Welsh Journals

There is no better way to describe the purpose of Indexing for Editors, by R. F. Hunnisett (British Records Association: Archives and the User, No. 2; pp. 145, 1972, £ 1.50), than to quote its author. The book is intended 'to discuss the principles on which indexes to record publications should be compiled, to suggest solutions to the practical difficulties which con- front all indexers, and to recommend rules and practices which it is hoped will be generally approved and adopted for future publications' (p. 8). Mr. Hunnisett tackes all three exhaustively and authoritatively: chapters III-VI discuss the contents of indexes (places, persons and subjects), and six further chapters deal with the technical rules the indexer is encouraged to adopt (e.g., of order, cross referencing, punctuation and lay-out). If the inexperienced indexer who reads this book is likely to find it rather bewildering, he is nevertheless assured of finding solutions to the problems that arise in the process of indexing. He should, however, remember that Mr. Hunnisett is concerned primarily with record publications (though many of his rules and recommendations have wider application), English records (though p. 71 has some useful hints on indexing Welsh personal names), and mediaeval documents (though after they have been mastered later ones present much less trouble). He should also remind himself that common sense and clarity, with generous doses of consistency and economy, are the fundamental qualities of a good indexer; and these are best acquired by the author compiling his own index. William Gilpin, Observations on the River Wye (Richmond Publishing Company, 1973. Pp. xi, 99. n.p.) is a welcome new edition, edited by Sutherland Lyall and with a new introduction by the editor, of a classic tour of the Wye first published in 1782. It shows vividly how Welsh mountain scenery helped to turn landscape painters towards a rediscovery of Claude and helped to stimulate the emergence of the Picturesque. Gilpin's tour is a minor landmark in the dawn of early Romanticism. Bulletin No. 6 of the enterprising Caernarvonshire Record Office (1973) is another superbly-illustrated review of the year's accessions. Among the themes discussed are arson by Caernarvonshire suffragettes, the 'Labour day' of the North Wales Quarrymen's Union in 1896, and Lloyd George's attitude to the Roman Catholic school at Caernarvon. This last has an excellent note appended by Mr. H. G. Williams. The previous Bulletin was noticed, ante, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 230-31. Alun Eirug Davies, Traethodau Cymraeg a Chymreig, 1887-1971: Welsh Language and Welsh Dissertations (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1973. Pp. 205. £ 1.50) lists theses accepted for higher degrees by English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, American, German and Austrian universities since