Bibliographies – Reference Sources

Balay, Robert, ed. Guide to Reference Books. Chicago: American Library Association, 1996. Call Number: Ref Z 1035.1 .S43 1996. A subject list of thousands of reference works with annotations for most titles cited. Subject, author, title index. Invaluable for discovering reference works other than those cited in this bibliography. Shelved in Ready Reference.

Besterman, Theodore. A World Bibliography of Bibliographies. Lausanne, Switzerland: Societas Bibliographica, 1965-1966. Call Number: Ref Z 1002 .B5685. Lists over 117,000 separate works of bibliography in more than forty languages. Arrangement is by subject under more than 16,000 headings.

Bibliographic Index: A Cumulative Bibliography of Bibliographies. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1937-1942. Call Number: Ref Z 1002 .B595. Subject approach to current bibliographies, including those published separately as books and pamphlets, as well as those appearing as parts of books, pamphlets, and articles, in English and in foreign languages. In addition, approximately 2,200 periodicals are regularly examined for bibliographical material, and lists containing forty or more citations are indexed. Published three times a year with frequent cumulations. Shelved on Index Table 4.

Blazek, Ron and Elizabeth Aversa. The Humanities: A Selective Guide to Information Sources. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1994. Call Number: Ref Z 6265 .B53 1994. Shelved in Ready Reference. 1988 edition, also shelved in Ready Reference, is annotated with Newberry call numbers.

General Guide to the Collections of The Newberry Library. Call Number: fZ 79 .N4137. Compiled in 1970, this is a general guide to the library's collections. It offers an excellent overview of the library's principle subject areas. Shelved in Checklist Area.

Toomey, Alice F. A World Bibliography of Bibliographies, 1964-1974: A List of Works Represented by Library of Congress Printed Catalog Cards. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1977. Call Number: Ref Z 1002 .T67. A subject bibliography designed to supplement Besterman's. See note on arrangements, p.xi.

Walford, Albert John. Walford's Guide to Reference Material. London: Library Association, 1989-1991. Call Number: Ref Z 1035.1 .W33 1989. A subject list of about 14,000 reference books with annotations for most titles cited. Contains more titles than Balay, but the emphasis is on materials published in Britain. Author, title, and subject index. Volume 2 lists works on philosophy, religion, social science, biography, history; volume 3 on arts and literature. Shelved in Ready Reference.

Manuscript and Special Collection Bibliographies

Ash, Lee, comp. Subject Collections: A Guide to Special Book Collections and Subject Emphases As Reported by University, College, Public, and Special Libraries and Museums in the United States and Canada. New Providence, NJ: R.R. Bowker, 1993. Call Number: Z 731 .S93. Shelved in Ready Reference.

Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1988. Call Number: Ref CD 3020 .D49 1988. Notes: Shelved in Ready Reference.

Kramer, Sigrid. Latin Manuscript Books before 1600: A List of the Printed Catalogues and Unpublished Inventories of Extant Collections. Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2007. Call Number: Ref Z 6601 .A1 K72 2007.

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections. Library of Congress, 2005. Lists manuscript holdings of libraries and archives in North American libraries. Years 1986 - present available online; printed volumes for 1959-1985 also available (Ref Z 6620 .U5 N3). Printed volumes include an index in each volume and cumulative indexes every five years.

Ricci, Seymour de. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1935-1940. Call Number: Ref Z 6620 .U5 R5 1935. Continued by: Faye, Christopher Urdahl. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York: The Bibliographical Society of America, c1962. Call Number: Ref Z 6620 U5 .R5 1935a, Suppl.

Saenger, Paul Henry. A Catalog of the Pre-1500 Western Manuscript Books at The Newberry Library. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Call Number: Ref Z 6621 .N66 S23 1989a and b. Shelved in Checklist Area.

National and Retrospective Bibliographies

Bibliography of American Imprints to 1901: Compiled From the Databases of the Research Libraries Group, Inc. New York: K.G. Saur, 1993. Call Number: Ref Z 1215 .B47 1993. Shelved on American Imprints Table.

British Museum. Dept. of Printed Books. General Catalog of Printed Books: Photolithographic Edition to 1955. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1959-1966. Call Number: Ref Z 921 .B87. Includes 263 volumes, plus supplements. Shelved on the northwest wall of the R&B center.

Evans, Charles. American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America From the Genesis of Printing in 1639 Down to and Including the Year 1820; With Bibliographical and Biographical Notes by Charles Evans. New York: P. Smith, 1941-1959. Call Number: Ref Z 1215 .E923. This is a work of enormous value and importance. The subtitle describes the scope. The Newberry Library owns the microcard set that accompanies these indexes, in addition to many of the original works. The call number for the microcard set is Microcard Y 2.2. Request slips should also include the bibliography citation number. Shelved on American Imprints Table. Continued by: Shaw, Ralph R. and Richard H. Shoemaker. American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801-1819. New York: Scarecrow Press, 1958-1966. Supplements take this work through 1845. Call Number: Ref Z 1215 .S48 (Shelved on American Imprints Table) The call number for the Shaw and Shoemaker microcard set is Microcard Y 2.21.

Guide to Collections of Books Printed in German-Speaking Countries Before 1901 (or in German Elsewhere) Held by Libraries in Great Britain and Ireland. New York: Olms-Weidmann, 2000. Call Number: Ref Z 2222 .G84 2000.

The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints: A Cumulative Author List Representing Library of Congress Printed Cards and Titles Reported by Other American Libraries. London: Mansell, 1968-1981. Call Number: Ref Z 881 .A1 U518. Includes holdings for many libraries in the United States of books published before 1956. These volumes are useful for identifying editions and titles. 754 volumes. Shelved on the northwest wall of the R&B center.

Pollard, W. A. and Redgrave G. R. A Short-Title Catalog of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640. London: Bibliographical Society, 1976-1991. Call Number: Ref Z 2002 .P77 1976.

Wing, Donald. Short-Title Catalog of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1994. Call Number: Ref Z 2002 .W52 1994.

Subject Headings

Library of Congress. Office for Subject Cataloging Policy. Library of Congress Subject Headings. Washington, DC: Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress, 2001. Call Number: folio Z 695 .L696. Lists the subject headings used by the Library of Congress in its classification system. When using the Newberry's online catalog in conjunction with this work, access to the library's collection is improved. Shelved in Checklist Area.

Trade Bibliographies

Books in Print. New York: R. R. Bowker, 1948-. Lists all books currently in print, or available from the publisher. Indexed by Subject Guide to Books in Print. Shelved in Ready Reference.

The Cumulative Book Index. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1898-1999. Call Number: Ref Z 1219 .M78. Lists all books published in English each year. The Newberry's subscription was cancelled in the summer of 1987. Shelved after the New York Public Library Research Libraries Book Catalog. Vols. for 1898-1927 are in general collections (Cll Number: Z 983 .2).

The United States Catalog: Books in Print January 1, 1928. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1928. Call Number: Ref Z 1215 .U6 1928. A predecessor to Cumulative Book Index, this listing is useful for determining when a particular book was published or for identifying editions and other bibliographic information. Shelved after the New York Public Library Research Libraries Book Catalog.