Single Author Principal-Entry.
Stationery. The Author-Entry. Full Names. Imprint and
Collation. Order of Information Tabulated. Subject-Entry.
Headings. Class-Entry.
To study systematically the various codes of cataloguing rules is of
great value to the beginner in the work of cataloguing a library,
though the apparent variations and contradictions in the codes are
at first somewhat confusing. Their practical application to work in
hand serves better to prove the usefulness and necessity of adopting
some code or a modification of it before much progress is made. Once a
choice is made, it is better to adhere to it uniformly throughout.
The purpose of the catalogue has a bearing upon the nature of the
stationery required. A catalogue cannot be written into a book like
an inventory; each item--even books by the same author or upon the
same subject--must be upon a separate paper slip or card cut uniformly
to any size fixed upon. Paper slips serve quite well for manuscript,
or "copy" as it is termed, for the printer, but tough cards of good
quality are needed for a catalogue on cards to be handled by many
persons. It is a good plan in any case first to prepare the catalogue
upon slips or cards for office use; then, when checked and revised, to
copy from these for public use, either upon the good quality cards as
suggested, or into the book-form of catalogues with separate leaves,
known as "sheaf-catalogues." This last-named form is preferable for
public use, and takes up less room. Any size of slips or cards may
be adopted provided they are exactly cut to a fixed size, 5 inches
by 3 inches being convenient; or the size usually provided with the
index filing outfits, now so generally in commercial use, which were
first used in the cataloguing of libraries, and then applied to other
purposes. If the slips or cards are for handwriting, they should be
ruled "feint" across, and whether so written or typed, are better
with red lines marking margins of about half an inch at each side. If
written by hand, the writing should be round, clear, of fair size, and
above all, free from flourishes, whether written for public use or for
the printer.
Two of the first questions a catalogue will be expected to answer are
Have you a particular book by a given author?
What books have you by a named author?
These two questions are not precisely identical, though they are both
answered by the same form of catalogue entry, namely, that under the
surname of the writer of the book, known as the "author-entry." This,
or some substitute therefor, is invariably regarded as the main, or
principal, entry. Though the placing or position of such an entry is
not the same in both the dictionary and classified forms of catalogue,
one falling under the author's name according to its place in the
alphabet, and the other into its position in a class, the form of the
entry itself is the same in both. The particulars for this entry must
always be taken from the full title-page of the book, never from the
binding or from the preliminary or half-title, though at times this
half or "bastard-title" will furnish the name of the series or some
other detail not given elsewhere but wanted for full-entry.
The title-page of the first book we deal with reads:--
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| IN PORTUGAL |
| |
| BY AUBREY F. G. BELL |
| |
| Oh quem fôra a Portugal |
| Terra que Deus bemdizia! |
| _Romance._ |
| (O to go to Portugal, land heaven-blest) |
| |
| LONDON: John Lane, The Bodley Head. |
| |
| NEW YORK: John Lane Company. MCMXII. |
| |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The surname of the author then is Bell, and we
either enclose his further names in parentheses, as
Bell (Aubrey F. G.)
or with a comma and full stop, as
Bell, Aubrey F. G.
There is no reason for advocating the adoption of one of these
styles more than the other, especially in these days of type-setting
machines. Where hand composition is still in use, and particularly in
small printing offices, the use of a large number of parentheses ()
causes "a run on sorts," that is, the supply wanted is greater than
is ordinarily found with a fount of jobbing type. Nowadays, it being
merely a question of taste, and not one of expediency, it matters
less, and as my personal preference is for the use of the comma and
point, that style is used in the examples given throughout this book.
The form decided upon must be adhered to if only to ensure uniform
appearance--certainly both forms should not be found in one catalogue.
Attention to details of this kind is the essence of good work, and
after a time cataloguers, becoming accustomed to a particular style,
fall, as a matter of course, into its use quite readily.
