Bibliography of Bibliographies of the Languages of the World: General and Indo-European languages of Europe

Book excerpt: This is Volume I of a monumental two-volume work, a historical record and guide to bibliographic efforts on all the languages of the world, which is designed to serve the professional as well as non-professional reader as a first point of entry for information about any language. By consulting the Bibliography, the reader will quickly be able to identify specific bibliographic sources for particular topics of interest, and thus rapidly begin to narrow the search for information. Although bibliographies of bibliographies have appeared for a few language families, this set provides for the first time a comprehensive compilation of bibliographies for all of the languages or language families of the world, from the earliest period through 1985. Volume I, with nearly 2500 entries in 400 pages, covers the Indo-European languages of Europe, plus Etruscan and Basque, as well as general and multi-language references, including sections on dictionaries, dissertations, and specialized topics. Volume II, with approximately the same number of entries, will cover all other languages. In the Bibliography, most entries are annotated to indicate the number of items in each bibliography and how they are arranged; some information on the scope and coverage of the work (where not obvious from the title); whether items are annotated; and what indexes are included. The Bibliography will long stand as an indispensable reference tool, and should be in every library serving readers interested in any aspect of language.