Dictionary catalogue

“ 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. ”

“ It is simply a key to open the doors of knowledge to a partly ignorant and partly learned public, and it is very important that such a key should turn easily. A good catalogue, therefore, will be a compromise between the claims of learning and logic on the one hand, and of ignorance, error, and custom on the other. Speaking generally, that form of name must be chosen with which people now are, and in the future will be, most familiar. This reference to the future is important. The catalogue must not be in advance of its age ”

“ 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? ”

“ Arrange names of societies as separate words.
See New Sydenham Society in the list above.
232. Arrange as single words compound words which are printed as one.
Ex. Bookseller, Bookplates. Sometimes such words are printed on title-pages as two words; in such case do the same in copying the title, but if the word is used as a heading follow the authority of a dictionary; each library should select some one dictionary as its standard. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It may be asked (1) why the parts of Natural history are here separated and the parts of Language and Literature not; and (2) why we do not divide still more (following out the dictionary plan fully) , so as to have divisions like Liliaceæ, Cows, Horses. As to (2) , in a library catalogue of a million volumes it would no doubt be best to adopt rigidly this specific mode of entry for the larger countries; for a catalogue of one or two hundred thousand, arrangement in classes is as well suited to quick reference and avoids the loss of room occasioned by numerous headings. ”

“ 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 ”

“ It is a useful axiom for the cataloguer that he must ascertain clearly what is the definite subject of a book before he decides upon the proper subject-heading for it in the dictionary catalogue, as he is compelled to do before he can assign the exact place for a book in the classified catalogue. ”

“ To lay out courses of reading for that numerous class who are desirous of “improving their minds,” and are willing to spend considerable effort and time but know neither where to begin or how to go on.
5. To state what is the practice of the catalogue in the entry of the publications of Congress, Parliament, Academies, Societies, etc., the notes to be made under those words.
F. REFERENCES. 202. In references use the word See when there is no entry under the heading from which the reference is made; See also when there is one. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We can justly object to Labbé's inclusion of subject entries in an alphabet of authors. [68] Had he given more thought to them, he would no doubt have hit upon the idea of a dictionary catalogue of authors and subjects and might have simplified the complicated indexes. ”

“ But the scientific may be preferable when the common name is ambiguous or of ill-defined extent.
(b) is most used in other catalogues.
(c) has fewest meanings other than the sense in which it is to be employed.
(d) comes first in the alphabet, so that the reference from the other can be made to the exact page of the catalogue.
(e) brings the subject into the neighborhood of other related subjects. It is, for instance, often an advantage to have near any art or science the lives of those who have been famous in it; as, Art, Artists; Painters, Painting ”

“ But there are less than three hundred subject-names consisting of adjective and noun in a catalogue which has probably over 50,000 names of persons. The use of the rule would be so infrequent that it would not remain in the memory. And it should be observed that the confusion caused by the different treatment of Morbid anatomy and Comparative anatomy would only occur to a man who was examining the system of the catalogue, and not to the ordinary user. A man looks in the catalogue for treatises on Comparative anatomy ”

“ Form, applied to a variety of classification founded on the form of the book classified, which may be either Practical, as in Almanacs, Dictionaries, Encyclopædias, Gazetteers, Indexes, Tables (the form in these being for the most part alphabetical) , or Literary, as Fiction, Plays, Comedies, Farces, Tragedies, Poetry, Letters, Orations, Sermons (the latter with the subdivisions Charity, Election, Funeral, Installation, Ordination, Thanksgiving, etc.) ”

“ With Pronouncing Vocabularies of Scripture, Classical, and Geographical Names. New Edition, carefully printed in a large 4to volume, 31s. 6d. cloth; 42s. calf.
The only complete work. All the octavo editions are Abridgments.
"All young persons should have a standard Dictionary at their elbow; and while you are about it, get the best: that Dictionary is Noah Webster's, the great work unabridged. If you are too poor, save the amount from off your back, to put it into your head." ”

“ A custom has grown up of late, particularly in French publications, of putting at the top of the title-page, before the title proper, the name of the series to which the work belongs or else what might be called the classification of the book. The name of the series should be given in parentheses after the imprint. The cataloguer may retain or omit the classification at his discretion. To avoid all possibility of mistake Full will mark the omission of these words by ... ”

