3 Review(s)

First published on an extremely limited scale in the 1930s, Dr. Jacob ter Meulen's pathbreaking bibliography of four centuries of peace literature remains unsurpassed for the period it explores. The work was originally completed by Dr. ter Meulen, the librarian of the Peace Palace in the Hague, under the auspices of the International Committee of Historical Sciences with the financial support of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The bibliography lists close to 4,000 titles in chronological order, from the beginning of printing until the end of the nineteenth century and is accompanied by comprehensive author indexes. In his valuable introductory essay, editor Dr. Peter van den Dungen traces the origins and progress of ter Meulen's ambitious and still-unrivaled project, provides a detailed discussion of the bibliography's significance for students of peace and internationalism, and analyzes the growth of the peace literature in a variety of languages during the period covered--1480 to 1898. The bibliography itself is divided into two sections that look at the peace literature from 1480 to 1776 and then from 1776 to 1898. Each part is followed by its own author index. A separate foreword by Arthur Eyffinger provides biographical information on ter Meulen and outlines the history and scope of the Peace Palace Library, ter Meulen's nearly three-decade librarianship, and the project itself. As the primary bibliography for the historical peace literature, this volume should be part of the reference collections of larger university and public libraries and of every college and university with a Peace Studies course. Independent peace organizations both academic and activist, here and abroad, as well as historians will find this reference invaluable to their work.