This weekend’s Wall Street Journal added additional acclaim to the long list of praise for Fred Shapiro’s Yale Book of Quotations. In his list of essential reference books for the home library, Boston University librarian Donald Altschiller ranked the Yale Book of Quotations as second only to the World Almanac and Book of Facts. The Almanac may have the edge in sheer data, but Altschiller notes that Shapiro’s novel approach has used electronic databases to unearth the true sources of many misattributed quotations, a fine fact-finding mission itself.

For more on the Yale Book of Quotations, check out the book’s homepage where you can view some entertaining quotations or, if you like, submit your own. This election season has already produced some excellent material for future editions. Who knows? Perhaps Mr. Shapiro can tell us who truly first put lipstick on a pig.