Part 4

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.

PRESERVATION AND USE OF THE PLATES.

When the titles have been stereotyped, and the plates ascertained to be in perfect working order, they are to be arranged alphabetically, and kept on sliding shelves, or shallow drawers, placed as near to each other as possible. The catch-letters of the titles may be marked upon the front of each shelf, so as to admit of alteration as the changing of the plates may require. The ranges of shelves may be so disposed as to form deep and narrow alcoves. A room of fifty feet by forty would accommodate the plates of upwards of a million titles, which may, in this manner, be kept in very compact and perfect order, and, at the same time, be easily accessible.

It may not be amiss to add, that the material, which it is proposed to employ in the stereotyping, is much less expensive than common type metal; so cheap, indeed, that the whole expenditure on this account, even for so large a collection, would be of small importance. It is, besides, much lighter than type metal, more convenient in handling, and requires fewer, and less expensive fixtures. It is not at all affected by dampness, or by any ordinary elevation of temperature.

The plates are mounted, for printing, upon blocks similar to those ordinarily used for stereotype plates, but with continuous clamps extending the whole length of the page. The breadth of page adopted is such as is suitable for a work in octavo, or in double columns in quarto or folio. The latter form (folio double columns) will probably be found most convenient, as well as most economical, for large catalogues. Presenting more titles upon a page, it enables a student to examine and compare, with greater facility, the various works of an author. It requires also less paper and press-work for the same number of titles. These considerations have led to the general adoption of the folio form for catalogues of large libraries. To these it may be added, in the present case, that in folio pages it would be practicable to avoid the division of titles between lines, without occasioning observable irregularities in the length of the pages.

METHOD OF USING THE STEREOTYPED TITLES IN THE FORMATION OF NEW CATALOGUES.

In concluding these details of the system of stereotyping catalogues, by separate titles, it now remains to say a few words upon the method of employing the titles, in the construction of new catalogues.

Whenever, after the publication of one catalogue, upon this plan, it should be proposed to form a catalogue of another library, the first step would be to ascertain, which of the titles of such library have been already stereotyped; for these need not again be transcribed.

This may be done in the following manner. A copy of the catalogue already published, together with a copy of any titles which may have been subsequently stereotyped, should be sent to the cataloguer, who as he takes a book from the shelf should first seek for its title among those already printed. If a title, strictly identical with that of the book, be found, it should be marked in the margin.

When titles occur, which he does not find among those already printed, they are to be written, each on a card or slip of paper, according to the rules; and, as the work goes on, sent, in parcels, to be stereotyped. When the cataloguer has gone through the library in this manner, he is to return the printed catalogues, in the margin of which he has marked the common titles. The printer will then be able to select and combine the plates to be used for this particular catalogue, impose them, print the requisite number of copies, and distribute them to their places.

After the catalogues of several libraries shall have been thus prepared and printed, they will be combined to form a general catalogue of those libraries, and thus the labor of selecting common titles will always be limited within narrow bounds.

RULES.

RULES FOR PREPARING CATALOGUES.

TITLES.

I. The Titles are to be transcribed ~in full~, including the names of Authors, Editors, Translators, Commentators, Continuators, &c., precisely as they stand upon the title-page.

~Exceptions.~ There are many titles from which much may well be omitted. But to make omissions without prejudice to ready investigation is an extremely difficult and delicate task, in the performance of which, uniformity is highly important; it is therefore desirable that all abridgments be made by the same person. To this end, the rule should stand without exception, so far as the writing out of the titles is concerned. The abridgments for printing should all be made by the superintendent, and only in the following cases:

Additions to names of authors, &c., not necessary for their identification; mottoes, repetitions, or expletives not essential to a full and clear titular description of the book, may be omitted. Omissions of mottoes and devices are to be denoted by three stars; of other matter, by three dots, placed thus ...

No omission is to be made which requires any change in, or addition to, the phraseology of that part of the title which is retained. Not even an improvement of the title, by any change, is to be allowed.

~Remark 1.~ This rule is understood to apply only to the principal entry. It is supposed that each title will be entered in full only once. All other entries will refer to this full entry. They will be called _Cross-References_; and rules for their preparation are given hereafter.

