How to Catalogue a Library Part 14

"_Exception 1._ Enter the royal academies of Berlin, Gottingen, Leipzig, Lisbon, Madrid, Munich, St. Petersburg, Vienna, etc., and the 'Inst.i.tut' of Paris under those cities.

An exception is an evil; this one is adopted because the academies are usually known by the name of the cities, and are hardly ever referred to by the name Konigliches, Real, etc."

I cannot agree with Mr. Cutter's remarks in the above extracts. After a pretty extensive experience of the cataloguing of transactions, I have found plan No. 2 far and away the most convenient for reference; it has its own peculiar difficulties, but these are really much fewer than in any of the other plans, and I entirely fail to see why it should be stigmatized as "utterly unsuited to American and English societies." No doubt a large number of societies come under the heading of London, but most large towns in the country have their societies, and the societies of Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Manchester all find their proper places in the alphabet.

The fourth plan may be simple, but it is far from logical, and some good reason is required for the adoption of separate rules for English and foreign societies.

Exception 1 is surely unnecessary, for the publications of the Societe Meteorologique de France have just as much right to appear under "Paris"

as the publications of the "Inst.i.tut" (which, by the way, is the "Inst.i.tut" of France, not of Paris).

The difficulties of this first word (not an article) arrangement are numerous. For instance, all the French societies will be under _Societe_, and a large number of the English societies under _Royal_.

Then, again, how many German and Swiss towns have a _Naturforschende Gesellschaft_--the confusion of which is obviated by arranging them under the names of the towns. This is one reason; but another is, that many of these societies have double t.i.tles, with the designation of the society in different languages. For instance, the _Neue Denkschriften_ of the "Allgemeine Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur die gesammten Naturwissenschaften," at Zurich, is also styled _Nouveaux Memoires de la Societe Helvetique des Sciences Naturelles_; and this at once confuses the society with "Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft," which is also named "Allgemeine Schweizerische Gesellschaft" and "Societe Helvetique des Sciences Naturelles." Several of the Scandinavian societies have a Latin as well as a native name. Thus the "Kongl.

Vetenskaps Societet," of Upsala, is also called "Regia Societas Scientiarum Upsaliensis," and its publications are known as _Acta_ and _Nota Acta_. Again, the publications of the "Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab," of Trondhjem, have been in German as well as in Danish, and in the former language the style of the society has taken the two forms of "Drontheimische Gesellschaft" and of "Konigl.

Norwegische Gesellschaft." Again, Bohemian societies have both a German and a Bohemian t.i.tle, and the cataloguer must choose which he will take.

It cannot be said that by arranging the societies under the names of the places where they meet all difficulties are overcome, but it may safely be said that they are found with much greater ease by the consulter of the catalogue, than if they were spread about in the alphabet under the first words of their t.i.tles (not an article), and this, I think, is the greatest advantage that can be claimed for any cataloguing scheme.

Another good reason for placing the societies under their place of meeting is that their transactions are most commonly referred to as the "Paris Memoires," the "Berlin Abhandlungen," or the "Copenhagen Skrifter;" and therefore it is most objectionable that the reader who knows what he wants should have, before consulting the catalogue, to seek for the exact wording of the society's name.

The London Mathematical Society would come under _London_ by Cutter's rule, although it is always spoken of as the Mathematical Society simply; while some of the publications of the Meteorological Society would be arranged under B (British Meteorological Society) and others under M (Meteorological Society). Those who have little to do with transactions can scarcely guess the confusion that occurs in catalogues when the references are not arranged upon a sound system.

There are two very serious objections to the geographical arrangement of the places where societies are seated rather than the alphabetical. One is, that you have to think what country the place is in before looking for it; and the other, that the boundaries of Europe are constantly being altered. If every society is placed under the name of the town where it holds its meetings, and the towns are arranged in one general alphabet, we have an arrangement that is simplicity itself.

It is of paramount importance to place all the publications of a society under one heading, even when the place of meeting may have been changed; and in such a case as this the only safe plan is to arrange all under the name of the last place of meeting, with cross-references from the other places. A good instance of this is the well-known set of transactions which is almost invariably quoted as the _Nova Acta_. The "Kaiserliche Leopoldino-Carolinische Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher" published their Acta at Nuremberg between 1730 and 1754, and their _Nova Acta_ at the same place between 1757 and 1791. The _Nova Acta_ has subsequently been published at Erlangen, Breslau, and Bonn, and the present seat of the academy is at Dresden.

