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The Book-Lover's Library.
Edited by
Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A




V3S  the Same 2tutbor.
Tastefully printed and bound in cloth,
4s. 6d.; in Roxburgh, 7s. 6d. Large
Paper, 21s.
HOW TO FORM A LIBRARY.
" An admirable guide to the best bibliographies and books of reference....
It is altogether a volume to be desired."
-Globe.
"Everything about this book is satisfactory-paper, type, margin, sizeabove all, the contents."-St. James's
Gazette.
HOW TO CATALOGUE A
LIBRARY.
" Every collector of books knows how
many and difficult are the problems that
present themselves in connection with
cataloguing. Mr. Wheatley deals with
all patiently wisely, and exhaustively."
-British Weekly.
"Mr. Wheatley's volume is unique.
It is written with so much care and
such profound knowledge of the subject
that there can be no doubt that it will
satisfactorily meet all requirements."Bristol Mercury.


I                                                                                                  -




A-1
rf








HOW TO MAKE
AN INDEX
BY
HENRY B. TWHEATLEY, F.S.A.
AUTHOR OF "HOW TO CATALOGUE A LIBRARY"
"HOW TO FORM A LIBRARY," ETC., ETC.
"M. Bochart... me prioit surtout d'y faire un
Index, etant, disoit-il, l'ame des gros livres."
Menagiana


LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW




LGe>,. 2.1.A
-I   (0 ~
4C
snSD'3!- Alwi




PREFA CE.
N   t878 I wrote for the Index
Society, as its first publication,
a pamphlet entitled         What is
n Index?" The present little book is
fompiled on somewhat similar lines; but,.s its title suggests, it is drawn up with
C more practical object.   The first four
chapters are "Historical, and the other
/aour are "Practical"; but the historical
portion  is intended to lead up to the:ractical portion  by  showing z6hat to.'imitate and what to avoid..There has been of lateyears a consider'able change.in public opinion with respect
1,oo the difficulties attending the making of    jA
both indexes and catalogues. It was once
vii




viii             Preface.
a common    opinion that anyone witio'ut
preparatory knowledge or experience',could
make an index.   That that opinion iz    ot
true is amply proved, Ihope, in the chapfter
on the "Bad Indexer."
I have attempted to describe the best
way of setting to work on an index.     so
do this with any hope of success it is necessary to give details that may to some seem
puerile, but I have ventured on particuIars
for which I hope I may not be conden m  d.
I must also ask the forbearance of m@'
readersfor the constant use of the personal
pronoun.   If I could have left it out, I
would gladly have done so; but to a great
extent this book relates to the experiences
of an old indexer.   They must be taken,
for what they are worth, and I hope forgiveness- will be extended to me for the
form in which these experiences are related-,
H. B. W. N'




:  T —Zr
CONTENTS.
IS TORICAL.
PAGE
CHAPTER     I.
INTRODUCTION
Thie So-called Evils of Index LearningGlanville and Swift-Thomas Fuller's
Defence of the Index-Advantages of
/saving the Brain by knowing   where
' to find what is wanted-Dr. Johnson's, Division of Necessary Knowledge-.   Gradual Introduction of the Word " Index "-Synonyms-Final Triumph     of,- Index-Interesting, Indexes - Prynne's:Index to his Histrio-Mastix-Index to
Richardson's Novels-David Hume an
Indexer-SirJames Paget enjoyed making
Indexes-Amusing Blunder in Musical
Index.......  I
CHAPTER II..^     isAMUSING AND SATIRICAL INDEXES.
Leigh Hunt's Good Word for Indexes-In/   dexes to Tatter and Spectator, and The
ix




x


Contents.


PAcE
Athenian Oracle-Table of Contents to
Shenstone's Schoolmistress- Index  to.
Biglow Papers-Dr. William King and
his Satirical Indexes-" Boyle upon
Bentley"-The Royal Society and Sir"
Hans Sloane ridiculed-Speaker Bromley's Travels-Reprint with King's Index.; 25
CHAPTER III.
THE BAD INDEXER.            \
Some of the Worst Indexes in PeriodicalsJewel's  Apology-Classified  in  place
of completely Alphabetical IndexesMr. Poole'sd Opinion of Indexes to
Periodicals-Miss  Hetherington's Examples of Bad    Indexes- Want of
Complete  Alphabetization — Confusion
of u and n, and Blunders caused by itClassification within the Alphabet-\
Variety of Alphabets-VWant of Cross \
References-Useless Cross ReferencesAmusing Mistranslations-Incorrect Filling-up of Contractions-Bad Index to
Walpole's Letters-Incorrect Use of the
Line for Repetition of Heading-Index "
to Pepys's Diary-Evil of an Indexless
Book-Complaints....
CHAPTER     IV.
THE GOOD INDEXER.
l    Difficulties of being Exact-Value of a Good'Index - Scaliger,  Nicolas  Antonio,    -
\        Pineda, Samuel Jeake - Carlyle  on
Indexless Books-Macaulay's Opinion of..