~Remark 2.~ It is necessary (in this plan) to give the name of the Author, in connection with the title, although it be but a repetition of the heading; for the heading will be stereotyped separate from the title, and, therefore, the title should contain all that is necessary to indicate its proper position, in the alphabetical order, in case of displacement.

~Remark 3.~ Experience shows that it takes less time to transcribe titles in full, than to abridge them with any tolerable degree of accuracy. It requires, too, less learning and experience in the cataloguer. That a catalogue can be made more rapidly, more economically, and more satisfactorily by transcribing the titles faithfully and fully, without the omission of a single letter or point, than by any proper plan of abridgment, cannot be denied by any one who has fairly tried the experiment.[3] If the catalogue were not to be printed, this rule should have no exception whatever. The printing, however, introduces two considerations to modify the rule, namely, the _expense_ of printing, and the _bulk_ of the catalogue. The force of the former consideration is much diminished by the plan of stereotyping the titles. It is but a first expense that we have to meet, not a repetition of it. Besides, no library but the first has to print all its titles. The saving, even to the second library, by the use of those already stereotyped, would doubtless far more than counterbalance the extra expense of printing long titles. The bulk of the catalogue is certainly a matter of considerable importance, though of less than might, at first, be supposed. It does not make much difference, in convenience of use, whether such a work as an Encyclopædia be in a hundred volumes or in ten, though it is, of course, more convenient to refer to one volume than to ten. The proposed general catalogue would doubtless exceed one volume, even with short titles. But convenience should not be allowed to have more influence than the demands of learned investigators. The bulk of catalogues should not be considered in opposition to their accuracy, and to such a degree of fulness of title, as may be necessary to identify the book, and to give all such particulars of information, as may justly be expected from a titular description.

[3] A very complete discussion of the comparative advantages of long and short titles is contained in the Report of the Commissioners on the British Museum, with Minutes of Evidence, 1850, particularly in Mr. Panizzi's Letter to the Earl of Ellesmere, in Appendix No. 12.

~Remark 4.~ It is deemed unnecessary to prescribe any particular form of card or paper for use in copying the titles. If they are to be printed at once, it will be found most convenient to write them on one side only of common foolscap paper. Cross references should immediately follow the titles to which they belong. If cards have already been adopted in the library to be catalogued, their form need not be changed. They may be placed in the hands of the printer without being transcribed. A manuscript catalogue for constant use should generally be upon cards. A very convenient method of keeping them is that employed by Mr. Folsom in the Boston Athenæum. The cards are long and narrow; are so perforated that they may be strung upon cords, which, being elastic, allow free motion without displacement; and are kept in cases, made to resemble folio volumes, one side of which opens like the cover of a book.

II. The Titles are to be transcribed ~with exactness~.

~Remark 1.~ The titles are _not to be translated_ by the cataloguer. If, however, the original title, being in a language which does not admit of being represented in the Roman character, be accompanied by a translation into a language for which the Roman alphabet may be used, the latter may be given without the former; this peculiarity being mentioned, with such explanations as will prevent mistake as to the language in which the book is printed. If the book be in several languages, and be provided with title-pages for each, or for several, the cataloguer may give the preference to languages using the Roman alphabet in the following order: English, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, German. The other title-pages should however be mentioned.

~Remark 2.~ The _precise phraseology_, however quaint, awkward, or ungrammatical, must be scrupulously followed. When striking faults or errors occur, the cataloguer should write [_sic_], after each of them, to denote that the title has been faithfully copied, and that the error is not attributable to his carelessness.

~Remark 3.~ The exact mode of _spelling_, however inaccurate or antiquated, must be conscientiously copied. When abbreviations appear upon the title-page, they should, in transcribing, be copied accurately. They should also, if possible, be printed. These are most frequent in early printed Latin and Greek books. If types cannot be had for printing these abbreviations, the word should be given in full; the added letters being italics.

~Remark 4.~ The _punctuation_ of the title-page should also be retained. Sometimes, in the titles of modern books, no pointing is used; in such cases, none should be introduced. Wide spaces may be used instead.

