
          Early Hort. Lit

- 10 -

that it will be many years before we can know how much of the old literature has escaped
destruction. For instance, some of the libraries in which Güntz, found the examples of
rarities described in his "Handbuch der Landwirtschaftlichen Litteratur" have probably
been annihilated.  But some of the great collections are intact; notably that of the Agricultural 
High School of Copenhagen (K. Veterinaer- og Landbohjskole), which possesses
a great many of the books for which we have imperfect entries.  Some of the big Swiss libraries
also, have collections that supplement those of America and Britain on German and
other non-English works. The Vienna (formerly "Imperial”) Library still exists, and contains
some treasures in our field. It may be impossible for many of the European libraries
to actively cooperate on a bibliography in the near future, but most of them would
cordially put all their facilities at the disposal of an American bibliographer who set
out to investigate and coordinate their resources. Completeness is in any case a relative
matter, but with so much material already completed for a comprehensive bibliography,
it would be worth while to try to finish the job, and put the remainder of the material,
which undoubtedly comprises some of the rarest works, into the best possible bibliographical
form, as well as to cover as well as possible the existing literature.

RECAPITULATION

Any project for publication of parts of this material involves: (1) definition of
the scope of the work; (2) drastic cutting and elimination of superfluous material; (3)
expert editing of bibliographical details; (4) careful discrimination between authentic
and unreliable entries; (5) checking every item with specified authorities for verification
of data; (6) further cataloging of works located in libraries but not heretofore
critically examined; and (7) ideally, cooperation from other libraries in verifying enteries
and adding works that may have been overlooked.

Marjorie F. Warner
Hendersonville, N. C.
September 3, 1945
        