Gents Mag 1855 part 2 p.277
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Gentleman's Magazine 1855 part 2 p.277
[ac]cording to subject be constructed; which should distinguish:- 1. Subject and title, without author's name. 2. Subject and title, with author's name. 3. The collection, library, and catalogue in which the book is to be found. If more than one, which they are. 4. The various press-marks of the several catalogues where the book is to be found. 5. The heading required for the ticket. Watt, in the construction of his Bibliotheca Britannica, found the first and second of these difficulties, and it led him to the expedient of his two volumes of Subjects, and his page-numbers and letters of reference to his two volumes of Authors. This was the only plan which could be pursued; but he had to deal with a General Catalogue. Here, however, we have to deal with five distinct and separate Catalogues of as many separate and distinct libraries or collections, kept thus distinct by the wills of the donors; and which, therefore, cannot be combined into one collection, of which a general catalogue, either of subjects or authors, or both, might be made. Hence the necessity of a separate set of press-marks for each catalogue, and the advantage to the reader in heading the ticket with the name of the library where the book is to be found, in saving of time in the search for it; since the ticket will immediately go to the library to which it belongs. This especially concerns particular editions; since that required may exist in only one out of five libraries. I have purposely omitted to notice the Folio Catalogue, Letter A, printed in 1841, as it was a confessed failure, and is never used. It appears to me that there is no way out of this difficulty, except it be one too complicated for popular use. For example, take the subject of Agriculture. Suppose a reader to require the same book by the same author, with or without a name, but of various editions. He would have to make out tickets with different press-marks, from a general catalogue of subjects, each of which must be distinguished by some mark, initials, or name, for the several libraries in which they are to be found. Now this would only add to his embarrassment; and yet, as the Museum Library is arranged, it would be unavoidable. As to the general arrangement of subjects in such a Catalogue, that of the Encyclopedia Metropolitana might be adopted, which is accessible to all, and the divisions might be printed on a guide board, and hung up on the wall over the catalogues. General Catalogue according to Subject.Having now stated what I conceive would be the difficulties of the undertaking, I shall proceed to consider more in detail the desiderata of readers, and what means there are under existing circumstance of satisfying these demands. Though the readers at the Museum are so numerous, they may be divided into two grand classes: 1. Literary; 2. Scientific. Some, and perhaps many, attend simply for amusement, but for such the Institution was not originally intended, I therefore omit them in my enumeration. 1. Literary. These are of various kinds, and they demand a supply of books of several descriptions in all languages and of all dates. History, Chronology, Geography, Biography, Topography, Voyages and Travels, Belles Lettres, Poetry, Biblical Literature, and an ample stock of Maps, Plans, Prints, Dictionaries, and Grammars. 2. Scientific. These again require books in all langauges and of all dates, on every branch of science, even to the most minute discoveries of modern date. To these will have to be added all periodical Scientific Publications, British or Foreign, with Scientific Biography, and a large supply of Plates, Drawings, Music, and Dictionaries. The Catalogue to satisfy these demands. 1. in its first grand division it should be literary, and classified in something like the departments I here enumerated. 2. It must be in manuscript, to admit of daily accruing additions. 3. Each separate subject should have one or more volumes devoted to it. This is already partly done in the new manuscript catalogue, which may remain as it is at present; but additional volumes would have to be formed from the contents of other catalogues, in the same manner, and their contents entered into the general indexes already existing. 4. A printed guide board should be attached to this division, stating the several volumes in which the departments would be found. Thus: Division I. ... Vols. Suppose. LITERATURE. History ... 1 - 5 Chronology ... 5 - 7 Geography ... 7 - 10 Biography ... 10 - 13 Topography ... 13 - 16 Voyages and Travels ... 16 - 20 Belles Lettres ... 20 - 26 Poetry ... 26 - 30 Biblical Literature ... 30 - 36 Maps and Plans ... 36 - 39 Prints ... 39 - 42 Dictionaries .. 42 - 44 Grammars ... 44 - 50 |
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