CHAPTER XII.

THE CLASSIFIED CATALOGUE.

=107.=--The difference between the dictionary and classified forms of catalogues already referred to in sections 8 and 9 may be further demonstrated by taking the two well-known railway guides, “Bradshaw” and the “A.B.C.,” in illustration. Both guides have merits of their own, yet are very unlike. The “A.B.C.” will show by ready reference and without any previous study of its arrangement, the times of departure for and arrival at a particular railway station, but it does not show the stoppages at intervening stations on the journey, or supply the exhaustive information that “Bradshaw” does. But before “Bradshaw” can be satisfactorily used its arrangement and order must be studied, and so it is with the classified catalogue. Its arrangement, that is the system of classification adopted, must first be understood, and then the order of sub-division of the classes must be ascertained before it can be properly used, unless such division happens to be alphabetical rather than natural or logical. Having mastered the classification and arrangement, the user of the classified catalogue has the advantage of an exhaustive list of a whole class of literature, then of a particular subject in the aggregate and afterwards in detail, and with all its collateral subjects brought together. That at least is the theory of its compilation. This form has the further advantage, already alluded to, of economy in production, as a book seldom calls for more than a single entry other than a reference in the index, whereas the number of entries to each book in a dictionary catalogue is seldom less than three.

Again a classed catalogue can be issued in sections, a class or more at the same time, and in large or small editions of each section, according to the demand for them. To be of any real service the dictionary catalogue must be published complete, as if issued in instalments it is of no value until completed because each section is not complete in itself as a class-list is.

Having said so much for the classed catalogue, it may be pointed out that the whole of the books contained in a library by a particular author cannot be ascertained by it without some trouble, unless it has a brief-title author-index as shown in section 112, nor can the books upon a stated country, say China, be found together in one place, those upon the religions of China would not be grouped with those upon its social customs, those upon its natural history would not be with either of these, and a book dealing with all of these together, inclusive of a description of the country, would be in a separate place.

=108.=--The arguments for and against the two styles of catalogue being carefully weighed, more especially from the point of view of general usefulness to the public concerned, and with due regard to cost of production, and choice having been made of the classified form of catalogue, the cataloguer will first decide upon the scheme of classification to be adopted, presuming that the library in hand is not already classified or its system of main classes is unsatisfactory for cataloguing purposes. This having been accomplished by means of Brown’s _Manual of Library Classification_, which summarises all the various systems, the author-entry is made upon the general principles already laid down in Chapters III. to VII. of the present work which are all equally applicable.

A line or two must be left at the top of the slip on which the entry is written for the purpose of marking the classification, division, and sub-division either by their names or by numbers, if the scheme adopted has a numerical notation. Supposing for example the book is

Ward, James. Historic ornament: treatise on decorative art and architectural ornament. Illus. 2 v. 8o. 1897

the slip or card would be marked as follows on the right hand top corner, as being the most convenient for sorting,

Fine Arts. [The class].

Ornament. [The division.]

or if the well-known Dewey Classification[2] is used, the number 745 would be written in the same place, signifying the class “Fine Arts,” the division “Drawing, Decoration, Design,” and the sub-division or definite subject, “Ornamental design.”

Under Brown’s Adjustable Classification,[3] the entry would be marked C 76, denoting the class, “Fine Arts,” the division “Decoration,” and the sub-division “General practice and examples.” In the dictionary catalogue this book would be entered under “Ward” and “Ornament.”

Another example is

Willmott, Robt. A. (_Ed._) The poets of the 19th century: [selections]. pp. xx, 620, port., illus. 8o. n.d.

This would be marked “Literature,” division “English Literature,” sub-division “Poetry,” and left for more detailed sub-division when it comes to be arranged with kindred works at the time of preparation for the press. The Dewey number would be 821.08 or according to Brown’s method of marking J 12.

A further illustration is

Bird, Robert. Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth. 8th ed. pp. xii, 498. sm. 8o. 1894

This would be marked “Theology” or “Religion,” division “Bible,” sub-division “Christ”; the Dewey number being 232.9, and that in Brown’s notation E168.

