Index

“ There is the index which is always growing; and (2) there is the index that is made at one time, and is printed immediately it is ready for the press. The same course of procedure will not be suitable for both these classes.
[pg 174] 1. Indexes to commonplace books belong to this category. It has been usual here to leave a few pages blank for the index, and to arrange the entries in strict alphabetical order under the first letters and then under the first vowel following a consonant, or the second, when the initial is a vowel. ”

“ Every work should have one index to the whole set, and not an index to each volume.
An index to each volume of a set is convenient if a general amalgamated index to the whole set is given as well; but a work with several indexes and no general one is most inconvenient and irritating, while to have both seems extravagant. If, however, the author or publisher is willing to present both, it is not for the user of the book to complain.
2. Indexes to be arranged in alphabetical order, proper names and subjects being united in one alphabet. ”

“ To serve its purpose well, an index to a book must be compiled with care, the references being placed under the heading that the reader is most likely to seek. An index should be one and indivisible, and not broken up into several alphabets; thus every work, whether in one or more volumes, ought to have its complete index. ”

“ The value of anything, it has been observed, is best known by the want of it. Agreeably to this idea, we, who have often experienced great inconveniences from the want of indices, entertain the highest sense of their worth and importance. We know that in the construction of a good index, there is far more scope for the exercise of judgment and abilities, than is commonly supposed. We feel the merits of the compiler of such an index, and we are ever ready to testify our thankfulness for his exertions. ”

“ A good index is one which enables the reader or student to locate readily the subject or item which he seeks. It is usually best for an author to make his own index. A professional indexer is inclined to overload an index; the author, with his knowledge of the subject and a little study, will generally produce a better working index.
[pg 7]
Our usual style of index is two columns to the page, set in 8-point type, with not more than two indentions. ”

“ It is an index of knowledge that grows continually, an index that becomes continually truer. There was never anything like it before."
"When I came into the education committee," said Karenin, "that index of human knowledge seemed an impossible thing. Research had produced a chaotic mountain of results, in a hundred languages and a thousand different types of publication. ”

“ An unindexed book is like an unexplored continent. It may contain streams of thought which might be sources of power if known. Diamonds and gold may there be hidden away. The index is the explorer's chart to the undiscovered country. The great stores of a work like The Expositor's Bible are not realized until they are tabulated in an index. The chemistry of thought has produced many a gem for this great work. This index will show where they are. The compiler has endeavored to make a complete, comprehensive, and practical index to this series. ”

“ An Index should be distinguished from what is usually called, Table of Contents, which affords an analytical view of the different topics, progressively, while the index is intended to facilitate occasional reference. ”

“ In the case of a small index there is little difficulty with material, for it can be arranged at once into first letters, and when the table is cleared of the slips these can be placed in the pages of an ordinary book to keep them distinct, and can then be sorted in perfect alphabet and pasted down. In the case of a large index it will be necessary to place the slips in a safer place. ”

“ After this date, however, the Index continued to grow, and it extended to thirty-two folio volumes, all written by Baillet's own hand."
S knowledge increases and books and magazines gather in number, the need for many indexes becomes daily more evident. We often are certain that something has been written on a subject in which we are interested, but in vain we seek for a clue to it. ”

“ It was intended at one time that an Index should be added which would include every Place and Person mentioned. The introduction of so many names has rendered it impossible within reasonable limits. The Headings of the several Chapters in the Table of Contents will, it is hoped, be found generally sufficient. ”

“ The index is his sole guide to reviewing. If he finds his pet topics there he can hunt them down remorselessly. But if there is no index, he is cast adrift helpless, knowing neither where to begin nor where to end his review. ”

“ CHAPTER V. Different Classes of Indexes.
"Of all your talents you are a most amazing man at Indexes. What a flag too, do you hang out at the stern! You must certainly persuade people that the book overflows with matter, which (to speak the truth) is but thinly spread. But I know all this is fair in trade, and you have a right to expect that the publick should purchase freely when you reduce the whole book into an epitome for their benefit; I shall read the index with pleasure."—William Clarke to William Bowyer, Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ”

“ The value of indexes was recognized in the earliest times, and many old books have full and admirably constructed ones. A good index has sometimes kept a dull book alive by reason of the value or amusing character of its contents. ”

“ It will be seen that such an index as is here sketched would be an inestimable help to the student. It would form a useful supplement to the Dictionary of National Biography, for it must be remembered that such an index would contain a majority of references to men and women whose claims to distinction or notoriety do not attain to the standard set up by the promoters of that grand work. ”

“ The requirements of an index and the proportions of its several parts are the two principal questions to be considered. Under the first head it may be observed that the index of a company upon a large scale should afford as much abstract information as possible. Those who refer to it do so with different views, for the objects of their inquiry must necessarily vary with their respective duties. It is therefore desirable that the index should be constructed with a view to provide for the wants of each person, so far, at least, as to enable him to obtain information in the most direct way ”

“ As already stated on a previous page, it is most important to index the articles in periodicals afresh, and not always to follow the heading of the original. This is of course more particularly the case in respect to newspapers, where the headings [pg 224] are drawn up to catch the reader's eye. The same rule may be insisted on in respect to all indexing, and this is so important that the restatement of it may well conclude this little volume.
In making a general index of several volumes, always index the volumes afresh, and do not be contented with using what has been done before. ”