The surname is followed, as shown, by the Christian or forenames, but
we are often confronted with the necessity for deciding how much of
these forenames shall go in--shall they be given as on the title-page,
or shall we find out the full names covered by the initials, or will
initials alone suffice? In some catalogues the full names are given, in
others only the initials, and in a few rare instances of "index-entry"
catalogues the surname alone. For an average catalogue to give the name
in its fullest possible form is more than is required, and is wasteful
of space, while the bare initials do not enable us to discern whether
the author is a man or a woman. It is more helpful to give the first or
other important forename, and to do so does not lengthen the catalogue
to any appreciable extent. The danger of this omission is exemplified
at the end of this chapter.
In the catalogues of large libraries it is often necessary to take the
trouble to get all names as fully and correctly as possible, otherwise,
owing to the likelihood of numerous entries under persons with the
same surnames, errors may result if the authors are not distinguished
from one another in this way. This does not imply that the cataloguer
of a collection of books up to 100,000 volumes need go to the trouble
of giving every name in full as if he were compiling a biographical
dictionary; nor need he add the dates of the author's birth and
death to the name, as is sometimes done, because the labour will be
unappreciated, and be wasted. Such dates, however, have at times to be
given to distinguish between authors whose names are alike.
It is a wise plan, in any case, to limit the forenames or initials to
those _used_ by an author on his books at any time during his career.
For all reasonable purposes, or any purpose, Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
for example, is sufficient, though his name was properly Gabriel
Charles Dante Rossetti, Charles Dickens, instead of Charles John Huffam
Dickens, will not be mistaken for any other of the name, and Joaquin
Miller will serve better than Cincinnatus Heine Miller.
A few instances taken from recent books by well-known authors will show
how difficulties may arise in this connection. George Bernard Shaw's
"Man and Superman" according to the title-page is "by Bernard Shaw,"
whereas his "The quintessence of Ibsenism" is "by G. Bernard Shaw."
Martin Hume's work on "The love affairs of Mary, Queen of Scots" is
given as "by Martin Hume," but his "Spain: its greatness and decay" is
"by Martin A. S. Hume." There is the "Life of Gladstone" "by Herbert
Woodfield Paul," a book "Men and letters" "by Herbert Paul," and
"Matthew Arnold" (in the "English Men of Letters" series), "by Herbert
W. Paul." Then we have the case of the well-known writer on animal life
who changed his name recently on his books from Ernest Seton Thompson
to Ernest Thompson Seton. This leads the unwary cataloguer into the
mistake of getting books by the same author under different names. It
must be confessed that the risk is not great where such well-known
writers are concerned, but if they should be unknown authors of a
past age or another country, the cataloguer would probably not be so
well-informed, and fall into error. To cite an instance of this, the
French author, Louis Jacques Napoleon Bertrand, we are told, took the
name of Ludovic Bertrand, and later substituted Aloysius for Ludovic,
the wonder being that he did not change the Bertrand also. There is
need to be constantly on the alert for those who have no fixity of
name. The only little satisfaction the cataloguer has if he finds he
has tripped is that few will have sufficient knowledge to discover his
fault.
Besides the catalogues of important libraries, the following may be
named as among the more useful works of reference for working out the
names of authors and other personages:--
PHILLIPS, Lawrence B. The dictionary of biographical
reference. 1871 and later reprints.
STEPHEN, Sir Leslie, and Sir Sidney LEE (_Eds._)
The dictionary of national biography; with
the supplements. 1885-1912.
ALLIBONE, S. A. Critical dictionary of English
literature and British and American authors;
with supplement of J. F. Kirk. 1885-91.
SMITH, B. E. (_Ed._) The Century cyclopedia of
names. 1894.
AUGE, Claude (_Ed._) Nouveau Larousse illustré;
avec supplement.
Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne. 1811-28.
Nouvelle biographie générale. 1852-66.
Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. 1875-1908.
Appleton's Cyclopædia of American biography.
