In his short “Preface” to James L. Contursi's work, Umberto Eco generously pays tribute to the labours of his bibliographer. Eco points out that as “difficult” as it is “to imagine” an author may well “not remember having written such‐and‐such a book.” Moreover, a book may have been attributed to him that he did not write. His works without his knowledge may have been translated, or a pirated edition printed or royalties on publications not sent to him. This happens often in the case of inclusion in anthologies. This is why the work of a bibliographer is important. Eco adds, “that authors, even if they record all the editions of their books, very seldom take into account other bibliographic essentials … copyright details, colophon, height, pagination and collation.” In addition to the “presence of plates, illustrations, diagrams, tables, indices, binding description, presence of dustjackets, ISBN or ISSN number, price and so on” [8, 10].
As Contursi indicates in his “Introduction”, partial Eco bibliographies have appeared on the internet, but are incomplete. The two chief objects of his work are “to list the entire body of Umberto Eco's non‐periodical, published work.” Secondly, “to provide the user with those bibliographic details, deemed necessary, to identify first and important editions of Eco's primary works.” In spite of being given access to Eco's own library and papers, Contursi admits that he has been unable physically, “to examine all of the entries in the B through E sections” of his bibliography. He has had to rely heavily “on national library databases, publishers' websites, booksellers' catalogues and other sources”[13, 14].
The bibliography has eight sections. The first, “A” is divided into two sections: “Books and pamphlets,” in English or Italian” ([17]‐45); “Major Contributions to Books and Pamphlets in English or Italian” (pp. 45‐57)–‐a signal problem here and throughout Contursi's book is that the word “major” is not explained; although in his “Introduction” Contursi writes after “Italian. Works, whether co‐authored by Umberto Eco, or where he supplied the entire text, but the text was not the raison d'être of the book, such as an artist's catalogue” [13]. However, a major reason for buying the catalogue may well be interest in Eco and not the subject, the artist.
The second section “B” covers “Books and Pamphlets Edited and/or Translated by Umberto Eco English or Italian” (pp. 59‐67). Section “C” encompasses “Minor (whatever that means!) to books and pamphlets, in English or Italian. Contributions include, but are not limited to appreciations, epilogues, essays, introductions, letters, prefaces, prologues, stories, etc.” (pp. 69‐141). Section D records “Interviews and Conversations, in English or Italian” (pp. 143‐46). Section E “Books, Pamphlets and contributions, either translated or original, in languages other than English or Italian.” This is alphabetically arranged by language rather than date of publication, beginning with Albanian and concluding with Vietnamese (pp. 147‐284). A lettering and numbering system – one, I cannot locate an explanation for – operates for this lengthy section. Consequently, the first Albanian item is EAL01 (published in 1996) and the second is EAL02 (published in 2003). “E” refers to the section, “AL” one assumes to Albanian (p. 147)! Similarly, the final item, Vietnamese is EVN1, presumably “E” to the section, “VN,” Vietnamese and 1” but not “01” to the sole item recorded (p. 201).
Section F (pp. 285‐92) is concerned with “Selected books and pamphlets related to Umberto Eco/or his work, in English or Italian.” So it is essentially secondary bibliography, writings about. The notes to each item are the most replete in Contursi's bibliography. The listing is short, only 39 items and no selective principles are given. The final section G (pp. 293‐5) is short too, with only 18 items on “Ephemera and Miscellanea, English or Italian.” Included are sound cassettes and video cassettes of Eco's most well‐known work, The Name of the Rose. The location of the American draft of Howard Franklin's screenplay is also listed (G004). Contursi's work concludes with an extensive “Short‐titled and Name Index” (pp. 297‐53).
The review paper cover copy lacks section running heads. Description is often minimum, wrappers are rarely described and the number of copies produced in the all‐important first five sections is largely absent. In short, Contursi's listing is partially annotated and certainly not descriptive. The user learns from the “Index” that two Woody Allen items are included (C102, D010: 298). The first is an introduction by Eco to the 7th edition of Allen's Getting Even in an Italian translation (pp. 89‐90). The second seems to have material on Woody Allen, but this is unclear (p. 145). Contursi provides the beginnings for a full‐scale authoritative descriptive bibliography of an important modern writer. James L. Contursi is the person to undertake such a Herculean but necessary task. So Umberto Eco: An Annotated Bibliography of First and Important Editions is recommended with reservation for libraries collecting works on modern European writers.
