It was very flattering to read Mr. Olden's article in African Research and Documentation 30 with so many references to myself. This is to acknowledge that my “ego is being served” (vide first line, p. 29). May I be allowed a few brief comments, if only to acknowledge how gratifying it has been to see that the amateur approach still survives (it hardly flourishes). In my two essays on the subject, and now in some of the ‘personal communications’ in Mr. Olden's essay there are various nuances and veiled sarcasms that a future commentator may find curious (or miss).

One peculiarity about the amateur bibliographers listed in Olden's article is that three of us, Williams, Mortimer and myself, are all professional geographers. I suspect that all our methods of collection were “boy-scout operations” (Mortimer).