The World Bibliographical Series volume on Paris compiled by Frances Chambers is a selective guide to 430 works. Even though it concentrates on English language books and journal articles, the bibliography does rightly offer a selection of important French language titles.
It is organised into 22 sections on diverse subjects such as literature, geography, flora and fauna, population, language, the arts, mass media and history in the familiar WBS format.
The tome presents a solid coverage of North American university publications. Among them are Steven Kaplan’s important studies on bread, granaries, bakers and millers in the eighteenth century; Nicholas Papayanis on the nineteenth century horse‐drawn cab and omnibus transport system; and Jill Harsin on the policing of prostitution during the nineteenth century.
The majority of books included have been published in the last 20 years. However, there are publications from earlier in the century where they are felt to be of lasting significance. A useful, succinct description has been written for each book cited, along with bibliographic details of the work. Separate author, title and subject indices are provided.
Although WBS Paris does offer a core of essential titles, the book is only of importance for general bibliographic orientation or reference. It lacks the necessary depth as an aid for anyone starting to pursue a detailed study. Far better to use the bibliographies of experts in the particular field, for example, Robert Tombs (1981) The War against Paris, 1871, or Le Quillec (1997) La Commune de Paris: Bibliographie Critique 1871‐1997, if one was beginning to look in detail at the Paris Commune.
However, as the bibliography is a general reference tool, the balance is upset by including a number of academic titles about more obscure, specialist topics such as Berlanstein’s study of the nineteenth century Parisian gas company and Kete on nineteenth‐century pet keeping. Although these are excellent academic works, they have too narrow a focus for a selective general bibliography. A bibliography concentrating on a field such as history might include these specialist works; a general cross‐subject bibliography in the WBS series should not, particularly when it offers very thin chapters on other subjects. If books on the nineteenth‐century gas industry and pet keeping are incorporated, chapters containing three studies on language, five on politics and administration, or five on museums cannot be justified.
Furthermore, having chosen to cite key French language works, one cannot afford to ignore titles such as Bernard‐Folliot (1978) Guide des Musées de Paris, La Commune de Paris, Le Quillec (1997) Bibliographie Critique 1871‐1997, or most of the volumes in the Nouvelle histoire de Paris series.
WBS Paris contains details of many important studies on Paris and offers well‐written, astute abstracts. Unfortunately, the balance of the coverage is slightly disappointing.
