Six Editions of The Modern Researcher, 1957-2003: Oliver B. Pollak

4/29/12 1231
Six Editions of The Modern Researcher, 1957-2003
Oliver B. Pollak 2012

Department of History
Guidance for assigning books to students comes from personal reading

experience, recommendations of colleagues, publishers blandishments,
and R.R. Bowkers multivolume Books in Print.
I read The Modern Researcher (1957) by Jacques Barzun and Henry F.

Graff in 1964. MR introduced me to the fundamentals of historical re-
search, fact checking, and scholarship. Barzun, born in France in
1907, taught at Columbia for decades. He lives in San Antonio, his
wifes hometown. Barzuns presence in the library is huge. UNO has 56
catalogue entries including the MR 1992 and 2004, UNL, 95, and all MR
editions except the most recent. Graff was born in 1921. Students in
my Historical Research class read MR until the 6th edition appeared in
2004. It lost its charm; there were fresher choices available.
Some books you keep even when "superseded" by new editions. The Modern
Researcher had the hallmarks of a "keeper," my six editions occupy 7
inches of shelf space. Other keepers include 16 editions of Chicago
Manual of Style, seven editions of Kate L. Turabians A Manual for
Writers, and five editions of Strunk and White, The Elements of Style,
including Maira Kalmans illustrated 2005 version.1 They map changes in
the writing craft.
Authors and editors conspire to profit by publishing new editions to

eliminate resale thus consigning old editions to the shredder and
landfill. Resale does not generate author royalties or publisher prof-
its. Justifying the production of new editions, appearing on the aver-
age of every 8 years, publishers attempt to freshen the volume, stay-
ing apace with pedagogy, technology, methodology, and timely illustra-
tions. A perceptive student compared five editions and noted that the
more recent were less condescending; he, him and his were joined by
her, she and other gender neutral terms; and Desert Storm replaced Al-
exander the Great.2
Barzun and Graff wrote before the introduction of the ballpoint pen in
the 1940s, they now promote the internet. They transition from writing
on one side of 3x5 note cards to note taking on laptops. I anticipated
new editions with new leadoff cartoons combining current events and
Barzuns French-American heritage, he never disappointed.
The first edition, 16 chapters and 386 pages, appeared in 1957 pub-
lished by Harcourt Brace World. The visual captioned as History as a
1
language of symbols, featured a Le Figaro illustration of Prime Min-
ister Pierre Mendes-France in iconic French chapeaus and typical arm-
in-vest Napoleonesque stance. The Index included Typing and Lionel
Trilling with whom Barzun taught Columbias Great Books course.
JSTOR produced two scholarly reviews within one second, so much faster
than a search in 1957. Stanley Pargellis welcomed assistance because
Every teacher knows that it often takes hours to show a student how
to rewrite a single paragraph.3 Carl Wittke approved MRs disdain for
talkative sociology and jargon.4
The 1970 Revised edition expanded to 430 pages. The featured 1963 Lon-
don Evening Standard Vicky cartoon continued its Francophile theme.
Ah, mon ami, the English just dont fit HISTORICALLY into this new
Europe of ours De Gaulle vetoed Britains application to enter the
European Economic Community three times, 1958, 1963, and 1966-67.The
Index contained the word computer. A reviewer mistakenly opined,
this new edition should replace the first (1957) on library shelves.5
The third edition appeared in 1977. The cartoon feature Cannavas,

Sir, I think weve met our Watergate. What was common knowledge in
1977 may need to be explained in 2012, Watergate alludes to Waterloo.
The reviewer notes this edition contained a new section on lectur-
ing.6 The 1985 4th edition Burr Shafer cartoon, published no later
than 1950, focused on greed. Dont anybody leave - wheres that gold
spike?7 The authors expressed their liking of the Shafers Saturday
Review cartoon series, History Never Told in Time, in their 1970 Re-
vised Edition. their The Index eliminated typing, and the volume
achieved its greatest length, 450 pages.
The fifth edition in 1992 contained a Cabalero cartoon of Prime Minis-

ter Margaret Thatcher with a French hat. They introduced modes of
presentation which included speaking in class. Asterisks replaced
numbered footnotes. The Index contained laptop computer and word pro-
cessor. The reviewer noted, now the uses of the computer are cov-
ered, though computer actually had first appeared in the 1970 2nd
edition.8
In 2004 Thomson Wadsworth economized the 6th edition by reducing it to

