You Could Look It Up (58 page)

Rule of etiquette the first—which hundreds of others merely paraphrase or explain or elaborate—is:

Never do anything that is unpleasant to others.
23

“Post’s guiding precept,” wrote one commentator, “was that good manners began with consideration for the feelings of others and included good form in speech, knowledge of proper social amenities, and charm of manner. She believed that there was a right or best way to do almost everything and that that was the way that pleased the greatest number of people and offended the fewest.”
24

Post’s
Etiquette
—she called it her “little blue book,” a charming phrase for a work of 627 pages—was a great success. Sales were slow at first but picked up as 1922 passed. Through the autumn of that year she found herself nearly at the top of the
Publishers Weekly
chart, bouncing around between fifth and second place. Finally, in March 1923, she claimed the number one spot.
Etiquette
was America’s bestselling nonfiction book in 1923, and it remained in the top ten throughout 1924—and on the list for more than a decade. Post became a superstar. She was besieged by requests for endorsements: makers of glassware, silver, linens, even ginger ale (“a refreshing drink to serve at parties!”) were eager to get Post to promote their wares.

The popularity of
Etiquette
unleashed a large number of questions—in one year alone, she received twenty-six thousand queries—and she did what she could to answer them. Most came from women, but Post estimated that around one letter in ten came from a man—mostly young men. When she realized her answers might be of interest to more than the original writers, she published them in a column syndicated in more than 150 newspapers across the United States. In answering all these unexpected queries, she began developing material for a new edition. Five years after the first edition, a second appeared in 1927, now with a
subtitle:
The Blue Book of Social Usage
. Further editions followed in 1931 and 1934, while she was hosting a radio program on etiquette. In 1946 she opened the Emily Post Institute “to study problems of gracious living.”

The reference books that promote the good life are a comparatively neglected genre. They deserve more attention. Books such as Joshua Poole’s dictionary for poets,
The English Parnassus; or, A Helpe to English Poesie
(1657), with its list of rhymes and its “excellent choice and variety of apposite
Epithets
,”
25
and Nicolas Slonimsky’s
Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns
(1947), a radical synthesis of music theory that inspired classical musicians as well as John Coltrane and Frank Zappa, played a role in shaping artistic sensibilities. Ludwig von Köchel’s
Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts
(1862) is still the authoritative catalogue of all of Mozart’s compositions, and the source of the
K
that appears before the numbers of all his works. And the great works on food and drink, from Prosper Montagné’s
Larousse gastronomique
(1938) through Jancis Robinson’s
Oxford Companion to Wine
(1994), are more examples of the reference genre being deployed to make life a little sweeter. These and the works of Grove and Post are instances of a thriving genre that has too often been neglected by those who study reference books.

CHAPTER
22 ½

SOME UNLIKELY REFERENCE BOOKS

Bibliophile Ilan Stavans reports on his own explorations in the card catalog: “Browse the catalogue web page of the Library of Congress and allow yourself to be flabbergasted.”
1

I have in fact browsed that catalog, along with the catalogs of the world's other great libraries, and can confirm Stavans's report. The following are some of the less likely published works of reference. All are real books, and all required someone's interest in the subject, an author's willingness to devote months or years to the project, and a publisher's calculation that a substantial number of people or libraries would be willing to buy the book:

American Rabbit Breeders Association.
Standard of Perfection for Rabbits, Cavies, Mice, Rats, Skin and Fur Bearing Animals
. Cleveland: American Rabbit Breeders Association, 1920.

Baltimore Bottle Book: Being an Annotated List of 170 Years of the Collector Bottles of Baltimore City and Baltimore County, 1820–1990
. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Baltimore Antique Bottle Club, 2002.

Baron, Frank R.
Commercial Fish Decoys
:
Identification & Value Guide: Collectible Decoys and Implements Used in the Sport of Ice Spear Fishing
. Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 2002.

Behang encyclopedie
. Rijen: Behangselpapier Industrie N.V., 1970. After more than forty years, still the definitive Dutch-language encyclopedia of wallpaper.

Brams, Koen.
Encyclopedie van fictieve kunstenaars: van 1605 tot heden
. Amsterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2000. Available in translation into both German (
Erfundene Kunst: Eine Enzyklopädie fiktiver
Künstler von 1605 bis heute
) and English (
The Encyclopedia of Fictional Artists
).

Bricquet, Charles-Moïse.
Papiers et filigranes des archives de Genes 1154 à 1700
. Geneve: H. Georg, 1888. The authoritative guide to watermarks on Genevese paper.

Browne, Phillis.
The Dictionary of Dainty Breakfasts
. London: Cassell, 1899. Breakfast food from
anchovies
to
whiting
in 131 pages.

Bull, Donald.
A Price Guide to Beer Advertising Openers and Corkscrews
. Trumbull, CT: D. Bull, 1981.

Cassin, Barbara.
Dictionary of Untranslatables
:
A Philosophical Lexicon
. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. A glossary of philosophical terms that cannot be translated. The whole book is, of course, a translation of
Vocabulaire européen des philosophies: Dictionnaire des intraduisibles
.

Charny, Israel W.
Encyclopedia of Genocide
, 2 vols. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999.

Dan'shina, Mariia Stepanovna.
Protozoogeneticheskii slovar'
. Kishinev: Shtiintsa, 1990. The best protozoogenetical dictionary in the Moldovan language.

Davidson, Gustav.
A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels
. New York: Free Press, 1967.

De Morgan, Augustus.
Encyclopedia of Eccentrics
. La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1974. Originally published in 1915 as
A Budget of Paradoxes
.

