Statesman's Yearbook Online (Archive)

摘要

The Statesman's Year-Book (as it then was) began publication in 1864 with immaculate credentials, being the brain child of the writer Thomas Carlyle with help in its conception by William Ewart Gladstone - whose bicentenary has just taken place. Its format, as per the words of its first editor, Frederick Martin, in the preface to the 1864 edition was to "contain a full account of all the states of Europe, and the principle states of Asia, America, and Australasia, considered under their political, social, and commercial aspects". With the aim "to insure [sic] an absolute correctness of the multiplicity of facts and figures ... for this purpose, none but official documents have been consulted in the first instance, and only where these failed, or were manifestly imperfect, recourse has been had to authoritative books ... [etc.]". Maybe that explains why the yearbook is still a valuable source of authoritative information on global affairs throughout the world and from a librarian's point of view a useful reference resource with information easily accessible rather than having to plough through official statistics.