Bingham’s Quotations

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31542, 2 December 1967, Page 4

Bingham’s Quotations

Men and Affairs. A Modern Miscellany. Compiled and Edited by Colin Bingham. Currawong Publishing Company, Sydney. 441 pp. Index.

There are several well known books <rf quotations—- “ Bartlett’s,” the Oxford, Everyman’s, and others. Colin Bingham’s is an addition to a list of useful working tools for writers, speakers, and teachers. It does not replace the ordinary dictionary of quotations, and is not intended to; there is no index of first lines, or an orderly arrangement of pieces from selected writers and speakers. Thus, Mr Bingham’s book will seem strange at first to persons accustomed to using the ordinary dictionary of quotations. But they will quickly find that Mr Bingham offers something much more than will be found in the other books. Though many are brief, some of Mr Bingham’s quotations run to perhaps a page or more—but never beyond their worth.

The theme of Mr Bingham’s collection is, as he gives it in the title, “Men and Affairs," and within a theme of this scope he is able to quote freely from statesmen, his-

torians, politicians, and writers. He makes divisions, such as “The State and Democracy,” “Civilisation and Freedom,” “History and the Great Man.” But Mr Bingham does not allow himself to be tightly tied to his classifications; he will jump boundaries to place a quotation where it will best fit, and be most relevant. The result is to provide a pleasing continuity, which Is strengthened by brief commentaries that Mr Bingham often interpolates among his quotations. Indeed, its unity makes Mr Bingham’s miscellany perhaps less a collection of brief pieces and more a book to be read through. Many will certainly find it most acceptable for browsing. A former editor of the “Sydney Morning Herald,” Mr Bingham is a journalist of long experience and distinguished attainment He is to be envied the reading and the personal contact with events that have enabled him to make this collection, and the judgment he has used is to be respected. Very many people writers, speakers, teachers, scholars—will be helped if they will learn to add a "Bingham” to the reference books they customarily use.