected to take the entries up to
1920. The goal of the Servies’ is to be as comprehensive as possible,
including individual maps and works with quite brief mentions of anything in
Florida
. They provide pagination and
notes maps and plates in a booksellerly style, with relatively brief but often
extremely useful comments on content, other references, locations, and editions.
So far there are 12488 entries, extensively indexed. The Servies’ work is
particularly useful because there was virtually nothing for
Florida
before this work. They, too,
are self-published, and the three volumes can be obtained from King & Queen
Books at
P.O. Box 15062
,
Pensacola
,
FL
,
32514
(kqbooks@pcola.gulf.net.)
If
New Jersey
and
Florida
have been largely ignored by
bibliographers until now, the opposite is true of
California
, where there is a tradition of
collection and reference works going back to Hubert Howe Bancroft in the late
nineteenth century. That there is still plenty to do in even well-covered states
is amply illustrated by the magnificent work of Gary F. Kurutz, The
California
Gold Rush A
Descriptive Bibliography...1848-1853. This narrow slice of time is, of course, the stuff of which American
legends are made. Kurutz covers all contemporary original narratives of
participants published up to 1994, listing 705 separate books and giving the
details of all later editions of each as well. This book is really a model of
what historical bibliography should be. Kurutz gives collation by both signature
and pagination, as well as dimensions. Titles are transcribed by line, typical
bindings described, and dimensions of such features as folding maps noted. There
are detailed listings of all of the standard references, as well as extensive
locations of copies. Every entry has a note about the contents and the career of
the author as it relates to the Gold Rush. A bibliography such as this alters a
whole genre for collectors and dealers alike. Unfortunately the publisher, the
Book Club of California, could not imagine that such a book would have a wide
demand, and only a thousand copies were printed. It is now out of print and has
already moved up in price- at least proving that if you build a better
bibliography they will come. The most recent addition to American regional
bibliography is the magnificent Hawaiian National Bibliography 1780-1900,
compiled by David W. Forbes, and co-published by the
University
of
Hawaii Press
and the redoubtable Australian
rare book dealers Hordern House. As with Servies, it is a work slated to appear
in five volumes of which three have come out. The rate of actual publication has
been much faster though, with successive volumes appearing in 1999, 2000, and
2002, and with the last two decades expected shortly. The three volumes through
1880 list 3344 works, with separate entries given for successive editions.
Arrangement is chronological. Collation is by pagination, a full listing of
other references is provided, and there are ample locations. Forbes’ notes are
extensive, and he has identified many books with Hawaiian content not
necessarily thought of in that genre. He has also included imprints,
comprehensively at first, through 1850, and then more selectively as printing
proliferated. This approach (also followed by Felcone and Servies) may not suit
formal bibliographers, but it sure makes sense for the working bookseller and
historian. Once again, the Forbes project fills a major hole in the reference
shelf. It is entirely in print and can be had from Hordern House,
77 Victoria St.
, Potts Point, Sydney NSW 2011,
Australia
(books@hordern.com.)
You have all been good and quiet while listening to this lecture and so, as a
special treat, my next column will be entirely devoted to gossip.
- William Reese