=109.=--The next illustration is one of some difficulty, inasmuch as it can be placed in three classes:

Macpherson, H. A., A. J. Stuart-Wortley, and Alex. I. Shand. The pheasant: natural history, shooting, cookery. (_Fur and feather ser._) pp. x, 265, illus. 1895

Having regard to the series in which the book appears, it cannot very well be placed under “Natural History,” nor is there much contained in it that appeals to the scientific naturalist, though a reference from the division “Game birds” in that class would be most desirable. As the pheasant has first to be shot before it can be cooked, and there are many more pages devoted to the shooting than to the cooking, the book is placed among sporting books: class “Fine Arts,” division “Recreative Arts,” sub-division “Field Sports,” further division “Shooting.” The Dewey number is accordingly 799, and the Brown mark C632.

In the dictionary catalogue a book like

Bernard, Henry M.

The apodidæ. (_Nature ser._) pp. xx. 316, illus. sm. 8o. 1892

is readily dealt with, as it is simply entered under “Apodidæ” for the subject. In the classified catalogue, however, it must be worked out to its full limits, as class “Science,” section “Natural History,” division “Zoology,” sub-division “Arthropoda” or “Articulata,” lesser division “Crustacea.” The Dewey number is 595.3, and the Brown notation is A152.

Upon a like principle, a book upon a very different subject, viz.,

Loftie, W. J.

Westminster Abbey. New ed., revised, pp. xii, 319, illus. 8o. 1891

is treated in the same manner. The class is “History,” the division “Europe,” sub-division “British Isles,” further division “England,” and lesser division “London”; the Dewey number being 942.1, and that of Brown is F742. This arrangement is upon the presumption that the book is written from the historical and topographical standpoint. It is, however, written as much from the architectural point of view, and the heading might be entirely different; as then the class would be “Fine Arts,” the division “Architecture,” and the sub-division “Ecclesiastical Architecture,” with a further section devoted to “Monographs.” This is one of those books of a composite character that can be very suitably placed in two classes, so far as the catalogue is concerned, as against shelf arrangement.

Even in cataloguing it is unusual and not easy to split up into classes and sub-divisions those books of a miscellaneous character, as volumes of essays, which are “indexed” section by section in the dictionary catalogue. These, therefore, are brought together in one place, unless the whole or the greater number of the essays or sections are upon a particular subject, when they are placed in their proper class. Though there may be no division of the contents of miscellaneous books, as distinct from collected works, this in no wise obviates the necessity for setting out in full the _contents_ of such books in the entry under the main class. Apart from the little difficulty and it not being customary, there is no very sufficient reason why these contents should not be split up in classified cataloguing and inserted in the proper classes throughout, even as they would be treated to subject-entries in the dictionary catalogue; indeed, fairly looked at, it is the only right method of procedure to adopt.

The under-mentioned books are grouped together because they are all comprised in the single class of “History” under the Dewey classification. By the Brown method “Biography and Correspondence” is separated from “History and Geography” and made into another class, though it is often very difficult to find the dividing line between history and biography in the lives of monarchs and other historical memoirs. The classes and divisions are given to each item in the form which it is advised that the catalogue slips should be marked for sorting until the time arrives for them to be prepared for printing.

History. Voyages and travels. Arctic Regions. N.-E. Passage.

Nordenskiöld, A. E.

The voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe; transl. by Alex. Leslie, pp. viii, 414, ports., maps, illus. sm. 8o. 1886

If the Dewey or Brown classifications were in use, instead of marking with class and subject headings as above, the entry would simply be marked 919 or F1356.

History. Europe. Ireland.

Bagwell, Richard.

Ireland under the Tudors. 3 v. 8o. 1885-90

(Dewey number 941.55. Brown mark F826.)

History. Biography of Literature.

Fitzgerald, Percy.

The life of Lawrence Sterne. Port. 2 v. sm. 8o. 1896

(Dewey number 928. Brown mark G88-Sterne.)

History. Voyages and travels. Europe. Russia.

Hapgood, Isabel F.

Russian rambles. pp. xiv, 369. sm. 8o. 1895

(Dewey number 914, 7. Brown mark F 1168.)

=110.=--As already pointed out, the principal difficulty with classified catalogues, more especially if the classification is extended to its fullest limits, is that persons using the catalogue must familiarise themselves with its arrangement before they can make an adequate use of it. Thus to find a book upon Russia, the geographical order has to be thought out, and to find a life of Sterne it must first be remembered that as he was an author he will come into the literary division of biography, or if a life of William Penn is wanted, it must be found out whether it is placed in the biography of religion or of history according to the point of view from which it is regarded.

