Mark is chatting with his classmate Ming in the common room of their dorm.

    Mark: Hey, Ming. What are you reading?

    Ming: An online version of an old book called "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations."

    Mark: Yeah, it's really well known. But it's not just an old book. It's constantly updated; the 18th edition was published in 2012.

    Ming: Really? The one I'm reading is from 1919.

    Mark: The first one, published in 1855, was really short; it had only 169 authors. The most recent one includes people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Barack Obama.

    Ming: Wow! That's very up-to-date. By the way, who was "Bartlett?"

    Mark: John Bartlett was a bookseller in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Ming: That's where Harvard University is located, right?

    Mark: Right. Students and professors kept asking him for the sources of quotations, so he made notes, and finally published them.

    Ming: Great idea!

    Mark: In the edition you're using, the 10th, Shakespeare was by far the most popular source. After that was the Bible, then Alexander Pope and John Milton.

    Ming: Pope said things like "To err is human, to forgive, divine" and "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

    Mark: That's right. Also "The proper study of mankind is man."

    Ming: What other authors are there?

    Mark: Well, this was nearly 100 years ago, so even among the most popular sources in those days, there are a lot of people we've never heard of.

    Ming: Like who?

    Mark: Have you ever heard of John Heywood?

    Ming: Nope.

    Mark: He was a little like Bartlett himself, though he lived around 300 years earlier. He collected proverbs and published them. Naturally, they remained pretty popular.

    Ming: I'll have to take a look at those.

    Mark: Okay, but the English is pretty old-fashioned. Other writers from the 10th edition that are obscure today include James Russell Lowell, Robert Burton, and Edward Young.

    Ming: What can you tell me about them?

    Mark: Well, James Russell Lowell was a New England poet, but he was also an editor and a diplomat. Like Heywood, we almost never use any of his quotes today.

    Ming: I see. What about Robert Burton?

    Mark: He was a scholar in England, in Shakespeare's day, known for writing "The Anatomy of Melancholy."

    Ming: And Edward Young?

    Mark: An English poet, from the 18th century. Though these guys made the "Top 40" in 1919, they're pretty useless to most of us today.

    Ming: Got it. Well, I'll look into the ones that are still popular and see what I can find. Thanks, Mark.

    Mark: My pleasure. Let me know what you learn!