How to Catalogue a Library

If the French bibliographer had borne in mind the British Museum rule, that "the works of an author not assuming any name, but describing himself by a circumlocution [are] to be considered anonymous," he would not have made this amusing entry in his catalogue: "Herself, Memoirs of a Young Lady by."

The Cambridge rules were largely founded upon those of the British Museum, and many anomalies crept into the catalogue on account of the difficulties caused by the rules relating to anonymous works; but a few years before the lamented death of Mr. Henry Bradshaw25 these rules were considerably altered by him, and I think the statement in rules 28 and 29 as they now stand is by far the most satisfactory of any I know of:—

"28. Anonymous works which refer to neither person nor place, and to which none of the foregoing rules can be applied, to be catalogued under the name of the subject (whether a single word or a composite phrase) which is prominently referred to on the title-page; the primary consideration being, under what heading the book will be most easily found. When there is no special subject mentioned, and the title is a catch-title (as in the case of most novels and many pamphlets), the first word not an article to stand at the head in capitals, but not to be separated off from the title as a heading. When the indication on the title is insufficient, the heading understood to be taken, but all classification to be avoided, the words of the title being exclusively used as far as possible. Works to be catalogued under general headings only where such are unavoidable. In the case of foreign titles the heading to follow the same rule, and to be in the language of the title instead of being translated.

"29. When the author of a pseudonymous or anonymous work is ascertained and acknowledged after the title has been printed, the name to be added within a bracket at the end of the title; and the various titles of works thenceforward assigned to such author to be gathered under his name by means of written entries on the slips. Cross-references to be printed from the pseudonymous or anonymous heading to the author's name."

These remarks upon the cataloguing of anonymous works may appear to some to have run to an inordinate length, but the great importance of the subject will, I hope, be accepted by the reader as some excuse. I quite agree with the late Serjeant Parry when he said, during his examination before the British Museum Commission, that "it is comparatively easy to catalogue when the author's name appears on the title, but nothing is more difficult than cataloguing anonymous works."

The Title

Having dealt with the subject of headings, we may now pass on to consider the treatment of the title itself.

There has been much discussion on this subject: one party has been in favour of short titles, and another of long titles. Much has been said in favour of single-line catalogues, and these often form very useful keys to a library; but they are perhaps more properly designated alphabetical lists than catalogues.26

On the other side the advocates of full titles, in carrying out their views, while adding to the size of their catalogues, frequently do not add to their utility. Here, as in many other things, the medium is the safest way. The least important works have usually the longest titles, and it is surely useless to copy the whole title of some trumpery pamphlet, when it may occupy ten or a dozen lines of print. Here the art of the cataloguer comes into play, by which he is enabled to choose what is important and reject the redundant. With respect to standard works by classical authors, it is well to give the whole title (and these titles will seldom be found to be long). The classical author will most probably have weighed the words of his title with care, and left little that is redundant. When a title is contracted, it is well to insert dots to show that something has been left out, and if any words are added they must be placed between square brackets.

It is also necessary to bear in mind the fact that a long title may be perfectly clear in the book itself, on account of the varied size of the type used. The cataloguer, however, has not these facilities of arrangement at his disposal, and in consequence it becomes difficult for the consulter to distinguish the important parts of the title from the unimportant.

The following are three titles of books which are not long, and which could not be curtailed without disadvantage:—

"1. Pike (Luke Owen). A History of Crime in England, illustrating the Changes of the Laws in the Progress of Civilization. Written from the Public Records and other Contemporary Evidence. London, 1873. 2 vols., 8vo.

"2. Hunter (Joseph). New Illustrations of the Life, Studies, and Writings of Shakespeare; Supplementary to all the Editions. London, 1845. 2 vols., 8vo.

"3. Rickman (Thomas). An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture in England, from the Conquest to the Reformation, with a Sketch of the Grecian and Roman Orders; Seventh Edition, with Considerable Additions, Chiefly Historical, by John Henry Parker. Oxford, 1881. 8vo."

