Growth of interest in the periodical literature of the past has emphasized increasingly the need for specialized hand lists, a need which the American Union List of Serials, the British Union Catalogue of the Periodical Publications in the University Libraries of the British Isles, and other existing indexes cannot answer. To satisfy one area of this need, William S. Ward has compiled a near-definitive index and finding list of periodicals and newspapers of the English Romantic period. In it are reflected the holdings of almost eleven hundred American, Canadian, and British libraries and newspaper offices. The volume is also the first to list titles and library locations of all the newspapers, magazines, and other serials published in the British Isles during the years between the French Revolution and the Great Reform Bill.

This set, comprising out-of-print titles from The Library Association Series of Library Manuals and The Practical Library Handbooks, is a key guide to the early modernisation of librarianship. Systems set up then are still in use today, giving the books practical use today, as well as providing a valuable historical analysis of the discipline.

This book, first published in 1937, examines the principles and practicalities of inter-library loans of books – making available to readers elsewhere otherwise idle books. Initially done on an ad-hoc basis, modern ideas and developments have led to a modern generation of librarians whose first aim is to see that their readers get the books they need.

English Historical Documents is the most ambitious, impressive and comprehensive collection of documents on English history ever published. An authoritative work of primary evidence, each volume presents material with exemplary scholarly accuracy. Editorial comment is directed towards making sources intelligible rather than drawing conclusions from them. Full account has been taken of modern textual criticism. A general introduction to each volume portrays the character of the period under review and critical bibliographies have been added to assist further investigation. Documents collected include treaties, personal letters, statutes, military dispatches, diaries, declarations, newspaper articles, government and cabinet proceedings, orders, acts, sermons, pamphlets, agricultural instructions, charters, grants, guild regulations and voting records. Volumes are furnished with lavish extra apparatus including genealogical tables, lists of officials, chronologies, diagrams, graphs and maps.

These essays are produced in honour of the seventieth birthday of Dr J. H. Pafford, Goldsmith's Librarian of the University of London from 1945 to 1967, and reflect his interests in librarianship, textual editing and local history.