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30:1 Reviews VICTORIAN PERIODICALS Richard D. Fulton and Charles Michael Colee, eds. Union List of Victorian Serials. New York: Garland, 1985. $103.00 In recent years Victorian and Edwardian scholars have become increasingly aware of the importance of serials for an understanding of the literature and history of the period. Most of the well-known writers contributed heavily to periodicals. This is even truer of minor writers, who often provide a better understanding of what ordinary people did and thought. Scholars interested in fiction or poetry, science, art, sports, fashion, and politics, to name but a few subjects, read the journals to find out what happened, and why and how significant changes occuned. Yet there are serious obstacles to the use of periodicals. The author of an essay or poem may remain unidentified; the existence of a key journal may not be known; more commonly, it may be difficult to locate a periodical. Bibliographers are effectively tackling some of these problems. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals has been a considerable aid to the identification of contributors to journals. The Waterloo Directory of Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900 (which supplemented the Times Tercentary Handlist of English and Welsh Newspapers, Magazines and Reviews and volume three of the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature) has made scholars aware of the existence of almost 30,000 Victorian journals. Finally, the publication of finding lists has provided essential information about the location of serials. Up to now, the most important aids in this latter area have been the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals, the Union List of Serials, and the National Union Catalogue (pre-1956 imprints). The Union List of Victorian Serials, edited by Richard D. Fulton and C. M. Colee, now bids fair to join them. The ULVS gives information about periodicals in North American libraries. It is limited to the Victorian years (defined by convention as 1824 to 1900), and is based on an analysis of holdings in more than 350 libraries, derived from both shelf checks and printed materials. The primary objective of the ULVS is to make information available about holdings in United States and Canadian libraries. Whenever possible, additional information is included such as dates and frequency of publication, changes in title or subtitle, and the numbering of journals. Information is also provided about a library's periodical holdings on microfilm or microcard. The ULVS does not purport to be comprehensive. It is a selected listing of over 1,800 periodicals, which consists essentially of the NCBEL list supplemented by about 100 scientific and technical journals. Nor is the coverage of libraries complete. Fulton and Colee wisely have given preference to shelf checks whenever possible, and have been helped by more than 300 investigators. They have also culled information about library holdings from 118 30:1 Reviews directories and printed lists of periodicals. The result is a substantial degree of comprehensiveness but something well short of definitive coverage. It is necessary to indicate some of the weaknesses of this fine reference book if only to express the hope that these will be remedied in a second edition. The lack of comprehensiveness is an obvious defect. In effect the editors have established three categories of libraries: those for which shelf checks have been done, those whose holdings have been ascertained from sources that may be in enor, and those not listed at all. The first two categories offer fewer difficulties because the editors are aware of discrepancies and inaccuracies and have sought to clarify them. More disappointing are the large number of institutions in category three. For example, holdings for the Union College and St. Lawrence University Ubraries are included, although these are both minor repositories for Victorian periodicals. Yet Cornell University, which has the most important collection of Victorian and Edwardian journals in the region of upstate New York, is not listed, presumably because neither a local investigator nor a printed Ust of holdings was available. A similar situation exists for New Jersey. The Princeton University Library holdings, one of the key reference centers in the eastern region of the United States, are missing, while the insignificant holdings of Glassboro State College are included. Also questionable is the...

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