Two Catalogs

If well conceived, effectively arranged, and accurately annotated, exhibit catalogs, publishers' catalogs, and printed catalogs of private and other unique book collections can be of inestimable value to those who use them. The two considered here are both excellent.

The first catalog listed details more than a hundred rare, unique, and bibliographically significant items from the Allison-Shelley Collection at the Pennsylvania State University Library exhibited there on June 9-July 24, 1972. The material exhibited and described is limited primarily to British and American translations of German writings showing the impact of German literature and culture upon England and America. Of particular interest to scholars concerned with children's literature are pp. 89-101 of the catalog.

The second catalog enumerates all items in the David McCandless McKell Collection, which is predominantly a collection of children's books owned and housed by the Ross County Historical Society in Chillicothe, Ohio. In the McCandless McKell Collection are many historically important first editions of works of such writers as Jacob Abbott, L. Frank Baum, Frances Hodgson Burnett, G.A. Henty, and Rudyard Kipling, to name only a few. This important collection might have remained unknown, except locally, had not Professor Frank Fieler of the English Department of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, with the help of two graduate students, cataloged the collection.

Users of the G.K. Hall printed catalog which resulted will readily recognize and appreciate the high standards and scholarly efforts used by Professor Fieler and his assistants in the preparation of the catalog. The logical organization of the catalog, the elucidating introduction by Professor Fieler, the source bibliography, and the extensive indexes all work together to assist the user. The McCandless McKell catalog contains a section for each of these categories: Manuscripts, Early Printed Books Before 1700, and Children's Books Dating from 1700. The value of the catalog is greatly enhanced by the rich and informative notes which have been supplied, when appropriate, for each item listed.