Mr. Brown’s system removes some of these difficulties, as he for the most part arranges his countries alphabetically under continents, and his biographies of individuals altogether alphabetically by the subjects. In some recent classified catalogues this idea has been carried further, and all continents and countries of the world arranged in one alphabet, as Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Africa, Algeria, Asia, and so on with such suitable sub-division under each as may be called for. This alphabetical arrangement has also been carried out under the main divisions of the classes “Fine Arts” and “Useful Arts,” and it certainly facilitates reference, though it must be admitted that it breaks away from the important principle of giving a complete view of a subject in all its bearings, first generally, then in particular down to its finest limits. This principle may very well be waived in dealing with _individual_ biography, and in such case the form of entry would be reversed, as

Biography.

Sterne, Laurence, The life of, by Percy Fitzgerald. Port. 2 v. sm. 8o. 1896

By the Dewey system works of fiction fall into place under languages, epochs, and authors in the main class “Literature” as they should, but most libraries have to make a separate class for this kind of literature. This has been allowed for in the Brown Adjustable Classification, the arrangement being alphabetically by authors with a separate section of books for juveniles, this being further divided for books specially written for boys and again for books for girls. These two main divisions of works of fiction (_i.e._ novels) and story books for children will be found sufficient in cataloguing, the entries being alphabetically by authors. The dictionary principle of a title-entry may be added with advantage, and the titles given either in separate alphabetical order or more conveniently in their place in the same alphabet with the author-entries, of course keeping all the entries together in their particular class.

=111.=--The more elaborate the classification in a classified catalogue the more need there is for an adequate index to authors and subjects. The index may be a simple reference under the author’s name to the page upon which the entry is to be found, as

Ward, James 130

but this necessitates a hunt from page to page, and almost from line to line on each page if the author has written a number of books which appear in different parts of the catalogue. For example, this is the index-entry to a catalogue so indexed:

Hamerton, P. G., 42, 84, 86, 119, 125, 149, 151, 163, 165, 174, 175, 176, 190, 213, 215, 252, 330, 366.

The only method of obviating this is to give a brief title of each book, just sufficient to identify it, and while it must be admitted this method takes up some space, yet it is worth it. The following is the form referred to:

Hamerton, P. G. Drawing and engraving, 86.

⸻ French and English, 119.

⸻ Human intercourse, 42.

⸻ Modern Frenchmen, 149.

⸻ Thoughts about art, 84.

The same difficulty would not arise in indexing subjects because the whole subject would be grouped in one place or almost so, and reference to the page or pages would be easy enough. An example of this subject-index entry taken from the same catalogue is

France (History), 124, 126, 136.

⸻ (Descriptive) 215.

⸻ The Church in, 139.

⸻ Language and Literature, 246, 280.

Franco-German War, 136.

With the Dewey and Brown notations the indexing would be by class and topic number, and not by pages, as

Ornament, 745.

Poetry, English. 821.

Christ, Lives of. E 168.

Irrespective of the system of classification made use of each separate section of a class could be numbered consecutively for indexing purposes (as this present book is) and unless the sections were unusually large, reference would thereby be much simpler and more direct than by the page.

If the section or class of prose fiction were arranged under authors alphabetically, there would be no occasion to include the authors of that section in the index, and a mere general statement at the commencement of the index, pointing to the fact that they were not so included would meet the case. Upon a similar principle it would hardly be necessary to index the _subjects_ of individual biography if they were arranged alphabetically as suggested, though it must be remembered that many of these would appear in the index as authors.

It is customary to keep the author and subject-indexes separate, sometimes printing one at the beginning and the other at the end of the catalogue. There does not seem to be any important reason for adopting this course, and both indexes might very well be amalgamated, and so add one feature of the dictionary form to the classified catalogue, besides it would be easier to refer to. In no case should a summary of the classification adopted, showing the order of its arrangement, be omitted, and this is better placed at the beginning than at the end where the index will be.

The index entries can be made, if desired, at the time of writing the main entry for the catalogue, when a smaller-sized slip should be used for them; but it is found convenient to compile the index from the printer’s proofs as the work passes through the press. With the Dewey and Brown numbering there is no occasion to wait until the work is so far advanced, and the index can be as easily compiled before any portion of the “copy” is sent to the printer as when it is in type.

=112.=--It may be necessary to add that the main entries of a classified catalogue are arranged by class and topic names or numbers, as shown in the examples, and not by authors, as in the dictionary catalogue, though the authors of books coming together under a single definite topic would be arranged alphabetically as a matter of course.