Contents.


xi


PAGE
the Aim of an Index-Official IndexesAmount paid by Parliament for Indexes
-Good    Legal Indexes-Indexes to
Jeremy Bentham's Works, and to Ruskin's
Fors Clavigera-Dr. Birkbeck Hill's
Index to Boswell's Life of Johnson-  -
Boswell's Original Index-Issue of Revised Index to Ranke's History of
England-The Indexer born and madeCharacteristics of a Good Indexer.. 85
PRACTICAL.
CHAPTER V.
DIFFERENT CLASSES OF INDEXES.
Easiest Kinds of Indexes to make-Concordances-Scientific Books-Incompleteness
of some Indexes-Indexes to Catalogues
of Libraries-Proposed Subject Index to
the Catalogue of the British MuseumControversy in The Times-Mr. Fortescue's Opinion-Dictionary Catalogue 118
CHAPTER VI.
GENERAL RULES FOR ALPHABETICAL INDEXES.
Rules, with Explanations and Illustrations:
(I) One Index to each Book; (2) One
Alphabet; (3) Order of the English
Alphabet; (4) Arrangement of Headings;
(5) Arrangement of Foreign Proper
Names; (6) Proper Names with Prefixes; (7) Titles of Peers rather than
their Family Names; (8) Compound
Names; (9) Adjective v. Substantive as




xii


Contents.


PAGE
a Catchword; (IO) Shortness of Entries;
(II) Repetition of Short Entries; (I2)
Abstracts of the Contents of Articles in
Periodicals; (13) Authorities to be Indexed; (14) Division of the Page for
Reference; (15) Use of Numerals for
Series of Volumes; ( 6) Certain Entries
to be printed in Capitals; (I7) Type for
Headings.-Arrangement   of Oriental
Names-Sir George Birdwood's Memorandum...... 132
CHAPTER VII.
HOW TO SET ABOUT AN INDEX.
Hints as to the Making of an Index-Two
Kinds of Index-Arrangement of Growing Indexes-Use of Cards, Paper Slips,
or Foolscap-Indexer's Knowledge of
the Book to be Indexed-Selection of
the best Catchword-Use of NumeralsIndex for Different Editions of Same
Book-Cutting up and arranging SlipsSorting into Alphabet-Pasting down
the Slips-Paste to Use-Calculations
of the Relative Lengths of the Letters of
the Alphabet-Preparation of "Copy"
for the Printer-Correction of the Press. 172
CHAPTER VIII.
GENERAL OR UNIVERSAL INDEX.
Early Proposals for an Index Society-Foundation of a Society-Indexes of History
and Biography-General Index: What
it should be..... 206


INDEX. 225




HOW TO MAKE AN INDEX.; '.  '
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.;   I Ifor my part venerate the inventor of
Indexes; and I know not to whom to yield the
preference, either to Hippocrates, who was the
great anatomiser of the human body, or to that
unknown labourer in literature who first laid
open the nerves and arteries of a book."
-ISAAC DISRAELI, Literary Miscellanies.
| ~T is generally agreed that that
only is true knowledge which
consists of information assimilated by our own minds. Mere
disjointed facts kept in our memories have
no right to be described as knowledge. It
I




2     How to Make an Index.
is this understanding that has made many
writers jeer at so-called index-learning.
Thus, in the seventeenth century, Joseph
Glanville, writing in his Vanity of Dogmafizing, says: " Methinks 'tis a pitiful piece
of knowledge that can be learnt from an
index, and a poor ambition to be rich
in the inventory of another's treasure."
Dr. Watts alluded to those whose "learning reaches no farther than the tables of
contents"; but then he added a sentence
which quite takes the sting from what
he had said before, and shows how
absolutely needful an index is. He says:
" If a book has no index or table of
contents, 'tis very useful to make one as
you are reading it."
Swift had his say on index-learning, too.
In the Tale of a Tub (Section VII.) he
wrote: "The most accomplisht way of
using books at present is twofold: Either
serve them as some men do Lords, learn
their titles exactly, and then brag of their
acquaintance.  Or secondly, which indeed is the choicer, the profounder and
politer method, to get a thorough insight
into the Index, by which the whole book




Introduction.