322 pages, though the best test is word count which avoids fussing
with margins and font size. The cover announced completely updated
for the Internet age. This textbook imitated Hollywood movies giving
credits to 17 production editors, at least nine of whom were women.
The Trojan Horse cartoon in 2004, an ageless icon, came from the Octo-
ber 1989 New Yorker. Barzun and Graff insisted that research starts
with the library. The Index added internet and dropped word processor.
Over the 47 year period chapters were eliminated and added, captions
and emphasis changed. MR had six publishers, Harcourt Brace World,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Houghton Mifflin, Harbinger, Thomson
Wadsworth, and Cengage Learning. The 1957 hardback cost $6.00, the
2
1962 paperback, $1.95. The 2004 edition costs $103.95, but 279 copies,
of which 28 are former library copies, are available from online re-
tailers starting $17.99. Signed copies run $100.9
Abebooks.com has over 3,000 titles including the signed typed letter
in this exhibit regarding shirt collars. Better World Books, in
Mishawaka, Indiana, a beneficiary of library deaccessioning with a
stock of 8 million volumes, had 105 Barzun authored books, almost all
for less than six dollars, I acquired Visual Outline of English Histo-
ry (1933) for $3.97, shipping included.
Barzun who has been publishing since 1927, in 2000 at the age of 93,
published an 814 page opus, From Dawn of Decadence. Luminary scholars
are role models keeping pace with changes in the profession. The proc-
lamation on the MR cover, classic manual and classic work on re-
search and writing is warranted. We can only speculate if a cocked
hat will appear in the 7th edition commenting on Francois Hollands de-
feating President Nicola Sarkozy on May 6, 2012.
1
See Oliver B. Pollak, The Decline and Fall of Bottom Notes, loc. cit., op. cit. and a Century of the Chicago Manual of Style,
Journal of Scholarly Publishing 38 (November 2006):14-30; The Technology of Writing Photo Essay eNotes, 2009; and
The Elements of Style, The NCB News 10:1 (Spring 2000); 9. The author believes he saw Barzun walking with historian
Richard Hofstadter at Columbia University in 1963.
2
Robert Stroh, student Historical Research paper, 1994.
3
Stanley Pargellis, review of The Modern Researcher, by Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff, The Mississippi Valley Historical
Review 44, no 4 (March 1958): 765, JSTOR.
4
Carl Wittke, An Interestingly Written Manual, The Journal of Higher Education 29, no. 1 (Jan 1958) :52. JSTOR.
5
Unsigned review of M,R Library Journal, 95 ( July 1970): 2447.
6
Unsigned review of MR, Library Journal, 101 (December 15, 1976): 2560.
7
Burr Shafer, Through History with J. Wesley Smith (New York: Vanguard Press, 1950), np.
8
Unsigned review of MR, College & Research Libraries, 54 ( March 1993): 162.
9
The 5th edition 1985 hard cover with dust jacket inscribed, "For Marge and Tom, the full, if not the holy truth. With love from
Hank (the ancient researcher)." Inside is a short typed letter signed Hank on "Henry F. Graff" stationary relates talking with
Lyndon Johnson at the White House about the Vietnam War, the subject of an earlier book.

Six Editions of The Modern Researcher, 1957-2003: Oliver B. Pollak

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Six Editions of The Modern Researcher, 1957-2003: Oliver B. Pollak

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Six Editions of The Modern Researcher, 1957-2003: Oliver B. Pollak

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

4/29/12 1231

Six Editions of The Modern Researcher, 1957-2003

Oliver B. Pollak 2012

Guidance for assigning books to students comes from personal reading

I read The Modern Researcher (1957) by Jacques Barzun and Henry F.

Authors and editors conspire to profit by publishing new editions to

The third edition appeared in 1977. The cartoon feature Cannavas,

The fifth edition in 1992 contained a Cabalero cartoon of Prime Minis-

In 2004 Thomson Wadsworth economized the 6th edition by reducing it to

You might also like