22 APRIL 1905, Page 23

A Register of National Bibliography. By W. P. Courtney. 2

vols. (A. Constable and Co. 315. 6d. net.)—We may describe Mr. Courtney's work as a descriptive catalogue of books about books, or of books which furnish lists of works treating of subjects. A concrete example may serve to show what is meant. In Vol. I., p. 3.b., we find the following consecutive entries :— "AltnONAUTICs. (1) Astra. Castra, by Hatton; list of books on aerial navigation by E. B. Mansfield ; (2) la locomotione aerea, by G. de Rossi ; (3) bibl. aeronautique, par Gaston Tissandier ; (4) contrib. 1 In bibliographie de in locomotion aerienne, par Armand Wouvermans ; (5) aeronautical annual, ed. by James Means ; (6) bibliography of, by W. H. Kuhl." This seems complete enough. Books dealing directly with aeronautics would not be included. So Santos-Dumont does not occur. The next item is " AzsoErvnrs. Index Commentationum ab 1858, maxime in Germania, edit. by R. Klussman." This does not seem adequate There must be other bibliographies of Aeschylus. We do not see any mention of one of the most practically useful biblio- graphies ever put together, J. E. B. Mayor's "Guide to Classical Books." The next item, also, seems deficient. "Azsop. Romance and other Studies, by G. E. Kendel." But it is needless to point out deficiencies. Such can hardly be avoided. That these two volumes contain a vast amount of information, and will be found useful as a guide to knowledge, is manifest. Whether Mr. Courtney will receive all the praise that he deserves is another matter. It is difficult to form a conception of the magnitude of the task which he has undertaken.—With this work we may mention a volume which deals with the form of books rather than with their contents, Author and Printer, by F. Howard Collins (Henry Frowde, 5s. net). Mr. Collins has put together in dictionary form things that ought to be known about many thousands of words, abbreviations, symbols, tin. He tells us how they are to be spelt and written, whether, when printed, they ought to be in roman type or in italic. He has spared no pains in gathering opinions about the various disputed questions which arise in such a subject. There is the vexed question, for instance, of the spelling of the last syllable in such words as apologize,— should it be spelt with a "z" (as it is commonly pronounced). Various exceptions are allowed, but, for the most part, the " z " is preferred. We are told that elite is not to be printed in italics. But if it is a naturalised English word, it must drop the accent, which is not an English symboL " A.17.C." surely means" Anne Urbis C,onditae," not " Ab Urbe Condita." " P.C." is a common abbreviation on monuments for ponendum curaverunt, and might have been inserted. The family name of the Earls of Pembroke is Herbert, not "Montgomery" (p. 245).