3


is governed and turned, like fishes by
the tail.  For to enter the palace of
Learning at the great gate, requires an
expense of time and forms; therefore
men of much haste and little ceremony
are content to get in by the back-door.
For, the Arts are all in a flying march,
and therefore more easily subdued by
attacking them in the rear.... Thus
men catch Knowledge by throwing their
wit on the posteriors of a book, as boys
do sparrows with flinging salt upon their
tails. Thus human life is best understood
by the wise man's Rule of regarding the
end. Thus are the Sciences found like
Hercules' oxen, by tracing them backwards. Thus are old Sciences unravelled
like old stockings, by beginning at the
foot." /
Thonfas Fuller, with his usual commonsense, wisely argues that the diligent
man should not be deprived of a tool
because the idler may misuse it. He
writes: "An Index is a necessary implement and no impediment of a book
except in the same sense wherein the
carriages [i.e. things carried] of an army




4      How to Make an Index.


are termed irnjfedimnenta. Without this a
large author is but a labyrinth without
a clue to direct the reader therein. I
confess there is a lazy kind of learning
which is only indical, when scholars (like
adders which only bite the horses' heels)
nibble but at the tables, which are calces
librorum, neglecting the body of the
book. But though the idle deserve no
crutches (let not a staff be used by them
but on them), pity it is the weary should
be denied the benefit thereof, and
industrious scholars prohibited the accommodation of an index, most used by
those who most pretend to contemn it."
The same objection to " indical " learning is urged to-day, but it is really a futile
one. No man can know everything; he
may possess much true knowledge, but
there is a mass of matter that the learned
man knows he can never master completely.  He does not care to burden
his mind with what might be to him
useless lumber. In this case his object
is only to know where he can find the
information when he wants it. Indexes
are of the greatest help to these men,




Introduction.         5
and for their purposes the indexes ought
to be well made. But it is needless to
labour this point, for has not Johnson, in
his clear and virile language, said the last
word on the matter?-" Knowledge is of
two kinds; we know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information
upon it.  When we inquire into any
subject, the first thing we have to do is
to know what books have treated of it.
This leads us to look at catalogues and
the backs of books."
Before going further, it would be well
for author and reader to come to an
agreement as to what an index really is.
An index may, in certain circumstances,
be arranged in the order of the book,
like a table of contents, or it may be
classified or chronological; but the index
to a book such as we all think of when we |
speak of an index should be alphabetical.
The other arrangements must be exceptional, because the books indexed are
exceptional.
It is strange, however, to find how
long the world was in coming to this
very natural conclusion. The first attempt




6     How to Make an Index.
atindexing a book was in the form of a'n
abstract of contents in the order of the
book itself. Seneca, in sending certain
volumes to his friend Lucilius, accompanied them with notes of particular
passages, so that he "who only aimed
at the useful might be spared the trouble
of examining them entire." Cicero used
>the word "index" to express the table
of contents of a book, and he asked his
friend Atticus to send him two library
clerks to repair his books. He added
that he wished them to bring with them
some parchment to make indexes upon.
Many old manuscripts have useful
tables of contents, and in Dan Michel's
Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340) there is a very
full table with the heading: "Thise
byeth the capiteles of the boc vol3inde."
It was only a step to arrange this table
of contents in the order of the alphabet,
and thus form a true index; but it took a
long time to take this step. Alphabetical
indexes of names are to be found in some
old manuscript books, but it may be said
that the general use of the alphabetical
arrangement is one of those labour



Introduction.


