Table d'Hôte and À La Carte.

The methodology of collection development in collections of rare science books was examined historically. The use of various buying aids, particularly "lists" of great science books, was found to be a common, but not the sole, method of selection. Three lists frequently used are described, along with the collectors who compiled and used them and examples of other collectors who used the lists as well as other methods of selection. Selecting table d'hôte, i.e., from such set lists, instead of á la carte, is frowned upon in the rare book world; however this study demonstrates that lists of great books can be used appropriately as selection tools in collection building. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]