Charles A. Cutter

“ On the one hand one must look over a list of books embracing five or six distinct divisions of a subject and select from titles often ambiguous or provokingly uncommunicative those that seem likely to treat of the matter in the way desired. On the other plan he must run over five or six headings given by another man, and representing that man’s ideas of classification, and decide under which of them the treatise he is in search of is likely to be put. Which system gives the least trouble and demands the least brain-work? ”

“ A number of tracts by a single author may indeed for economy be catalogued under him in one mass like a “contents,” and the same may be {127} done for tracts on a single subject, though there are objections even to this; but to catalogue the writings of several authors under an arbitrary heading (as Plays, Speeches, French Revolution) , to which references merely are made under the authors, is to be economical at altogether too great an expense of trouble to the public,—to say nothing of the incongruity of a form or subject heading for an author-entry. ”

“ The systematic catalogue undertakes to exhibit a scientific arrangement of the books in a library in the belief that it will thus best aid those who would pursue any extensive or thorough study. The dictionary catalogue sets out with another object and a different method, but having attained that object—facility of reference—is at liberty to try to secure some of the advantages of classification and system in its own way. ”

“ Classification by subject and classification by form are the most common. An example will best show the distinction between them. Theology, which is itself a subject, is also a class, that is, it is extensive enough to have its parts, its chapters, so to speak (as Future Life, Holy Spirit, Regeneration, Sin, Trinity) , treated separately, each when so treated (whether in books or only in thought) being itself a subject; all these together, inasmuch as they possess this in common, that they have to do with some part of the relations of God to man, form the class of subjects Theology. ”

“ It would apparently be much more convenient to enter their works under the name by which alone they are known and under which everybody but a professed cataloguer would assuredly look first. For an author-catalogue this might be the best plan, but in a dictionary catalogue we have to deal with such people not merely as writers of books, but as subjects of biographies or parties in trials, and in such cases it seems proper to use their legal names. ”

“ There are many things that are seldom used, and then perhaps but for an instant, and yet their existence is justified because when wanted they are indispensable, or because they make useful what is otherwise useless: a policy of insurance, life-preservers in a steamer, the index of a book, large parts of the catalogue of a library, among others the cross-references. ”

“ In a dictionary catalogue some books can not profitably have subject-entry, because they not only have no one subject but do not even belong to any class of subjects.
A collection is to be entered under the word which expresses its subject or its general tendency. The memoirs, transactions, proceedings, etc., of a society should be entered under name of the object for which the society is founded. When there are many societies under one head, it is economical to refer merely; as, from Agriculture or Agricultural societies to the various names. ”

“ A man might plausibly assert that Ancient Egypt is a distinct subject from Modern Egypt, having a recognized name of its own, as much so as Ancient history, and might therefore demand that the one should be put under A (Ancient) and the other under M (Modern) [41] and similar claims might be made in the case of all subject-names to which an adjective is ever prefixed, which would result in filling the catalogue with a host of unexpected and therefore useless headings. Nevertheless the rule seems to me the best if due discrimination be used in choosing subject-names. ”

“ The importance of deciding aright where any given subject shall be entered is in inverse proportion to the difficulty of decision. If there is no obvious principle to guide the cataloguer, it is plain there will be no reason why the public should expect to find the entry under one heading rather than another, and therefore in regard to the public it matters not which is chosen. ”

“ The strongest argument in favor of confining preposition-entry to fiction and the drama is that in other cases the word following the preposition will probably be a subject-word, so that one entry will do the work of two. ”

“ A library may have a collection of books or a few volumes which from their rarity deserve to be catalogued with every bibliographical nicety, with the most exact copying of punctuation, spelling, and forms of letters, and even with marks to show where the lines of the title end. Such collections are the Prince and the Ticknor books in the Boston Public Library, such single books are fifteeners or the rarest Americana. Yet it may be questioned whether a library does well to redescribe books already fully described by Hain, Harrisse, Thiele, Trömmel, Stevens, or Sabin. ”

“ I am now in favor of frequent entry under the pseudonym, with reference from the real name. I should recommend the pseudonym as heading in the case of any popular writer who has not written under his own name, provided he is known to the public chiefly by his pseudonym, and in the subject catalogue for any person who is so known. Examples are George Eliot, George Sand, Gavarni, Grandville, Cagliostro, Cham, Pierre Loti, Daniel Stern, in some doubtful cases a card catalogue might profitably make entry both under the real and the false name. ”