There is of course a difficulty in the case of peripatetic societies both national (such as the British a.s.sociation) and international (such as the Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology); but these societies have usually permanent headquarters, and these may be treated as the headings.

No mention has been made of what we rather vaguely style "Publis.h.i.+ng Societies," because these require special rules. They should be catalogued with a general entry under the division of Transactions, but the separate books published by each society must be catalogued in the general catalogue.

_Journals._

Mr. Cutter's rule, No. 54 (_Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue_, p. 53), is as follows: "Periodicals are to be treated as anonymous, and entered under the first word. Ex. _Popular_ Science Monthly, _Littell's_ Living Age.

"When a periodical changes its t.i.tle, the whole may be catalogued under the original t.i.tle, with an explanatory note there, and a reference from the new t.i.tle to the old; or each part may be catalogued under its own t.i.tle, with references: 'For a continuation _see_ ;' 'For ten previous volumes _see_ .'

"Make a reference from the name of the editor when the periodical is commonly called by his name, as is the case with Silliman's _Journal of Science_...."

I agree, generally, with this rule, but I think that we must arrange somehow that the whole of a journal should appear in one place in the catalogue, however much the t.i.tle may have been changed. Thus the t.i.tle of the well-known _Philosophical Magazine_ has undergone many changes, but all should appear under the heading of "_Philosophical Magazine_"

The first series is known as _Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine_, and the current series as the _London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal_.

Although the rule should be to place the t.i.tles under the first word not an article, some judgment must be displayed. Thus the _New Monthly Magazine_ should be placed under "New," because it was a rival and not a continuation of the _Monthly Magazine_; but the _Neue Notizen_ of Froriep must come under "Notizen," of which it is a second series.

As a rule, it is objectionable to place journals under their editors'

names, because editors are continually changing. For instance, the famous German scientific journal (_Annalen der Physik_) which was for so many years a.s.sociated with the name of Poggendorff no longer bears the name of that distinguished man. After his death his name entirely disappeared from the t.i.tle-page.

Something must also be said respecting astronomical and meteorological observations, reports of various inst.i.tutions, surveys, etc. These are not strictly transactions; but the same principle which makes it expedient to take transactions out of the general alphabet applies to these books. Observations are sometimes catalogued under the name of the observer; but this is a bad practice, because the observer changes, and it is only the observatory which is permanent, and this should be arranged under the place where the observatory is situated, as Greenwich, Paris, etc. The treatment of reports is a more difficult matter, and here again judgment must be called into play. A particular report on a special subject must be treated as a book; but the series of reports of commissions, or the annual reports of an inst.i.tution as serials, may well be brought under a separate division.

[Decoration]

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Was it not Christopher North's Shepherd who said, "Open a school and call it an academy"?

[33] _Monthly Notices_, No. 2.

[Decoration]

CHAPTER VII.

SOMETHING ABOUT MSS.

Very little need be said here about the cataloguing of ma.n.u.scripts, because it is a distinct art from the cataloguing of printed books; but most libraries contain a few ma.n.u.scripts, and therefore it is needful to say something.

What a large collection of MSS. really is, is partly answered by Mr.

Maunde Thompson, late Keeper of the MSS., and now Princ.i.p.al Librarian, British Museum, in an interesting paper, "On the Arrangement and Preservation of Ma.n.u.scripts," read before the Library a.s.sociation in 1886. Mr. Thompson writes:--

"While in foreign countries it is the custom to subdivide and deposit in different custodies the several cla.s.ses of MSS. after their kind, in England the Museum is the only national inst.i.tution where MSS. of all descriptions are purchased for the public use. In the Department of MSS., accordingly, may be found every kind of MS., from papyri dating back to the second century before Christ down to the correspondence of our own day on which the ink is scarcely dry.

Papyri, ancient and mediaeval MSS. of all periods and in all languages from the fifth to the fifteenth century and later, illuminated MSS., literary works of all periods, state papers and literary and private correspondence, charters and rolls, seals, casts of seals, and bullae--all these are brought together under the custody of the keepers."[34]

Now very few of these rare objects will be found in ordinary libraries.

