bral
"Primary sources are original, uninterpreted information."
"Secondary sources interpret, analyze or summarize."
Other peoples books are the later.
I don't think it's quite as unambiguous as you describe,
Wikipedia has this.
Primary source - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Primary sources are distinguished from secondary sources, which cite, comment on, or build upon primary sources, though the distinction is not a sharp one. "Primary" and "secondary" are relative terms, with sources judged primary or secondary according to specific historical contexts and what is being studied.
So in the case of Margret Gowing's 2 Volume work
The primary sources are described here
The National Archives | The Catalogue | Full Details | ES
And Gowing's work is listed there under "Finding Aids", which means her work acts as a catalogue of the Primary Sources.
Here's an interesting case in point and relevant to this discussion I feel.
Wikipedia (free and worth every penny!) includes this description of a Primary Source. A thing is a Primary Source....
If created by a human source, then a source with direct personal knowledge of the events being described .. serves as an original source of information about the topic.
So how would you describe this 1957 Sunday Graphic Article? Primary or Secondary? (Hipper sent me this, his dad is in the picture, thanks again Hipper
)
Larger Image here for an easier read
http://zkt.blackfish.org.uk/XD864/images/Graphic.jpg
It's a description of events created by a human source with direct personal knowledge of those events. So a Primary Source. Now is it accurate?
"I have just touched down after flying with the RAF's ever-ready H-Bomb Force" Really Gavin? in 1957 how many H-Bombs did the UK actually possess? Even Lyle's opening line implies with the phrase: 'H-Bomb Force' that the entire fleet had H-bombs enough. The reality was there was no viable weaponised H-Bomb available to the RAF at that time.
Lyle goes on
'When I asked where the H-Bombs were. I was told: "You've already seen an aircraft with one aboard. Standing there tuned up, ready to go" Well Gavin you were being lied to we know that now.
So here a Primary Source that's not an accurate description of the things it purports to be about. In fact it's down right misleading a lie, propaganda.