“ The English nation, judged by most of the productions of its literary and scientific men in that field, has small genius for indexing. It was reserved to an American to prepare and print a thorough index, at once alphabetical and analytical, to this great English thesaurus of information—an index ten times more copious, and therefore more useful to the student, than the meagre one issued in England. ”

“ In an economical respect, however, the latter is a more valuable addition to a book than an analysis of its contents, which are in a manner evident from the heads of chapters or sections; whereas an index tends to save time and labour, that are often unnecessarily wasted in searching for particular passages. Hence a large, ponderous volume, without an alphabetical index, may be aptly compared with an extensive street, or town, the houses of which are not provided with numbers. ”

“ Everybody knows, of course, how to use an index to look things up once in a while and it saves time if the index not only tells the page on which a given subject is referred to, but conveys some idea of what that reference is about, as this index tries to do. If, for example, you are studying the Alpine regions in school you may already have covered the question of how flowing water carves mountain valleys, but you may not have had anything about why the Alps don't run north and south, as so many of earth's great ranges do ”

“ Antonio describes the index as a Herculean work, and LeClerc observes that if we think it surprising that so great a man should undertake so laborious a task we must remember that such indexes can only be made by a very able man. ”

“ Notes and Queries, 5th S., xii. 511.
There is one project of the Index Society which has never been undertaken, but which is still wanted as much as ever—viz. a general or universal index. Some think this to be an impossibility, and that to attempt its preparation is a waste of time. Those who hold this opinion have not sufficient faith in the simplicity and usefulness of the alphabet. [pg 215] Every one has notes and references of some kind, which are useless if kept unarranged, but, if sorted into alphabetical order, become valuable. ”

“ CHAPTER II. Amusing and Satirical Indexes.
"It will thus often happen that the controversialist states his case first in the title-page; he then gives it at greater length in the introduction; again perhaps in a preface; a third time in an analytical form through means of a table of contents; after all this skirmishing he brings up his heavy columns in the body of the book; and if he be very skilfull he may let fly a few Parthian arrows from the index."—J. Hill Burton's Book-Hunter.
NE of the last things the genuine indexer thinks of is to make his work amusing ”

“ Almost all of the rare originals are without indexes. In the present reprint series, this immense mass of historical data will be made accessible through one exhaustive analytical index, to occupy the concluding volume. ”

“ We want as little classification as possible in an alphabetical index. Mr. W. F. Poole wisely said in reference to the proposal of one of his helpers on the Index of Periodical Literature to place Wealth, Finance, and Population under the heading of Political Economy: "The fatal defect of every classified arrangement is that nobody understands it except the person who made it and he is often in doubt."
3. The entries to be arranged according to the order of the English alphabet. ”

“ Some relief is obtained from its burthen, if we in our turn make the men of our own generation debtors to us. The plan on which my Index is made, will I trust be found convenient. By the alphabetical arrangement in the separate entries of each article the reader, I venture to think, will be greatly facilitated in his researches. Certain subjects I have thought it best to form into groups. [pg 107] Under America, France, Ireland, London, Oxford, Paris and Scotland, are gathered together almost all the references to those subjects. ”

“ The advantage of this plan is that a précis can be made of the articles or papers which will be useful to the reader as containing an abstract of the contents, much of which might not be of sufficient importance to be sorted out in the alphabet; in the case where the entries are important they can be duplicated in the alphabet. A good specimen of this plan of indexing [pg 159] may be found in the indexes to the Journal of the Statistical Society. ”

“ This paramount characteristic of the good indexer is by no means an easy one to acquire. When the indexer is absorbed [pg 179] in the work upon which he is working, he takes for granted much with which the consulter coming fresh to the subject is not familiar. The want of this characteristic is most marked in the case of the bad indexer.
In printing references to the entries in an index it is important to make a distinction between the volume and the page; this is done best by printing the number of the volumes in Roman letters and the page in Arabic numerals. ”

“ One cannot but wish that an index accompanied the paper, as its usefulness would be thereby greatly increased, particularly as, by its arrangement, such subjects as depreciation, non-physical values, etc., are treated of in many different portions of the paper. ”

“ Want of cross references.—Although an alphabetical index should not be classified, yet it is necessary to gather together the synonyms, and place all the references under the best of these headings, with cross references from the others. For instance, Wealth should be under W, Finance under F, and Population under P ”

“ If an index were deemed so valuable in those periods of comparative leisure, one as complete as possible is surely an absolute necessity in these days when time is at the highest premium, but the maker is under obligation to study conciseness in order that the index may not be as long as the book. ”

“ Indexes and Lists of Acts
Each group has its own index except for a few large groups each subgroup of which may have its own index. When the work is complete there will also be an index to the work as a whole.
At the end of every index is a list of cross-references to relevant enactments which have not been cited in any relevant crossnote. ”

“ Always growing and never pretending to be complete, the index will be useful to all, and its consulters will be sure to find something worth their trouble, if not all they may require.
Some attempts have been made at compiling a general index, for what are Poole's Index, Index of Essays, Q.P. Indexes, Hetherington's Index to the Periodicals of the World, and Indexes to "The Times," but contributions towards a universal index? Such a work as is here proposed can scarcely be carried out unless Government aid is extended to it ”