Now, we may take the instance of a long title, which needs curtailment:—

"TheEnglish ExpositorImprov'd:Being a CompleteDictionary,teaching
The Interpretation of the most DifficultWords, which are commonly made use ofin our English Tongue
First set forth by J. B., Doctor of PhysickAnd now carefully Revised, Corrected, andabundantly Augmented, with a new and very largeAddition of very useful and significant Words
By R. Browne, Author of theEnglish School Reform'd
There is also an Index of Common Words(alphabetically set) to direct the Reader or others moreLearned, and of the same signification with themAnd likewise a short Nomenclator of the mostcelebrated Persons among the Ancients; with Variety ofMemorable Things: Collected out of the best of History,Poetry, Philosophy, and Geography
The Twelfth Edition
London: Printed for W. Churchill, at theBlack Swan in Pater-noster-Row. 1719
Where may be had the above-mention'd Spelling-Book, Entituled, The English School Reform'd: Being a methodvery exact and easy both for the Teacher and Learner."

This long title may be reduced into the following form:—

"4. B[ullokar] (J[ohn]). The English Expositor Improv'd: Being a Complete Dictionary, teaching the Interpretation of the most Difficult Words, which are commonly made use of in our English Tongue.... Revised, Corrected, and … Augmented … by R. Browne, … [with] an Index of Common Words … and … a short Nomenclator of the most Celebrated Persons among the Ancients, with Variety of Memorable Things.... 12th Edition.

London, 1719. 12mo."

It may be said that all these titles are in English, and present few difficulties. I therefore add a Latin title, prepared by my brother, the late Mr. B. R. Wheatley. The full title is as follows:—

"Speculum Polytechnum Mathematicum novum,tribus visionibus illustrequarum extat
Una FundamentalisAliquot
Numerorum Danielis et Apocalypseosnaturæ et proprietatisConsignatioAltera, usus Hactenusincognitus Instrumenti DanielisSpeccelii, ad altitudinum, profunditatum,longitudinum, latitudinumque dimensiones,nec non Planimetricas delineationesaccommodatio
Postrema brevis ac luculenta sexiesAcuminati Proportionum Circiniquibus fructuose iste adhibeaturenarratioIn Omnium Mathesin AdamantiumEmolumentumprius Germanicè æditumAuthore
Joanne Faulhabero Arithmeticoet Logista Ulmensi ingeniosissimoPosterius vero ne tanto aliæ nationesdefraudentur bono, Latine conversumper
Joannem Remmelinum Ph. et MedDoctorem
Impressum Ulmæ, typis JoannisMederi
M.DC.XII."

This long title may be reduced into the following catalogue form:—

"Faulhaber (Joannes).

"Speculum Polytechnum Mathematicum novum tribus visionibus … una:… Numerorum Danielis et Apocalypseos naturæ … consignatio; altera: usus.... Instrumenti Danielis Speccelii, ad altitudinum [etc.] dimensiones … accommodatio; postrema:… sexies Acuminati Proportionum Circini … enarratio; … prius Germanicè æditum,… Latine conversum per Joannem Remmelinum....

Ulmæ, 1612. 4to."

Sometimes it is advisable to repeat the author's name in its proper place on the title either in full or with initials. This is the case with Dilke's Papers of a Critic, which should appear in the catalogue as follows:—

"6. Dilke (Charles Wentworth). The Papers of a Critic. Selected from the Writings of the late C. W. D., with a Biographical Sketch by his Grandson, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bart., M.P. London, 1875. 2 vols., 8vo."

Mr. Jewett, in his rules, directs that the position of the author's name on the title-page should be indicated.

For scarce and curious books it is under some circumstances useful to mark the position of the lines on a title-page thus:—

"7. Bacon (Francis) Viscount St. Alban. | The | Essayes | or | Counsels | Civill and | Morall | of | Francis Lo. Verulam | Viscount St. Alban newly written | London | Printed by John Haviland for | Hanna Barret | 1625 | 4to."

This is clearly not necessary in the case of common modern books.

It is very important that all indication of edition or editor (as in No. 3) should be made clear on the catalogue slip; and if this information is not given on the title-page, but can be obtained elsewhere, it should be added to the catalogue slip, but between square brackets.

