vii
of the late Charles Evans; from the comprehensive bibliography in the
second volume of Ralph Leslie Rusk's Literature pf the Middle Western
p _Frontier; from the invaluable imprint catalogue of the New York Public
Library; from a large collection of book dealers' and book auction cat-
alogues; and fron various other sources. An important feature of this
preparatory work was the examination of files of contemporary Kentucky
newspapers for titles of publications advertised in their columns as
for sale at the local printing offices.
. Towards the end of l950, preparations were made for the publica-
tion of the list. But in a final effort to locate and obtain descrip-
tions of a considerable number of titles known only from advertisements
or from their occurrence in bibliographies or catalogues, the help of
the Filson Club, of Louisville, Kentucky, was enlisted for the publica-
tion of a list of unlocated early Kentucky imprints in the Filson Qlub
History Quarterly of January, 1931. Directly or indirectly through the
publication of this list, much valuable information was received, either
in the actual descriptions of titles that were imperfectly recorded, or
in suggestions as to where copies of them might be found. Following up
these clues meant more correspondence, but it resulted in a notable im-
provement of the list before it was finally decided to commit the mater-
ial to type.
Something more than half of a total list of about l,2OO titles had
been set in type in 1951, when circumstances such as interfered with
many another enterprise in those days made it necessary to suspend the
V work. The material seemed to have toc great a potential value, however,
to be allowed to lie wholly unused and unknown. Selections from the
list, therefore, have been published from time to time. A check list of