[sqlite] Avoiding duplicate record insertion

[David D Speck]

Please pardon what may be a rank newbie question, but I'm just starting 
with SQL and have not seen this addressed in the tutorials that I've 
studied. 

I have to compile a single name and address list from many small list 
files.  It is likely that many of the names will be present in more than 
one input list, but I only want to have one copy of them in the master 
SQL table. 

What would the most elegant way be to insert a name and address entry 
into the main table ONLY if it is not already there?  I could see doing 
a SELECT WHERE lname = new_lname AND fname = new_fname, AND street = 
new_street, etc, and then aborting the INSERT if the SELECT returns a 
match. 

I just wondered if there was a neater way to accomplish this?
Thanks in advance,
Dave