British Literary Bibliography, 1970-1979 is a ten-year supplement to the six volumes already published in the prestigious series Index to British Literary Bibliography, and is fully indexed for consistency with earlier volumes.
The series provides a comprehensive record of the writings that describe and study the history of the printed book in Britain, and works of bibliography and textual criticism, from the earliest times. The period covered by the present volume was bibliographically very active, witnessing a great renewal of interest in the history of the book. The volume has seven main sections: `General Bibliographies of and Guides to British Literature', `Bibliography and Textual Criticism', `General and Period Bibliography', `Regional Bibliography', `Book Production and Distribution', `Forms, Genres, and Subjects', and `Authors'. Complete information about each book or journal article is provided in standard form, and in many instances objective annotations are given, affording additional access to the items through a very detailed index.
Professor Howard-Hill's Index to British Literary Bibliography, and its publisher, the Oxford University Press, desreve the highest praise for what they have jointly achieved. This new and handsome volume in the series is especially to be welcomed because, for the first time, it takes the Index beyond 1969 and gives hope that, in the reasonably near future, the work, in all its different areas, might be taken up to the year 2000. There are few tasks more demanding in literary scholarship than the complication of a major bibliography in many volumes over two or three decades. Even more taxing is the chore of revising and up-dating which Howard-Hill has so conscientiously accomplished. It is earnestky hoped that he, and the OUP, who desrves great praise, will gather the resources psychological and financial to enable this great work to be taken up to the year 2000. We are already deeply in their debt.