Erardi, Glenn, and Pauline C. Peck.
Mustache Cups: Timeless Victorian Treasures
:
With Price Guide
. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999.

Frasier, David K.
Show Business Homicides
:
An Encyclopedia, 1908–2009
. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. The sequel to Frasier's
Suicide in the Entertainment Industry: An Encyclopedia of 840 Twentieth Century Cases
(2002).

Galoyan, Sergey A. Harut'yunyan, and T. Khach'atryan, eds.
Gogheri ashkharhe
:
Teghekatu
. Erevan: “Areresum” Ani, 1997. “World of Thieves,” with a guide to criminals' tattoos and a Russian–Armenian dictionary of terms associated with thieves.

High, Will B. [pseud.].
Weed-o-pe-dia
:
A Totally Dank A–Z Reefer Reference
. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2010. “Offers information and illustrations stoners should know, including: why the subtle
flavour of bubbleberry makes it a rich pothead's drug of choice; how to properly make a bong out of a coconut for maximum highness …”

Hischak, Thomas S.
Disney Voice Actors
:
A Biographical Dictionary
. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. A 282-page guide to the nine hundred actors who provided voices for the Disney animated films from
Steamboat Willie
to
Tangled
.

Lindenberger, Jan.
Collectible Ashtrays
:
Information and Price Guide
. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999. With more than 460 color photos.

Manguel, Alberto, and Gianni Guadalupi.
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
. New York: Macmillan, 1980.

Mas, Carles Constantino, and Josep L. Siquier Virgós.
Petita guia dels bolets de les Balears
. Mallorca: Govern Balear, Conselleria d'Agricultura i Pesca, 1985. A Catalan-language guide to the edible wild mushrooms of the Balearic Islands.

Muroi, Hiroshi.
Takerui goi
. 1968. A 290-page Japanese dictionary of bamboo.

Newton, Michael.
Bad Girls Do It! An Encyclopedia of Female Murderers
. Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited, 1993. Nearly all the reviews feature the word “macabre.”

Newton, Michael, and Judy Ann Newton.
The Ku Klux Klan
:
An Encyclopedia
. New York: Garland, 1991.
Library Journal
says “This highly specialized book will be of interest only to the most ardent students of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Oliphant, Samuel Grant.
Queer Questions and Ready Replies
:
A Collection of Four Hundred Questions in History, Geography, Biography, Mythology, Philosophy, Natural History, Science, Philology, Etc., Etc., with Their Answers
. Boston: New England Publishing Co., 1886. “Considerable time and pains have been given to the selection of the matter herein contained, and to the verification of the same.”

Oppenheimer, Harold L.
Cowboy Arithmetic
:
Cattle as an Investment
. Danville, IL: The Interstate, 1961.

Østrem, Gunnar.
Atlas over breer i Nord-Skandinavia
. Oslo: Norges vassdrags- og elektrisitetsvesen, 1973. A Norwegian atlas of the glaciers of northern Scandinavia.

Parker, James N., and Philip M. Parker.
Rectal Bleeding
:
A Medical Dictionary, Bibliography, and Annotated Research Guide to Internet References
. San Diego: ICON Health Publications, 2004.

Pessemesse, Pierre.
Lou voucabulàri de la massounarié
. Berre l'Etang: CIEL d'Oc, 2014. A comprehensive Provençal-language guide to the vocabulary of masonry.

Phillips, Sir Richard.
A Million of Facts, Connected with the Studies, Pursuits, and Interests of Mankind
:
Serving as a Common-place Book of Useful Reference on All Subjects of Research and Curiosity
. New York, 1839.

Rand Corporation.
A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates
. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1955. Exactly what the title promises: “10097 32533 76520 13586 34673 54876 80959 09117,” and so on, for 625 pages. “One distinguishing feature of the digit table,” the introduction explains, “is its size.”

Redfern, Nicholas.
The Zombie Book
:
The Encyclopedia of the Living Dead
. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2014. “A fascinating, informative collection that anyone interested in the history of zombies will want to read. It's funny, scary, and sometimes shocking”—
Library Journal
.

Sagastizabal, Joxean.
Zorotariko euskal hiztegia
. Irun: Alberdania, 1996. A dictionary of Basque humor.

Serafini, Luigi.
Codex Seraphinianus
, 2 vols. Milan: F. M. Ricci, 1981. An Italian architect produced this large and elaborately illustrated encyclopedia in a language no one else can decode.

Sifakis, Carl.
Encyclopedia of Assassinations
. New York: Facts on File, 2001.

Smith, John C.
The Doorstop Book
:
The Encyclopedia of Doorstop Collecting
. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2006.

Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern.
The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste
. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

Stimpson, George W.
A Book about a Thousand Things
. New York: Harper, 1946.

Stone, Geo.
Suicide and Attempted Suicide
:
Methods and Consequences.
New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. “This is essentially a guide on how to commit suicide”—
Kirkus Reviews
.

Taormino, Tristan.
The Big Book of Sex Toys
:
From Vibrators and Dildos to Swings and Slings
. Beverly, MA: Quiver, 2009.

Tole, Vasil S.
Sprovë për një fjalës të muzikës popullore homofonike të Shqipërisë se Veriut
. Tiranë: Akademia e Shkencave e Shqiperisë, 2010. The most recent biographical dictionary of Albanian folk musicians.

Van Boxsel, Matthijs.
De Encyclopedie van de Domheid
. Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1999. A Dutch and Chinese
Encyclopedia of Stupidity
.