1888-89.
The _New York State University Library Bulletin, Bibliography_, No.
5, issued in 1898 at the price of 3d., consists of "A selection of
Reference Books for the use of Cataloguers in finding Full Names."
To revert to the book we are dealing with. As the author gives his
first Christian name in full and two initials for the others we may
regard it as quite full enough for any style of catalogue, and adding
the title of the book, the entry becomes
BELL, Aubrey F. G.
In Portugal.
The quotation on the title-page, with its translation, is ignored
altogether, as would be anything of a similar nature, such as a motto;
these are merely adornments of the title-page, and have no bearing
whatever upon the book from the cataloguer's standpoint. If it were
intended to be very exact the omission could be indicated by three dots
(...) but the need for doing this only applies in the case of rare or
special editions.
We have now got the first two parts of our catalogue entry, and in the
order from which there can be no deviation. Our next step is to decide
how much further information is to be given. A catalogue of a library
has been defined as a list of the titles of books which it contains,
and that it (the catalogue) must not be expected to give any further
description of a book than the author gives, or ought to give, on the
title-page, and the publisher in the imprint, or colophon.
The catalogue can be made to give, besides the titles of books, such
descriptions, more or less extended, drawn from all available sources
of information, as may be necessary to furnish means of identifying
each work, of distinguishing its different editions, of ascertaining
the requisites of a perfect copy, of learning all facts of interest
respecting its authorship, publication, typography, subsequent
causalities, alterations, etc., its market value, and the estimation in
which it is held.
For our entry we shall adopt the happy mean between these two and
add to this entry, because it is the principal one, the information
contained in the "imprint" at the foot of the title-page, giving the
place of publication, the publisher's (or printer's) name, and the
date of publication. In the early days of printing this information
was given at the end of a book, and termed the "colophon." We shall
also give the information spoken of as "the collation," consisting
of a statement of the number of pages in the book, whether it is
illustrated, and how, by maps, portraits, or otherwise, and even if the
illustrations are in colour.
The first-named place of publication on the title-page of the book
is London. In the catalogues of British libraries it is a recognised
custom to omit naming the place of publication when a book is
unmistakably published in London, this being taken as understood, all
other places being given. Except in booksellers' lists and similar
catalogues, the name of the publisher may also be left out, though
it is often given in the full form of library catalogues. In the
case of this book, the name of the second place, New York, is merely
supplemental, the book being printed as well as published in this
country. The date of publication must always be given, and in every
entry (with the single exception of works of fiction, referred to
later), not in Roman numerals, however, but in Arabic.
When books are in a number of volumes, the earliest and latest dates
are given. These dates are not necessarily those of the first and last
volumes, as the volumes may not have appeared in regular sequence, or a
set may be made up from editions of varying dates.
For "the collation" we carefully examine the book and find that
it has eight pages of prefatory matter marked with Roman numerals
(i.--viii.), and the body of the work contains 227, paged in Arabic.
This is shown as pp. viii. + 227, or as pp. viii., 227. The book has
no map or illustrations. The enumeration of the pages in this way, it
may be said, conveys no very exact idea of the extent of the work, as,
of course, large type requires many more pages than small. Even the
thickness of the book is not indicated by stating the number of pages,
as an India-paper edition will contain just the same number of pages as
one on thick paper. For these and other reasons, such information can
be omitted if economy of space is of any consequence. If a book is in
more than one volume it is unusual to give the number of pages, though
it is sometimes done in publishers' lists. A "book" is invariably
understood to mean a complete work, whether in one or many volumes.
The size of the book may also be given, and will occasionally prove
useful, while completing the entry. The book we are dealing with is
octavo in size, coming between the sizes known as "crown" and "demy,"
but as these terms convey no special idea to the uninformed in book
sizes, and, indeed, no very definite idea to those who are, it will
suffice for most purposes to call the book 8º (octavo) unless the
height is given instead in inches or in centimetres, as 8¼in. or 21cm.
