Beginning with the reign of Comn XX (8923), these summaries were collected into an annual volume. The Statistical Record, as it was named, was an invaluable bibliographic tool for researchers in every field It directed those with both permission and desire to the fuller reports containing the details they needed; it gave an overview of Imperial affairs that no other work could match. The chamberlain of Avelard XVIII, Venoshi OFFICIAL HISTORY 400 OIL LENS Myuurak, saw the Recta-4 as an opportunity to present Imperial activities in a favorable light, and instituted the first of many perver-sions.wrought on the hapless reference work. He ordered its expansion to two volumes, the second being the Statistical Record in its current format, but the first-the Sowcebook . -being a prose description of undertakings that the government wanted Co publicize. Since the work had wide distribution in a durable form, its propaganda value, though not immediate, was considerable over the long run. It appeared for the fust time in two volumes with its official title in 9175, a year too, late for Myuurak to see his handiwork. Such was the situation of the Official History when Paul Atreides came to, power. Over the next century (roughly 10200-10300), as the bureaucrats of the Corrinos retired or died and their places- were taken by Fremen, die character of the second volume came more and more to resemble the first's. The Sourcebook had never been much more than a chronicle of governmental actions across the Imperium, and Leto continued its use to proclaim his triumphs, minimize his defeats, and justify his innovations. For example, after the Fish Speakers were formed, over . the next decade so much attention was devoted to the organization in the Official History that the disgruntled covertly referred to the Sourcebook as the Amazon Forcebook. But the second volume had had legitimate uses and had always maintained a discreet difference from its more politicized companion. Leto changed that. He scorned its statistical nature-that is clear from the recent evidence; but even the materials from Rakis have not yet confirmed his apocryphal remark, "Who cares how many schlags there are on Tupali?" After about 10700, the information in both volumes should be suspected of being fabricated, and should not be accepted without independent confirmation. Up to now, only the Oral History could provide that needed check, but the library at Dar-es-Balat now gives us a third source, a history more candid than the Official and more comprehensive than the Oral. The comparing of statements in the Official History to the records at Dar-es-Balat will take years-perhaps decades-but die day is now in sight when the researchers of a thousand worlds can replace the Official with the True History of Leto's reign.