Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-20
REMAKKARLE pocUNIENT.
Descriptive Catalogue of Government
Publications.


One Of the most important books ever
issued by the government, to be known as
ga Descriptive Catalogue Of Government
Publications" is now in press at the
Government Printing Office. 1t will sup
ply a want long felt by publicists. a vast
amount of information on a great variety
of topics hassbeen published by Congress
and by the executive departments OF the
government since 1776, but much of it has
become virtually inaccessible except to
the very few who have known how and
where to find it. Senator COckrell, OF
Missouri, initiated the requisite legisla-
ton for the preparation Of a descriptive
catalogue" and, after two unsuccessful
attempts at its compilation, the work was
placed under the direction Of the veteran
journalist, MAJ. Ben Perley Poore. large
staff Of clerks were at once set to work In
the Congressional library, in the libraries
of the Senate, the House, the executive
bureaus, the Patent Office, the Land
Office, the Smithsonian Institution and
the government surveys. The unequalled
collection of public documents IN the
city library of Boston and the collections
of political pamphlets in the Congress
sional library were also carefully exam
med with several collections Of depart
ment publications. made by veteran
clerks and by editors OF different govern
ment publications. Many books, editions
of which have been purchased by Con-
gress or by the departments, were also
noted. The result is collection OF up
ward of 10000 titles, chronologically ar
ranged.
Each one gives: One, the title of the
book or document; two, the authors name;
three, the date; four, where it is to be
found, giving the volume if it is bound up
with other matter; five, the number of its
PAGES, and, six, a brief abstract of its
contents. This abstract will show the
student whether he desires to see the en-
tire document. If he does, he is told
where it is and what its size is. The
number of pages in all books published
by or purchased by the government is
given, and there are tables of contents of
the Smithsonian and other scientific pub
locations, giving the title of each paper,
with the name of the author.
To seek for any particular dOcum ent in
this chronolOgically arranged catalogue
would require some time. but the labor of
search is dispensed with by an analytical
alphabetical index, giving the names and
subjects, with cross references. This
will enable the publicist to see at glance
what has been published by or purchased
by the government on any prominent
topic, and he can then consult the titles
referred to. The work is thus an avail
able thesauras of information on the prac-
teal working of the Federal government.
The "Descriptiye Catalogue of Govern
ment Publications. will make a volume
of about 1,400 quartO pages Of compact,
small type, about the size and shape of
Worcester or Webster QuartO dictionary.
An edition of 6,G00 copies have been
ordered, of which each Senator will re-
ceive twenty copies and each Representa-
tive ten copies for distribution. Copies
are to be supplied to the executive de-
partments, to the public Libraries of the
country. to the foreign legations of the
United States and to the library of Con-
gress for foreign exchanges. Five hun
dred copies are also to be printed and sold
at 10 per cent. advance Of the cost price
to any person applying to the Public
Printer for the same.