Mr. J. Edmands, in “Rules for alfabeting,” read at the meeting of the
American Library Association in August, 1887, and published in the
_Library journal_, 12: 326–341, discussed the subject carefully. A
committee of the Association was directed to prepare a code of rules,
to be reported in the _Library journal_; for their report see 14:
273–274. Their code coincides with mine (§§ 214–239), except (1) that
they adopt my former order, “person, place, title, subject (except
person and place), form,” and not the present rule (§ 214), “person,
place, followed by subject (except person and place), form and title,”
an arrangement which probably was not proposed to the committee; and
(2) that when two or more names are spelled exactly alike except for
the umlaut in names in which the German ä, ö, or ü may occur, the
committee put all the names having the umlaut last, _e. g._, all the
Müllers after the Mullers. I arrange by the forenames.
Mr. Edmands correctly states as the principle of alphabeting
“_Something follows nothing_; or, conversely, _Nothing before
something_; thus in
Art of living In clover
Arthur Incas
the _art_, in the first case, and the _in_, in the second, ar followed
by a space, i. e., by _nothing_, and so precede the single word in
which the t and the n are followed by a letter; i. e., by _something_.”
His Rules agree with those stated or implied in § 214 and following
sections, with three exceptions. The first is this:
“A word used independently as a subject heding should precede the same
word used in connection with another. And if this word is coupled
with another word to form a compound subject heding, it should follow
the simple heding. And if this word used as a simple heding is also
used a substantiv to form a different subject heding, and is also
used adjectivly before a noun, the substantiv use should precede the
adjectiv use. And so we hav this order:
Art
Art and artists
Art of conversation
Art amateur
“The reasons for it ar clear and strong. A substantiv should precede
an adjectiv, as being the more important word, and as being less
closely connected with the following than an adjectiv. In uttering
the frases Art applied to industry, Art of conversation, there is a
perceptible suspension of the voice after the word Art, which does not
occur in the case of Art journal, art amateur.”
The reason is not strong enough to justify interfering with the
alphabetical order, which demands that amateur shall precede and.
It is needless to compel the searcher to stop and think whether the
word “art” in the phrase he is hunting for is a noun {117} or an
adjective; indeed, it is not only a useless refinement, but positively
dangerous, as likely occasionally to lead him to overlook an entry
which is out of its alphabetical order.
The same objection applies to the practice of some cataloguers of
putting the plural immediately after the singular, even when the
alphabet demands that it should precede (as Charities, Charity), or
when many entries might come between (as between Bank and Banks). This
practice Mr. Edmands condemns.
The second exception is this:
“A single ful name should precede a double initial, i. e., a surname
with one Christian name should stand before the same surname with two
Christian names; thus,
John, _not_ J. M.
J. M., John.
This plainly contradicts the principle “nothing before something.” A
period is too trifling a matter to arrange by, and neglecting that
J followed by nothing J
should precede J followed by o, John.
The third exception is this:
A book written by a single author should precede one written by him and
another.
(See the argument in the note to § 240.)
The rules which agree are in substance as follows:
_New._ Titles with the initial word New used as a proper adjective
followed by a common noun, and those in which it forms a part of a
compound place name should be arranged in one series, alfabeting by
the last part. (New Amsterdam, new boat, New Canaan, new life.) Single
words beginning with «new», whether names of persons, places, or
things, should be arranged in a following alfabetical series.
The _hyfen_ is best disregarded, words connected by it being arranged
as two words.
If an _article_, which belongs before a word used as a heding, is
inserted after it, it is not to be taken account of in alfabeting.
The _plural_ in s should follow the singular. The _possessive_ case
singular should follow the singular and precede the plural in s. The
sequence, however, may not in either case be immediate. Several entries
may intervene. Plurals in ies of words ending in y should precede the
singular, tho not necessarily in immediate connection.
_Common and proper nouns._ In the case of words used sometimes as
common and sometimes as proper nouns, the true order is person, place,
and thing.
_Surnames._ Whenever a single name. Charles, Henry, William, is used
as the sole designation of a person, this should precede the same
word used as a surname. If several ranks are represented by one name,
precedence should be given to those bearing the highest rank in this
order, pope, emperor, king, noble, saint. If these represent different
nationalities they should be groupt in the alfabetical order of the
countries; and numerically under each country, as John I., John II.
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Family names that hav the same sound, but a different spelling, must be
separated, but the reader should be aided as much as we can by a free
use of cross references.
In names beginning with La, Le, and De—not French names—written
separately, it is better to disregard the separation, and arrange these
words as if they were written solidly.
_Abbreviations._ Names beginning with M’, Me, St, and Ste should be
arranged as if written out in ful, as Mac, Saint, and Sainte, for the
reason that they ar uniformly so pronounct, and often so written. And
for the same reason entries beginning with Dr., M., Mme., Mlle., Mr.,
and Mrs. should be treated as if they were written in ful, as Doctor,
Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle, Mister, and Mistress.
_Forenames._ When Christian names ar given in ful, the arrangement
should be in strict alfabetical order, following the surname. And use
should be made of all the helps which the cataloger has given for
distinguishing two or more persons whose names ar identical.
_Titles_, such as Gen., Don., Sir, ar to be allowed to stand, but not
to affect the arrangement.
_Numerals_ occurring as hedings should be treated as if written out in
letters. The novel “39 men for one woman” should be entered under t.
_Initials._ If the cataloger has simply followed the title-page and
given only initials of Christian names, the only safe course is to
treat every initial as a name; and, on the axiom “Nothing before
something,” the initial should precede the ful name. Thus J. precedes
James even tho, as may afterwards be learned, the J. stands for
Jehoshaphat.
_Dash._ In order to save space in printing, and for distinctness to the
eye, it is wel to use a dash to represent a word or group of words that
might otherwise hav to be repeated; or to inset the words that come
under the general heding. Care should be taken to make clear what the
dash stands for, and to confine its use within proper bounds.
It may be used when we hav several books written by one person; but it
should not be used to cover another person of the same surname.
It may be used to represent a word or group of words that indicate a
definite subject, as heat, moral science, socialists and Fourierism,
society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. But it should not be
used to represent a part of a compound subject-heding, nor a part of a
title; e. g., in the entries Historical portraits, Historical reading,
the word Historical should be spelled out in each case.
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