<b>Michael J. Aloi, Marjorie Fusco, and Susan E. Ketcham.</b> <i>Digital Collections Worldwide: An Annotated Directory</i>. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2011. 345p. alk. paper, $250 (ISBN 9781555707019). LC2011-000445.

centuries since their original manufacture and offer librarians and curators an interesting look at historical market conditions and collecting practices. In the section covering the book trade, Lotte Hellinga draws upon surviving records describing four fifteenth-century Burgundian book auctions to shed light on the processes and conditions underlying early organized book sales. Hellinga's essay points out the importance of records like these as sources for specific data on historical book prices, the respective desirability and popularity of certain works, the names of specific buyers, and contemporary reading habits and tastes. Moving forward 400 years, David McKitterick's account of the bankruptcy of Sotheby's in 1836 reveals the precarious nature of the book trade by showing how broader national and international economic trends, unreliable buyers, overambitious commercial activity, the solicitation of patronage, and the constantly shifting expectations and interests of monied collectors directly impact the sale and distribution of books and manuscripts. And Sam Fogg's article describing his own (successful) attempt to acquire and then resell an important thirteenth century illuminated Psalter paints a vivid picture of the fascinating, complex, mysterious, and sometimes ethically uncomfortable world of the modern high-stakes manuscript trade. Each of these articles addresses a range of issues that librarians should consider in their own collection development work, including their professional obligation to preserve acquisition records to provide primary testimony in the future to contemporary institutional collecting practices, as well as the necessity of recognizing the complex economic, social, and personal dynamics that influence the demand for and supply and distribution of books on the market. Other articles of particular interest to library professionals appear in the volume's third and final section on manuscript collectors and collecting from the medieval period to the present. Nigel Morgan examines a little-explored aspect of information provision in the Middle Ages by analyzing how the placement and distribution of chained books within medieval English cathedrals and churches illustrates the ways liturgical books were actually used in their original ecclesiastical settings. Roland Felter's identification and listing of all 143 dealer and auction catalogues issued over a period of 120 years describing Sir Thomas Phillipps' massive collection of more than 110,000 manuscripts for the first time provides a " union catalogue " of sorts that scholars and librarians can use to track down information about Phillipps' now widely dispersed manuscript holdings. Stella Panayotova's account of Sydney Cock-erell's patient and meticulous work with donors during his …