The printing should all be executed in one office, under the
immediate eye of the superintendent. The same type, and the same
style of work should be used in all parts.
It is not necessary, upon this plan, to finish a catalogue in
manuscript, before beginning to print. Titles may be prepared and
stereotyped without regard to their future arrangement. The work of
the printer may keep pace with that of the transcribers. Should it be
desired, a catalogue might be published in parts, each comprising a
particular class of books.
The titles, after having been set up in type, and corrected with the
utmost care, are, before stereotyping, to be sent to the library to
which they belong, to be revised, by a comparison with the books
themselves. This arrangement implies the necessity of a large fount
of type, and of promptness on the part of librarians.
The titles are then to be stereotyped, each upon a separate plate,
or block. The headings (if they be names) are to stand on plates
distinct from the titles. This is required, in order to avoid
repeating them for each title. They must be separate from the titles,
that other titles may, if occasion require, be interposed.
Every name, or other word, used as a heading, is to be printed, in
the title, in small capitals; thus each stereotyped title will show,
at a glance, the heading under which it belongs.
Each title is to have upon it a running number, according to
the order of its being stereotyped. The use of this number is
for reference to the _Local Index_ of the general catalogue, in
which the libraries, where the books are to be found, will be
designated. When the catalogue is made up, these numbers will not
be in connection; but in the index, they will follow each other in
consecutive order, and should there have, printed against each, the
names of the several libraries containing the book. These numbers
will further serve to show the extent and progress of the work.
Copies of the titles stereotyped will be kept at the Smithsonian
Institution, arranged in their numerical order; so that in referring
to any particular title it may not be necessary to copy the title in
full, but merely to give the number attached to it.
It will sometimes happen, that words, which, according to the rules,
are used as headings, do not occur in the titles. There would, then,
without further provision, be no means of ascertaining, from an
examination of the plate itself, its order in the collection. To meet
this case, the expedient has been adopted, of setting up the word to
be used as the heading, in the margin of the title, and in shorter
type, which will then show itself upon the plate, but not upon the
printed page.