7


saving expedients which came into use
with the invention of printing.
Erasmus supplied alphabetical indexes C
to many of his books; but even in his
time arrangement in alphabetical order
was by no means considered indispensable <
in an index, and the practice came into
general use very slowly.
The word "index" had a hard fight
with such synonyms as " calendar," " catalogue," "inventory," "register,"    "summary," "syllabus."      In time it beat all
its companions in the race, although it
had the longest struggle with the word
' table." *
* All these words are fairly common; but there
is another which was used only occasionally in the
sixteenth century. This is " pye," supposed to be
derived from the Greek Hivat, among the meanings of which, as given in Liddell and Scott's
Lexicon, is, "A register, or list." The late Sir
T. Duffus Hardy, in some observations on the
derivation of the word " Pye-Book," remarks that
the earliest use he had noted of pye in this sense
is dated 1547: "A Pye of all the names of such
Balives as been to accompte pro anno regni regis
Edwardi Sexti primo."-Appendix to the "35th
Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public
Records," p. 195.




8     How to Make an Index.


Cicero used the word " index," and
explained it by the word "syllabus."
Index was not generally acknowledged
as an English word until late in the
seventeenth century.
North's racy translation of Plutarch's
Lives, the book so diligently used by
Shakespeare in the production of his
Roman histories, contains an alphabetical
index at the end, but it is called a table.
On the title-page of Baret's Alvearie
(1573), one of the early English dictionaries, mention is made of "two Tables
in the ende of this booke"; but the
tables themselves, which were compiled
by Abraham Fleming, being lists of the
Latin and French words, are headed
'Index." Between these two tables, in
the edition of I58o, is "an Abecedarie,
Index or Table" of Proverbs.    The
word "index" is not included in the
body of the dictionary, where, however,
"Table" and "Regester" are inserted.
" Table "is defined as " a booke or regester
for memorie of thinges," and " regester"
as "a reckeninge booke wherein thinges
dayly done be written." By this it:.




Introduction.


9


clear that Baret did not consider index
to be an English word.
At the end of Johnson's edition of
Gerarde's Herbal (1636) is an "Index
Latinus," followed  by a  "Table of
English names," although a few years
previously Minsheu had given "index"
a sort of half-hearted welcome into his
dictionary.  Under that word in the
Guide into Tongues (1617) is the entry,
"vide Table in Booke, in litera T.,"
where we read, "a Table in a booke
or Index." Even when acknowledged
as an English word, it was frequently
differentiated from the analytical table:
for instance, Dugdale's Warwickshire
contains an  "Index of Towns and
Places," and a "Table of men's names
and matters of most note"; and Scobell's
Acts and   Ordinances of Parliament
(1640-I656), published I658, has "An
Alphabetical Table of the most material
contents of the whole book," preceded
by "An Index of the general titles
comprized in the ensuing Table." There
are a few exceptions to the rule here
~ ise^t frth: for instance, Plinie's Natural




Io    How to Make an Index.
Historie of the World, translated by
Philemon Holland (I60o), has at the
beginning, "The Inventorie or Index
containing the contents of 37 bookes,"
and at the end, " An Index pointing to the
principal matters." In Speed's History
of Great Britaine (I6Ix) there is an
"Index or Alphabetical Table containing
the principal matters in this history." -
The introduction of the word " index"
into English from the Latin word in the
nominative shows that it dates from a
comparatively recent period, and came
into the language through literature and
not through speech. In earlier times it
was the custom to derive our words from
the Latin accusative. The Italian word
indice was from the accusative, and this
word was used by Ben Jonson when he
wrote, "too much talking is ever the
indice of a fool" (Discoveries, ed. I640,
p. 93). The French word indice has a
different meaning from the Italian indice,
and according to Littre- is not derived/
from  index, but from indicium.  It is
possible that Jonson's "indice" is thei
French, and not the Italian, word.




Introduction.


II


Drayton uses "index " as an indicator:
Lest when my lisping guiltie tongue should hault,
My lookes might prove the index to my fault."
-Rosamonds Epistle, lines 103-104.
Shakespeare uses the word as a table
of contents at the beginning of a book
rather than as an alphabetical list at the
end: for instance, Nestor says:
"Our imputation shall be oddly poised
In this wild action: for the success,
Although particular, shall give a scantling
Of good or bad unto the general;
And in such indexes, although small pricks
To their subsequent volumes, there is seen
The baby figure of the giant mass
Of things to come at large."
-Troilus and Cressida, I. 3.
Buckingham threatens:
"I'll sort occasion,
As index to the story we late talk'd of,
To part the queen's proud kindred from the king."
-Richard IIL., I. 2.
And Iago refers to "an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and
foul thoughts "(Othello, II. i).  It may be
remarked in the quotation from     Troilus
and Cressida that Shakespeare uses the
proper   plural-" indexes "-instead     of