Many books have two title-pages, an engraved one and a printed one, and these frequently differ in the wording. In these cases the printed title-page is the one to be followed. Sometimes a second title-page will occur in the middle of a book, and the cataloguer must be careful not to make two books out of one. When the contents of this second title-page are noted on the first title-page, it is not necessary to refer to it specially, unless a collation is given. If, however, this second title-page contain additional matter, it should be catalogued and added on the slip, but within parentheses, thus (), to show that it is added, and that it is not made up by the cataloguer, which would be understood if it were placed between square brackets, thus [].

Sometimes a title-page not only gives no real indication of the contents of a book, but is positively misleading. In such a case the cataloguer will do well to give some indication of the true contents, either in a note or as an addition to the title within brackets. Both Mr. Cutter and Professor Otis Robinson refer, in the Special Report on Public Libraries in the United States, to the difficulties caused by these misleading titles. Professor Robinson gives some amusing instances of modern clap-trap titles which may well be added to Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature.

"Mr. Parker writes a series of biographical sketches, and calls it Morning Stars of the New World. Somebody prepares seven religious essays, binds them up in a book, and calls it Seven Stormy Sundays.... An editor, at intervals of business, indulges his true poetic taste for the pleasure of his friends, or the entertainment of an occasional audience. Then his book appears, entitled, not Miscellaneous Poems, but Asleep in the Sanctum, by A. A. Hopkins. Sometimes, not satisfied with one enigma, another is added. Here we have The Great Iron Wheel; or, Republicanism Backwards and Christianity Reversed, by J. R. Graves."

In cataloguing books it is very important to turn carefully over the leaves to see that a second book, which may have been bound up in the volume, is not overlooked. It was a frequent practice at one time to bind up thin books with thicker ones, to save the expense of binding; and very frequently these thin additions are overlooked altogether, and never catalogued.

Place of Publication

When we have finished with the title proper, we come to consider the imprint, the date, and the size. These are most commonly arranged thus, volumes, size, place, date; and this is the best order if this information is tabulated; but when it remains as a part of the title, it is better to place the volumes and size at the end, because this is added information not found in the title-page.

The name of the place of publication27 should be given exactly as it occurs on the title-page, and in old and rare books the name of the printer or publisher may be added with advantage; not necessarily full as it appears there, but shortened and placed between parentheses. Sometimes several places are named on a title-page, but in these cases it is not necessary to notice more than the first.

Dates

The dates, which usually occur in Roman numerals on the title-pages of books, should be printed in the catalogue with Arabic numerals, except in case of very rare books, where it is thought expedient to copy the original title-page exactly. Every one knows the numerical power of the letters, and that M stands for 1,000, D = 500, C = 100, L = 50, X = 10, V, U, = 5, I = 1; but the old printers were fond of playing tricks with the letters, and they allowed themselves much latitude in the practice of reducing the numerical power of one letter by placing another before it. We are used to this in IV and IX; but the following dates, copied from books, show how varied were the arrangements formerly made use of:—

MIID. = 1498, MID. = 1499, MCDXCIX. = 1499, MDXXCV. = 1585, MDIC. = 1599, MDCVIV. = 1609, MIIDCC. = 1698.

In one book MVICXXI. was made to stand for 1621; but in this case the printer must have lacked a D, and replaced it by VI. In old books the M's and the D's are frequently built up thus, CIƆ, IƆ.

The date is one of the most important portions of a title, and the cataloguer must seek for it until he finds it. Sometimes it is to be found at the end of the preface or dedication, and sometimes it is on the title-page as a chronogram. Mr. James Hilton for years has searched over Europe for chronograms, and he has been highly successful in his search, as is evidenced by his two handsome volumes, Chronograms, 5,000 and more in Number (1882), and Chronograms Continued and Concluded (1885).

The following specimens are from Mr. Hilton's books:—

"Anagrammata regia in honorem maximi mansuetissimi regis Caroli conscripta."

Imprint:—

"LonDInI regIo prIVILegIo eXaratVM = 1626."