The ma.n.u.scripts to be found there will probably be literary works, historical and literary correspondence, and perhaps some deeds or family doc.u.ments. If the ma.n.u.scripts consist only of a few unprinted literary works or original ma.n.u.scripts afterwards printed, these may well be included in the general catalogue of printed books. When there are autograph letters and miscellaneous MSS., these must be kept separate.

The cataloguer must then consult the best catalogues of collections of ma.n.u.scripts, and choose the plan best suited to his particular purpose.

A collection of autograph letters will best be catalogued under the names of the writers, arranged in alphabetical order; while a series of historical doc.u.ments will often be more conveniently arranged in chronological order.

The usual mode of cataloguing adopted is to register the contents of the particular collection of ma.n.u.scripts in the order which it stands, and then to make a full index. The result of this plan is the production of a series of volumes of great interest to the reader. Many a pleasant and instructive hour may be spent in the turning over of the pages of such catalogues as that of the Harleian Collection, or of the various volumes which contain the descriptions of the additional ma.n.u.scripts in the British Museum.

There is, however, a great want of a general catalogue or general index to the vast collections of the British Museum. The production of such a work would cause so large an expenditure of labour that perhaps we can scarcely expect it to be produced; but I venture to think that something might be done to bring the very miscellaneous collection of catalogues into some more uniform system than it is at present. The subject index which can be referred to in the MS. room is a work of the greatest value, and he who turns over a few pages of a few of the volumes of which this subject catalogue consists will obtain a more vivid idea of the exceeding richness of the MS. Department of the British Museum than by any other means. This cla.s.sified catalogue we owe to Mr. Bond, formerly Keeper of the MSS., and late Princ.i.p.al Librarian, and every scholar must feel deep grat.i.tude to him for this great gift of knowledge. If this were printed, it would form a work of immense value; but probably before this could be done it would be necessary to re-catalogue on one system a large number of the entries.

With the present catalogues at the Reading Room table, when a certain known ma.n.u.script is required, the searcher goes at once to the special catalogue, and he has little or no difficulty. If he wants to find a ma.n.u.script upon a particular subject, he can look at the subject catalogue; but if he wants to find all the ma.n.u.scripts of a given book, he will have to look up the separate indexes of the different collections. This will be a long and tedious undertaking, and the searcher will usually need the a.s.sistance of the gentlemen of the Department--a.s.sistance which is always freely and courteously rendered.

Catalogues of certain cla.s.ses of ma.n.u.scripts have been produced which are of monumental value; but I think a great desideratum is a catalogue of all the distinct works in the Ma.n.u.script Department, with information respecting the printing of such as have been printed. Possibly such a work, by which can be found the MS. copies of the works of our great authors,--and, for the matter of that, of our small ones too,--is being prepared. It will be a work of great labour, and if the Department prepare it, the learning of the country will be placed under a lasting obligation.

We may look forward to a time when a national bibliography of our literature shall be produced, in which ma.n.u.scripts will be registered as well as printed books. One great characteristic of ma.n.u.scripts is the permanence of their reference numbers. Printed books are moved and change their shelf-marks, but the number of a ma.n.u.script is always the same. Sometimes the ma.n.u.script is known by the name of the collection with its number, and sometimes the reference is to a former shelf-mark; but if originally a shelf-mark, it is continued as a part of the ma.n.u.script, however much the original position in the library may have been changed.

Catalogues of ma.n.u.scripts are more distinctly literary works than are catalogues of printed books. Thus Mr. G. F. Warner's _Catalogue of the Ma.n.u.scripts and Muniments of Alleyn's College of G.o.d's Gift at Dulwich_ (1881) forms an indispensable portion of any Shakespearian or dramatic library. The various catalogues of ma.n.u.scripts in the Bodleian Library, and the Catalogue of the Cambridge University Ma.n.u.scripts,[35] are additions to general literature of a very high character.

[Decoration]

FOOTNOTES:

[34] _Library Chronicle_, vol. iv., pp. 33-9.

[35] _Catalogue of the Ma.n.u.scripts Preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge._ Edited for the Syndics of the University Press, vol. i., 1856; vol. ii., 1857; vol. iii., 1858; vol. iv., 1861; vol. v., 1867. _Index_ by H. R. Luard, 1867. 8vo.