~Remark 5.~ The _accentuation_ of the original should be preserved. In French books, however, it often happens that parts of the title-page are printed in capitals without accents, and other parts in "lower-case" letters with accents. This is attributable to the general want of accents upon what are called "title-letters." To avoid the striking incongruity which would be occasioned by printing one part with, and another without accents, when the same letter is used throughout the title, it will be proper to add the accents, where they are omitted in the titles of foreign books; but not to omit or alter any which occur.

~Remark 6.~ When possible, the _form of letter_ (as Black Letter, Italic, Greek, Hebrew, &c.), is to be preserved. When Black Letter, Italic, or any peculiar letter or cut of type is used, in the title, merely as a typographical embellishment, it is not to be copied; but only when the whole book is printed in it. This rule has no limitation, except the knowledge of the cataloguer, and the means of the printing office. With reference to those languages in which is embodied the great mass of literature, there will be little difficulty in finding men to copy the titles with accuracy; and the printing office should contain varieties of type, Roman, Black Letter, German, Greek, Hebrew, and, in time, fonts of other alphabets.

Books in languages which cannot, at first, be correctly printed or written, should be reported from each library, as accurately and fully as possible. An arrangement may hereafter be made to employ competent persons to catalogue such works, and means may be procured for printing or engraving their titles. No title, however, should be stereotyped for the General Catalogue, till its accuracy and conformity to the rules are fully ascertained.

~Remark 7.~ This principle does not apply to the _use of capitals or small letters_. Most title-pages are printed wholly in large letters; some are partly in large and partly in small letters. For the catalogue, they are to be written and printed in small letters.

~Remark 8.~ _Initial capitals_ are to be used only when the laws of the language now require them. In English, the first word of every sentence, proper names, adjectives derived from proper names, names of the Deity, the first word of the title of a book quoted within another title, and titles of respect or office, such as Hon., Mr., Dr., Capt., Rev., (whether contracted or not,) prefixed to a name, should be written and printed with initial capitals. In German and Danish, every noun begins with a capital. In French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, adjectives derived from proper names, are not, as in English, generally printed with initial capitals. In Latin, the English usage in this particular should be followed. It would doubtless be more satisfactory to make the titles, as printed in the catalogue, perfect transcripts of the title-pages, in respect to the use of initial capitals; but this is hardly practicable. The use of both upper-case and lower-case letters in a title-page, is for the most part a matter of the printer's taste, and does not generally indicate the author's purpose. To copy them in a catalogue with literal exactness would be exceedingly difficult, and of no practical benefit. In those parts of the title-page which are printed wholly in capitals, initials are undistinguished. It would be unsightly and undesirable to distinguish the initials where the printer had done so, and omit them where he had used a form of letter, which prohibited his distinguishing them. It would teach nothing to copy from the book the initial capitals in one part of the title, and allow the cataloguer to supply them in other parts. The only practicable method of securing uniformity or convenience would seem to be, to require, as is done above, the cataloguer to employ initial capitals according to established laws, regardless of the title-page.

There are certain features of title-pages which it is wholly impracticable to transfer to a catalogue. For example, they generally are (as they always should be) _inscriptions_, and as such are meant to have a certain _local disposition_ of parts which serves to interpret them, by showing at a glance their relations to each other. A title in a catalogue cannot be expected to retain this important feature of an inscription.

III. The whole Title is to be repeated for every distinct edition of the work; and the number of the edition, if not the first, is to be always given.

~Remark 1.~ The necessity of this rule arises from the stereotyping of the titles separately. It is frequently the case, that publishers, after having stereotyped a book, call every thousand copies of it a separate edition, and, for twenty or more editions, there may be no alteration in the book, except in the word expressing the number of the edition, and in the date. In such cases, it cannot be necessary to print a separate title for each pretended edition. If there be any important alteration of the book, it should be designated as a distinct edition. This irregularity is found mostly, if not exclusively, in American books, and occurs principally in school-books.