“ And in planning a manuscript catalogue, it should be remembered that a small library may grow into a large one, and that if the catalogue is made in the best way at first there will be no need of alteration.
If a book’s title-page is lost, and it is impossible to ascertain what it was from other copies or other editions, or from catalogues or bibliographies, use the half-title or the running title, stating the fact; if it has neither, manufacture a title, within brackets. Such an entry will require many references. ”

“ There are thousands of possible matters of investigation, some of which are from time to time discussed, but before the catalogue can profitably follow its “specific” rule in regard to them they must attain a certain individuality as objects of inquiry, and be given some sort of name, otherwise we must assign them class-entry.
And it is not always easy to decide what is a distinct subject. Many catalogues have a heading Preaching. Is Extempore preaching a sufficiently distinct matter to have a heading of its own? ”

“ It is much better to distribute these like any other title-references, through the alphabet, than, as some have done, to collect the titles of novels together in one place and of plays in another. A man not unfrequently wishes to find a book whose title he has heard of without learning whether it was a novel, a play, a poem, or a book of travels.
If the catch-word of the title of a novel, poem, or play is the name of a real person who is its subject, it is optional to make a reference, as in § 86, or a biographical entry under the family name, or both. ”

“ There are certain headings which belong both to the Subject and the Form family. “Encyclopædias,” inasmuch as the books treat of all knowledge, is the most inclusive of all the subject-classes; inasmuch as (with few exceptions) they are in alphabetic form, it is a form-class.
Heading, the word by which the alphabetical place of an entry in the catalogue is determined, usually the name of the author, of the subject, or of the literary or practical form, or a word of the title. ”

“ The Memoirs, Proceedings, Transactions of a society are periodicals in point of (1) occasional publication, (2) indefinite continuance, and—so far as they contain anything beyond the record of the society’s meetings—of (4) variety of subject; but they lack the 3d characteristic, variety of authorship, inasmuch as the memoirs or other papers given in addition to “proceedings” proper may be considered as the work of the society acting through its members; the society, therefore, is the author, and the Transactions, etc., need not have title-entry. ”

“ Thus an agricultural dictionary will not be entered under Dictionaries, but under Agriculture, in a little division Dictionaries. Now and then some one asks for “a grammar,” “the dictionary.” It does not follow that it would be well to jumble together, under a form-heading, Grammars or Dictionaries, all grammars and lexicons in all languages. Those who inquire so vaguely must be made to state their wishes more definitely. The cataloguer does his part if he inserts a note under such headings explanatory of the practice of the catalogue ”

“ Many a title a yard long does not convey as much meaning as two well-chosen words. No precise rule can be given for abridgment. The title must not be so much shortened that the book shall be confounded with any other book of the same author or any other edition of the same book, or that it shall fail to be recognized by those who know it or have been referred to it by title, or that it shall convey a false or insufficient idea of the nature of the work and (under the subject) of its theme and its {68} method of treating its theme. ”

“ When countries are joint authors it is better to make full entries under each and arrange them as if the country under consideration were the only one. Each country puts its own name first in its own edition of a joint work; and the arrangement proposed avoids an additional complexity under countries, which are confusing enough at the best.
Whether the joint authorship appears in the title or not should make no difference in the mode of entry; if one name appears on the title, that should be chosen for the entry; if none, take the most important. ”

“ An economical device in some favor is to omit the entry under the author’s name when the library contains only one work by him.
By this practice many famous authors, of whom no small library is likely to contain more than one work (such as Boswell, Dante, Gibbon, Lamb, Macaulay, Milton, indeed almost any of the English poets) , will not appear in the catalogue; while the man who has written both a First class reader and a Second class reader, or a Mental arithmetic and a Written arithmetic, or two Sunday-school books, must be included. ”

“ It is most desirable—and fortunately easiest—to make analysis when the subject is well marked, as of biographies or histories of towns, or monographs on any subject. General treatises or vague essays are much harder to classify and much less valuable for analysis. In analyzing collections of essays original articles should be brought out in preference to reviews, which are commonly not worth touching (except in a very full catalogue) either under the author of the work reviewed or under its subject. ”