This volume is a classified, annotated bibliography of nearly 800 “reference tools for [aiding] investigation in Spanish and Spanish-American literature”—not for the entire Hispanic field, as its title would seem to indicate. It excludes publications dealing with “Luso-Brazilian, Galician, Catalan, and Spanish-American Indian literature.” The work consists of four parts: General Bibliography, Including General Romance; Bibliographies of Spanish Literature; Bibliographies of Spanish-American Literature; and Spanish-American National Bibliographies. Subdivisions within the groups include the following (where needed): general publications, period bibliographies, guides to libraries and collections, guides to periodicals and periodical literature, and guides to theses and dissertations. In Part IV the number of entries under individual countries (including Puerto Rico) ranges from one (Paraguay and El Salvador) to 71 for Mexico; no entries for Nicaragua. Title notwithstanding, there are some entries for general (i.e., non- bibliographical) reference works.
Annotations vary in length from one or two lines to a paragraph; they are for the most part descriptive. Many entries fail to cite latest edition or supplements, even though published several years before the Manual. The pattern of cross refences is irregular; some continuations are not linked to works covering previous or later periods. Form of entry usually follows Library of Congress, but there are some inconsistencies in information (e.g, number of volumes in large sets is sometimes given, often not) and some errors in imprint (department or province in lieu of city of publication). An index of authors, co-authors, titles, corporate bodies appears at the end. Though a useful work in spite of its many shortcomings, this Manual cannot be considered as reliable a source of bibliographic information as should appear under the imprint of a university press.