For most catalogues it will be found sufficient to give the sizes when
they exceed octavo, it being understood that all books are of that
size, or less, unless the contrary is indicated by the signs 4º(quarto)
or fº (folio).
The entry completed upon these lines becomes
BELL, Aubrey F. G.
In Portugal. _London and New York_, John
Lane, 1912. pp. viii., 227. 8º
The information to be given, when tabulated, falls into this order
1.--Author's surname.
2.--The author's forenames.
3.--The title of the book.
4.--The name of editor or translator.
5.--The edition if stated.
6.--The name of series or publication society (if any).
7.--Place of publication.
8.--Publisher's (or printer's) name.
9.--The date of publication.
10.--The collation (or the number of volumes if more than one).
11.--The size.
12.--The shelf, press, or other finding mark.
13.--Any descriptive note or contents.
Numbers 4, 5, 6, 12, and 13 are not required or given in the above
entry, but are here inserted to make the table complete. With the
exception of numbers 1 to 4, this order may be varied at will, but only
at the outset, as whatever order is decided upon must afterwards be
adhered to. The following statement of the order given in some of the
rules is of interest in this connection, and will be helpful:--
_British Museum order under its Rules_ (3, 16-22):
1, Author. 2, Title. 3, Edition. 4, Number of parts or volumes
or numbered pages if a single volume. 5, Place of printing or
publication and printer's name (if necessary). 6, Date. 7,
Size. 8, Press mark. 9, Note, if required.
_Cutter's Rules_:
1, Author. 2, Title. 3, Edition. 4, Place of publication. 5,
Publisher's name. 6, Date. 7, Number of volumes or number of
pages, illustrations, etc. 8, Size. 9, Notes of contents.
_Library Association and American Library Association Rules_:
1, Author. 2, Title. 3, Additions to title, if any. 4,
Edition. 5, Place of publication. 6, Publisher's name. 7,
Place of printing, if given. 8, Date. 9, Volumes or pages,
illustrations, etc. 10, Size. 11, Series. 12, Contents and
notes.
For most libraries the information can be satisfactorily curtailed and
limited to the following:--
1, Author. 2, Title. 3, Edition. 4, Date. 5, Press mark. 6,
Contents or annotations. To these may be added, between 3 and
4, an abbreviation telling if the book is illustrated, as
"illus.", instead of giving the collation in full.
The reduced entry for our book accordingly becomes
BELL, Aubrey F. G.
In Portugal. 1912
Having the author or principal entry complete, we now proceed to
examine the book for subject-entry, and find that it consists of
descriptions of journeys to places off the beaten track in Portugal.
Even with the title of the book so obvious and the subject so clearly
named in it, it is wise not to take it for granted, and examine
the book as it may contain something of value belonging to another
subject--for example, there is a book of travel in the Near East
bearing the title "Pen and pencil in Asia Minor" which contains no less
than thirteen chapters upon silkworms and the silk industry, not only
in the Levant, but in France and elsewhere--quite a respectable book
within a book, but this the title-page fails to reveal. The subject
of our book, however, is open to no doubt, and for the dictionary
catalogue the subject-entry is
=Portugal=:
Bell, A. F. G. In Portugal. 1912
No further entries are called for than these two (author and subject).
In all entries subordinate to the main entry, where the fullest
particulars concerning the book are given, the information is condensed
sufficiently to identify the book upon the supposition that those
who require more details will turn to the main entry for them. The
omissions from the subordinate entries are the full Christian names
of authors (initials alone being given), the names of editors,
translators, or illustrators, the names of series, the collations,
sizes, and places of publication. The entries used throughout this work
demonstrate this. The dates of publications are invariably given in all
entries except where shown.
It has been contended that all details are as much wanted under the
subject as under the author. There is much to be said in favour of
this, but it is impossible to make every entry a main-entry when
expense and the size of the catalogue have to be considered.