It is easy to see how this artifice of bibliopoles would occasion great trouble to cataloguers, if it were common. Some publishers have introduced the terms "second thousand," "tenth thousand," &c., instead of "second edition," "tenth edition." This is more honest, and for our purposes more convenient. But it is not necessary to introduce these chiliads into the catalogue.

Minor changes are sometimes made in the stereotype plates, after a part of the copies have been printed; that is, some error may be discovered and corrected, or some word substituted for another. But such changes are generally slight and unimportant. They can only be detected by comparing one copy of a book with another, and, when known, are seldom worthy of notice.

Sometimes, the title of a book is the same in two editions, while the body of the work is more or less altered. Sometimes, also, the title is changed while the book remains entirely unaltered. Such instances are, however, of comparatively rare occurrence. They are, or should be, noted in bibliographical dictionaries. It is not often the case, that the two editions are to be found in one library; consequently, an account of such variations cannot be expected from the cataloguer. But, if such facts become known to him, they should be carefully noted.

The increase of the bulk of the catalogue, which this rule will occasion, may appear, at first sight, to be a grave difficulty. It should be considered, however, that the number of books, which reach a second edition, is comparatively small; and, that, although there may be a hundred editions of a book, those only will have their titles repeated, which belong to the library to be catalogued. The increase in bulk will be much less considerable than might be apprehended, and it will be more than compensated for, by the greater exactness of the descriptions. Any one, who has had much experience in examining catalogues, must have been frequently puzzled to ascertain the exact character of several editions of a book, where the only description of any edition after the first, is "_The same_," or "_Ditto_," with a different date. We may wish to know whether the titles are identical. In the title of a later edition, some particular may have been given, which to us is very important, but which the cataloguer has omitted. To bibliographers, and men of habits of careful investigation, different editions are different books, and they should be always described, in catalogues, as particularly as if they were independent works.

IV. Early printed books, without title-pages, are to be catalogued in the words of the head-title, preceded by the word [_Beginning_], in italics and between brackets; to which are to be added the words of the colophon, preceded by the word [_Ending_], in italics and between brackets.

If there be neither head-title nor colophon, such a description of the work should be given, in English, and between brackets, as may serve for its identification.

~Remark 1.~ Books printed before the adoption of separate title-pages are comparatively few. Most of them have been described with great minuteness by bibliographers, particularly by Maittaire, Denis, Panzer, and Hain. It will be best, in all cases, to refer to their works in cataloguing such books.

These books generally have at the beginning a head-title, which contains a sufficient description of the book, while in the colophon the place of publication, name of the printer, date, &c., are given; but sometimes the book begins with a table, or dedication, or register, and has no colophon. In such cases, not unfrequently, there is a title at the end of the table, or in the dedication. In short, so great is the variety of cases, that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to give rules applicable to them all. The rule given above will, it is thought, be found sufficiently comprehensive.

V. In cataloguing Academical Dissertations, Orations, &c., the subject-matter is to be given as the title. If that be not expressed upon the title-page, it is to be supplied within brackets, if possible in the words of the author, otherwise in English and in italics. The contracted words [_Diss. Ac._] when necessary to indicate the character of the publication, should be prefixed. The occasion may generally be omitted, except when the subject of the dissertation or oration has some special reference to it.

VI. In cataloguing Sermons, the book, chapter and verse of the _text_; the _date_, if it differs from that of publication; and the _occasion_, if a special one, are to be given. When these are not upon the title-page, they are to be supplied between brackets, and in italics.

VII. Periodical publications are to be recorded in the words of the title-page of the last complete volume; but without designation of volume or date.

The history of the publication from its commencement, including all changes of form, title, editorship, &c., is to be given in a note.

~Remark 1.~ This rule applies to Reviews, Magazines, &c.; not to works issued in parts, sometimes called "serials," nor to transactions of learned societies.

~Remark 2.~ The last title is preferred for the catalogue, because it is that by which the work is currently known, and because of the peculiar difficulty of finding complete sets of these publications. If the title be changed, it will become necessary to prepare a new one for the catalogue, and to make an addition to the note.

VIII. After the words of the title, the number of parts, volumes, fasciculi, or whatever may be the peculiar divisions of each work, is to be specified.