Editorial

摘要

When I first began using major reference libraries for research 20 or more years ago it was always reassuring to find familiar reference works on the shelf. Where it was necessary to venture into the literature section, which was always with some trepidation as this is not the editor's natural habitat, two major sets frequently acted as pilot beacons. One would be the subdued blue spines of the massed volumes of Dictionary of Literary Biography and the other the far more visually striking spines of Contemporary Authors with their bold blue, pale orange, red and black covering. Familiar reference series become such good friends that they can easily be taken for granted. This has been the case with Contemporary Authors and Reference Reviews. In 22 years of publication we have not once reviewed either a single volume or the entire series. When I became aware earlier this year that the series had reached the milestone of its 250th volume, I decided that we should both redress our previous neglect and commemorate a momentous achievement by offering a review which Stuart James has skilfully provided in these columns (RR 2008/304).