“ A. Life of Gen. Grant. If the heading is italicized, the words Mrs., Earl, etc., must be distinguished from it in some other way.
132. Print the headings of all the four kinds of entry (author, title, subject, form) in the same kind of type.
In some indexes a distinction is made between persons and places or between authors and subjects, but in a catalogue varieties of type must be reserved for more important distinctions. The Catalogue of the Library of the Interior Department uses a heavy-faced title type for authors and a light-faced antique for other entries, with very satisfactory effect ”

“ The Use of Dictionaries.—To become acquainted with good literature, however, takes a long time; and to decide, by direct reference to the usage of the best writers, every question that arises in composition, is not possible for beginners. In certain cases beginners must go to dictionaries to learn what good use approves. Dictionaries do not make good use, but by recording the facts learned by professional investigators they answer many questions regarding it. To one who wishes to speak and write well a good dictionary is indispensable. ”

“ Thus the Century Dictionary has encyclopaedic features, while the present edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, restoring its earlier tradition but carrying out the idea more systematically, also embodies dictionary features.
Dictionarium is a word of low or modern Latinity;1 dictio, from which it was formed, was used in medieval Latin to mean a word. Lexicon is a corresponding word of Greek origin, meaning a book of or for words—a dictionary. A glossary is properly a collection of unusual or foreign words requiring explanation. ”

“ For example, the number of obsolete and dialectal words included may be much diminished and the number of scientific terms (for instance, new Latin botanical and zoological names) be increased; and the relative amount of space devoted to etymologies and quotations may be lessened. In general, since books of this kind are designed to serve more or less as works of general reference, the making of them must be governed by considerations of practical utility which the compilers of a purely philological dictionary are not obliged to regard. ”

“ The quotations are for the most part provided with references, but they are not dated. Even when compared with the much larger New English Dictionary, the Century’s great merit is the excellent enumeration of meanings, and the accuracy of its explanations; in this respect it is often better and fuller than the New English. In the application of the encyclopaedic method this dictionary is conservative, excluding, with a few exceptions, proper names, and restricting, for the most part, the encyclopaedic matter to descriptive and other details which may legitimately be added to the definitions. ”

“ DICTIONARY. In its proper and most usual meaning a dictionary is a book containing a collection of the words of a language, dialect or subject, arranged alphabetically or in some other definite order, and with explanations in the same or some other language. When the words are few in Definition and
history. number, being only a small part of those belonging to the subject, or when they are given without explanation, or some only are explained, or the explanations are partial, the work is called a vocabulary ”

“ A dictionary of technical terminology, forms, genres, kinds, groups, schools, movements, phrases, isms, motifs, themes, character types, modes, styles, objects, and concepts associated with classical and modern literatures and currently in regular use. Along with a brief definition or description, many entries provide an etymology, examples, or an illustrative passage; some cite major studies. The fifth edition shortens lengthy entries to no more than three pages, drops “a number of very obscure terms,” adds several new entries, and expands or updates many existing entries. ”

“ During the years in which I have sat in this seat of honour, the two great national undertakings of the 'New English Dictionary' and the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' now rapidly approaching completion, have made their public appearance, together with that other and hardly less important work 'The Dialect Dictionary.' With these I am proud to find Notes and Queries closely connected. Association with them has added greatly to its claims to recognition. ”

“ He pointed out also that the obsolete and the rarer words of the language had never been completely collected; that thousands of words current in the literature of the past three centuries had escaped the diligence of Johnson and all his supplementers; that, indeed, the collection of the requisite material for a complete dictionary could not be compassed by any one man, however long-lived and however diligent, but must be the work of many collaborators who would undertake systematically to read and to extract English literature. ”

“ And in order that the reader may find quickly what he seeks, whenever the first or second letter of a word is changed, we shall mark it with azure blue.' His preface ends with an appeal. 'This arrangement I have worked out with great labour; yet not I, but the grace of God with me. I entreat you therefore, reader, do not contemn my work as something rude and barbarous.'
The most striking feature of the dictionary is its etymology. Almost every word is supplied with a derivation, often very far-fetched. ”

“ Even for purely scientific purposes we require a standard of comparison and classification, as in the arrangement of words in a dictionary, where we have to decide, for instance, whether to put the original of hear under ē, īe, ī or ȳ. ”

“ With regard to the general question of the insertion of loan words in a dictionary or their use in the spoken and written language, it is to be said that are established in the written language, being used by good authors, or words in everyday conversational use, should find a place in a dictionary, from whatever source they may be derived. ”