If BEAL had furnished this information alone for each entry, it would have been of great service. Yet consider what additional information can be found in the vast majority of entries. There might be analytical notes about the contents, like those accompanying BEAL 8490, which explain that Robert Jones's History of the French Bar includes an appendix of ordinances and regulations governing the bar. More often we find useful biographical details about lawyers and judges. Occasionally Cohen has included appropriate quotes from J. G. Marvin's Legal Bibliography, the handiest legal bibliography from the last century.
Similar notes enhance many entries, enticing readers toward further explorations.
Because Cohen spent his career in charge of major academic law libraries where he has consulted and examined many unusual volumes, his well-constructed bibliography has made us bene ficiaries of his observations, notations, and comparisons. With more than 10,000 entries for monographs, the print version of BEAL relies on subject classi fication to present material in an orderly fashion. In volume six of the print edition can be found a full listing of subject headings for the entire bibliography. The reader is well advised to spend a few minutes perusing this appendix before plunging into any of the volumes. The second component of BEAL covers civil trials, the third, criminal trials.