Typical questions

Considerations

Finding the source of quotations is a frequent task for library staff. There are numerous compilations of quotations. It is a subject beloved of crossword and quiz compilers. Writers and after-dinner speakers are also regular enquirers. Bear in mind that there is sometimes genuine uncertainty about the first recorded use of a ‘quote’ and it is worth checking more than one source if there is time.

Collections of quotations are arranged in many ways, by subject, by first word, and by the person quoted. Although most books have indexes for the approach not chosen in the main sequence, it is useful to know which books in your stock are best for which purpose. There are numerous books on quotations; often you will have to look through all of them on the library shelves in search of the elusive quote. This is one of those categories of enquiries, especially for the phone enquirer doing a crossword, where one has to put a time limit on how long to spend searching. Perhaps a check in three sources is enough for the quiz addict.

There are also books of quotations on particular subjects. These are generally located with other books on that subject, for example, medical quotes, biblical quotes.

Where to look

Quotations

Andrews, R., Biggs, M. and Seidel, M. (1996) The Columbia world of quotations, Columbia University Press

65,000 quotations from 5000 authors with 6500 subject categories. The 1996 print edition of The Columbia world of quotations is available online at www.bartleby.com/66

Bartleby www.bartleby.com/100

A website based on the 1919 edition of Bartlett's Familiar quotations. It has some 11,000 quotations.

Bartlett, J. (1993) Familiar quotations, 16th edn, Little, Brown and Co.

Cohen, J. M. and Cohen, M. J. (1998) The new dictionary of quotations, Penguin

Farkas, A. (2002) The Oxford dictionary of catchphrases, Oxford University Press

Jeffares, A. N. and Gray, M. (1995) Dictionary of quotations, HarperCollins

Kemp, P. (2002) The Oxford dictionary of literary quotations, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press

Knowles, E. (2000) The Oxford dictionary of quotations, 5th edn, Oxford University Press

20,000 quotes from 2500 people.