I think he might be referring to that big encyclopedic book of
circuits by John Markus. I don't have the original book, but
McGraw-Hill split it out into sections that were published as
large format paperbacks. I think the title of the work is:
_Modern Electronics Circuit Reference Manual, by John Markus,
McGraw-Hill, 1980_. There were earlier editions than 1980. It's
a big book about the size of the typical unabridged dictionary.
I have that, and there is a later one with a similar title, similar size but
newer circuits. I have both, but they are currently in storage, so I can't
check the title.
Jim.