When the time comes for preparing the manuscript of the catalogue for
the press, should it happen that there was no other book upon the
subject, then the form of entry can be changed to what may be called a
subject-title-entry, thus
Portugal, In. Bell, A. F. G. 1912
upon the principle that a "heading" is not required unless there are
two or more books to go under it. By the reverse process, if there
should be two or more title-entries of books unquestionably upon the
same subject then these are converted into entries under a single
subject-heading. If the two entries were
Portugal, In. Bell, A. F. G. 1912
Portugal, Sunshine and storm in. Watson, G. 1904
they are changed to
=Portugal=:
Bell, A. F. G. In Portugal. 1912
Watson, G. Sunshine and storm in Portugal. 1904
It is possible further to economise these entries:
=Portugal=:
Bell, A. F. G. In P. 1912
Watson, G. Sunshine, etc. in P. 1904
This style was adopted in quite good catalogues, and there is no
particular loss of information through it, though the gain of space
hardly compensates for the want of clearness, to say nothing of the
somewhat bald appearance of the entries.
In all the subject-entries above it will be observed that the author's
surname leads, the reason for this being that it serves to guide
to the name under which the main-entry is to be found. The books
are also arranged in alphabetical order by these surnames under the
subject-heading.
If the catalogue we are compiling is not dictionary but classified in
its arrangement, then, as already stated, there is but one entry (other
than the brief index entries), and that the main-entry. Upon this is
marked the numerical symbols of the classification adopted, which we
shall presume throughout is the best-known and most used, Dewey's
_Decimal Classification_. For convenience in sorting, the numbers are
better written on the top right-hand of the slip or card. Our entry is
marked accordingly
=914.69=
BELL, Aubrey F. G. In Portugal. _London and
New York_, John Lane, 1912. pp. viii., 227. 8º
This entry can be curtailed if considered desirable, as shown above for
the dictionary catalogue.
As some persons may not have used the Dewey Classification, it may be
explained that these numerical symbols signify
900 History (the General Class).
910 Geography and Travels.
914 Europe.
914.6 Spain (the Iberian Peninsula).
914.69 Portugal.
Brief entries are needed for the author and subject-index
or indexes, which appear at either the end
or beginning of the catalogue when printed, thus
Bell, A. F. G. In Portugal. 914.69
Portugal (Travels). 914.69
In the following pages all the examples given to illustrate the various
points which arise in the cataloguing of books are worked out in full
for both the dictionary and classified catalogues, in order to show the
whole method of treatment, as well as to prevent the misunderstanding
which arose upon explanations given only by way of suggestion, and not
as completed examples, in my former book upon this subject.
To show how difficult it is for experienced cataloguers to avoid
error and the pitfalls in their way, it may be mentioned that several
otherwise good catalogues have these two books
Here and there in Italy and over the border, by
Linda Villari. 1893
Italian life in town and country, by L. Villari. 1902
entered as
VILLARI, Linda. Here and there in Italy. 1893
-- Italian life in town and country. 1902
though the latter book is by Luigi Villari. With nothing in either
book to show this, the presumption that both books are by the same
author is excusable, the initials of the authors' names and the subject
being alike, yet it proves that it does not do to jump to conclusions.
Correctly catalogued, the entries are
VILLARI, Linda. Here and there in Italy and over
the border. pp. viii., 269. 1893
VILLARI, Luigi. Italian life in town and country.
(_Our neighbours._) pp. xii., 261, illus. 1902
and the subject-entries are
=Italy.=
Villari, L. Here and there in Italy. 1893
Villari, L. Italian life in town and country. 1902
Both entries will be marked 914.5 for the classified catalogue
(History--Geography and Travels--Europe--Italy), and the index entries
will be
Villari, Linda. Here and there in Italy. 914.5
Villari, Luigi. Italian life. 914.5
Italy (Travel). 914.5