On the last page is:—

"eXtant Ista In æDIbVs gVLIeLMI stansbIe = 1626"

A curious little book (a chronographic imitation of Thomas à Kempis) is filled with chronograms, and contains two on the title-page:—

De spIrItaLI IMItatIone ChrIstI [1658] aDMonItIones saCræ et VtILes [1658] pIIs In LVCeM Datæ: [1658]."

"a R.P. Antonio Vanden Stock Societatis Jesu. Ruræmundæ apud Gasparem du Pree."

On the frontispiece is another chronogram:—

"chrIsto aDhærens non aMbVLat In tenebrIs."

Mr. Hilton has succeeded in finding several additions to the small store of chronograms in English, and has produced some new ones.

On the back of the title-page of the first book is this inscription:—

"An eXCeLLent neVV book of ChronograMs gathereD together & noVV set forth by I. hILton, F.S.A. = 1882."

On the second book:—

"Another qVIte neVV book of rIght eXCeLLent chronograMs IssVeD by I. hILton, F.S.A." = 1885.

More difficult than chronograms are Greek dates, because each letter in Greek has a numerical value, and the numbers do not follow in an uninterrupted series, because certain additional figures are introduced. It is therefore often necessary in cataloguing Greek books to refer to a table such as the following:—

It will be noticed that the top letters of each series spell "αιρ," which can be borne in mind. The irregularities in the series are final ςʹ for six, and the invented letters, for 90 and 900. The same series of letters, with the accent beneath instead of above, are used for thousands, as—

There is considerable difficulty in dating books published in France between September 1792, when the French Revolutionary Calendar was introduced, and December 1805, when the Gregorian mode of calculation was restored by Napoleon, because the Revolutionary year began with the autumn. It is impossible therefore, as the months are not usually given in the imprints of books, to tell whether a book dated an. 1 was published in 1792 or 1793. It is usual, however, to reckon from 1792, and to count an. 8, for instance, as 1800, by which means an approximate date is obtained.

Size-Notation

When we come to the last piece of description on our catalogue slip, we experience considerable difficulty in certain cases. The statement of the case of size-notation, which has caused so much discussion, and given rise to so many schemes, is so well put by the late Mr. Winter Jones, in his inaugural address at the Conference of Librarians held in London, October 1877, that I shall transfer it to these pages:—

"One of these points is the designation of the sizes of books. As regards modern books, the folding of the sheets of paper is generally received as the guide, but it is not a guide which speaks to the eye. Some duodecimos may be larger than some octavos, and some octavos may be larger than some folios, to say nothing of the uncertainty of the quartos. When we come to ancient books the matter is still worse. The early printers did not use large sheets of paper and fold them twice or more to form quartos, octavos, etc., but merely folded their paper once, thus making what is now understood by the terms folios or quartos, according to the size of the sheet of paper. Three or more of these sheets were laid one within another, and formed gatherings or quires, each sheet after the first in each gathering being called an inlay.28 This printing by gatherings was adopted for the convenience of binding. The consequence of this practice would be that the printer would either print one page at a time or two, but no more. If two, he would have to divide the matter to be printed into portions sufficient for eight, twelve, sixteen, or twenty pages, according to the number of inlays in each gathering, and then print, say the first and twelfth, then the second and the eleventh, and so on; and the result of this practice is occasionally seen in an inequality in the length of the pages, particularly in the centre inlay, which would be printed last, and would therefore have either too much or too little matter if the calculation of the quantity necessary for each page had not been exact. It has been suggested that the difficulty might be met by adopting the size of the printed page as the guide, but such a guide would certainly be fallacious. It would not indicate the size of the volume; it would not allow for the many cases of 'oceans of margins and rivers of text;' it would not speak to the eye without opening the book. The better plan would appear to be to adopt, to a certain extent, the system used by bookbinders. As they regulate their charges according to the size of the millboard required for binding their book, their scale is independent of the folding of the printed sheet. It contains twenty-nine divisions or designations of different sizes, of which twenty-six represent modifications of the five sizes of folio, 4to, 8vo, 12mo, and 18mo, a striking proof of the uncertainty of the sizes supposed to be indicated by these five terms. I speak, of course, of the measure used by English bookbinders. It would certainly be advisable that some rule should be laid down, which might apply to all countries, by which the general sizes of books might be designated, and minute subdivisions be avoided. Why should we designate sizes by paper marks, and talk of pot quartos and foolscap octavos? The pot and the foolscap are things of the past. It would surely be better to adopt some such rule as the following: To designate as 12mo all books not exceeding seven inches in height; as 8vo all those above seven and not exceeding ten inches in height; as 4to those above ten and not exceeding twelve inches in height; and as folio all above twelve inches. The folios might be further described, according to the fact, as large or super, in order to avoid the various subdivisions of crown, copy, demy, medium, royal, imperial, elephant, and columbier folio."

