For many years, the inorganic section of the "Handbook of
Preparative Chemistry" by L. Vanino was a laboratory standard.
By 1940, however, the third (and last) edition of the handbook was
no longer in print. Rather than simply reissue the Vanino manual,
the Ferdinand Enke Press projected a completely new book: in
contrast to the old, the new work would be written by a number of
inorganic chemists, each a specialist in the given field.
As editor, the publishers were able to obtain the services of
Prof. Robert Schwartz. It was Prof. Schwartz who laid down what
was to be the fundamental guideline for all subsequent work: that
only those procedures were to be included which had been tested
and confirmed in laboratory practice. Concerning the choice of sub￾stances, while not pretending to be exhaustive, the book would
cover most of the compounds of inherent scientific interest or of
importance for purposes of instruction. At the same time, it
was clearly apparent that the common commercial chemicals,
as well as those whose preparations require only the simplest
chemical operations, need not be included