At the Exhibition of Library Appliances in connection with the London Conference, Mr. F. Weaklin submitted seven diagrams of eighty-two sizes given to books, from imperial 4to to demy 48mo, and the matter had already been under special consideration in the United States. Mr. Jewett suggested that after the description 8vo, 4to, etc., the exact height and width in inches and tenths of inches should be added between brackets. He measured print; but, as pointed out by Mr. Winter Jones in the above quotation, this measurement overlooks one of the most important points in respect to the character and value of a book, viz., the size of the margin. When the late Sir William Stirling Maxwell wished to adopt Mr. Jewett's suggestion, I recommended that the width and height of the actual page should be measured, and this was done in An Essay towards a Collection of Books relating to Proverbs, Emblems, Apophthegms, Epitaphs, and Ana, being a Catalogue of those at Keir (1860), which I edited for him.

This system of measurement is not needed in a small library, where the ordinary nomenclature is sufficient. The real difficulty underlying the whole subject was pointed out by Mr. Bradshaw in his paper at the Cambridge Meeting of the Library Association, "A Word on Size Notation as distinguished from Form Notation." He there states two facts often overlooked: "(1) That the terms folio, quarto, octavo, etc., represent strictly not size-notation, but form-notation; and (2) That the modern methods of making paper and of printing books combine to render any accurate application of form-notation to such books not so much difficult as impossible. The logical conclusion from these two facts is, of course, that the form-notation expressed by the terms folio, quarto, octavo, etc., should be given up in the case of modern books, to which it is wholly inapplicable; and that a size-notation which does represent an undoubted fact, should be adopted in its place. This logical conclusion was seen, accepted, and acted upon at Cambridge in the year 1854; and I confess that it is difficult to resist the conviction that this principle must sooner or later be accepted by others, though there will no doubt be differences of opinion as to the most advisable form of notation to adopt. A librarian cannot afford to be eccentric in this matter; whatever method is adopted, it must be adopted by all the great libraries, and it must commend itself to the general reader. Now I feel sure that I shall not be taxed with dogmatism or with any predilection for some crotchet of my own devising, if I say that the complicated and artificial systems recommended by the Committee and others, are such as cannot possibly become familiar, even if they become intelligible, to the general run of readers. In the old Cambridge size-notation of London 1856, 8 × 5 meaning eight inches high by five inches across, the second number denoting the breadth very soon fell out of use, except in writing, and for years we always spoke of books as eights, sevens, sixes, etc., meaning that they were eight, seven, or six inches high."

To this passage is added the following note:—

"The practice in use with us has been to measure the height of the book from the top to the bottom of the page, disregarding the cover. We compute inches as we compute a man's age; a book is eight inches until it is nine inches, only, seeing that bound books are so often cut not quite square, anything short of the number used in the size-notation by the eighth of an inch or less, we call by that number for ordinary purposes. I have said above that in our General Library Catalogue we have reverted to the common form-notation, 8vo, 12mo, etc., but pure size-notation is still retained in other departments, while in Trinity College Library it has never been given up since it was first adopted in 1856 or thereabouts."

The committee referred to by Mr. Bradshaw was the Size-Notation Committee of the Library Association, of which my brother, the late Mr. B. R. Wheatley, was a member. He took great interest in this subject, and drew up a scale of sizes which might be marked upon an ordinary two-foot rule. He was anxious that "a system should be adopted based on the well-known terms hitherto employed of folio, 4to, 8vo, 12mo, etc., and their qualifying varieties of imperial, royal, etc., with an approximate height and width in inches affixed to each size."