12     How to Make an Index.


"indices," which even now some writers
insist on using. No word can be considered as thoroughly naturalised that is
allowed to take the plural form of the
language from which it is obtained. The
same remark applies to the word
" appendix," the plural of which some
write  as  "appendices"   instead  cf
"appendixes." In the case of "indices,"'
this word is correctly appropriated to
another use.
Indexes need not necessarily be dry;
and some of the old ones are full of.
quaint touches which make them by no
means the least interesting portion of the
books they adorn. John Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays contains " An
Index or Table directing to many of the
principal matters and personages mentioned in this Booke," which is full of
curious entries and odd cross references.
The entries are not in perfect alphabetical
order. A few of the headings will give a
good idea of the whole:
"Action better than speach."
"Action to some is rest."
" Beasts are  Physitians, Logitians,




Introduction.


13


Musitians, Artists, Students, Politikes,
Docible, Capable of Military Order, of
Affections, of Justice, of Friendship, of
Husbandry, of thankefulnesse and of compassion," etc.
"Bookes and Bookishnesse."
" Bookes not so profitable as Conference
-as deare as children."
"Bruit creatures have imagination."
"Cloysters not without cares."
"Good fortune not to be despised
altogether."
"Societie of bookes."
Here are some of the cross references:
"Alteration vide Inconstancy."
"Amitie vide Friendship."
"Ant vide Emmets."
"Apprehension vide Imagination."
"Balladmakers vide Rymers."
"Boasting vide Vaunting."
"Chance vide Fortune."
" Common People vide the Vulgar."
"Disparity vide Equality."
"Emperickes vide Physitians."
An instance of how loosely the word
"index" has been used will be found in
Robert Boyle's Some Considerations touching




14     How to Make an Index.


the Usefulnesse of Experimental Natural
Philosophy (Oxford, 1663).  This book
is divided into two parts, and at the end
of each part is "The Index." This so-'
called index is arranged in order of the
pages, and is really only a full table of
contents.
Indexes did not become at all common
till the sixteenth century, and Mr.
Cornelius Walford asked in Notes and
Queries what was the earliest index. Mr.
Edward Solly answered: " Polydore Vergil
in Anglicc Historic (1556), has what may
fairly be called a good index-thirty-seven
pages. This may be taken as a startingpoint as to date; and we may ask for
earlier examples" (6th S. xi. 155). Another
contributor referred to an earlier edition of
Polydore Vergil (1546), and still another
one cited Lyndewood's Provinciale (1525),
which has several indexes.
One old index may be singled out as
having caused its author serious misfortune.  William Prynne concocted a
most wonderful attack upon the " stage"
under the title of Histrio-Mastix (1633),
which is absolutely unreadable by reason




Introduction.


of the vast mass of authorities gathered
from every century and every nation, to
prove the wickedness of play-acting.
Carlyle refers to the Histrio-Mastix as
"a book still extant, but never more to
be read by mortal."
If Prynne had sent his child out into
the world without an index, he might
'have escaped from persecution, as no one
1would have found out the enormities which
were supposed to lurk within the pages of
the book. But he was unwise enough to
add a most elaborate index, in which all
the attacks upon a calling that received
the sanction of the Court were arranged in
a convenient form for reference. AttorneyGeneral Noy found that the author
imself had forged the weapons which he
the prosecutor) could use in the attack.
This is proved by a passage in Noy's.
peech. at Prynne's trial, where he points
3ut that the accused "says Christ was.
Puritan, in his Index."  Noy calls it.
n index, but Prynne himself describes
t as "A Table (with some brief additions)
f the chiefest passages in this treatise." *
* There is a note to the table which shows.




16      How   to Make an Index.


The entries in the index are so curious.and one-sided in their accusations that
it is worth while to quote some of them
rather fully:
" Actors of popular or private enterludes
for gaine or pleasure, infamous, unlawfull
and that as well in Princes, Noblemen,
Gentlemen, Schollers, Divines or Common
Actors."
"Eschylus, one of the first inventors
of Tragedies-his strange and sudden
death."
"Christ wept oft, but never laugheda  puritan-dishonoured    and   offended
with Stage playes."
"Crossing of the face when men go
to plays shuts in the Devil."
"Devils, inventors and fomentors o
stage plays and dancing.     Have stage
plays in hell every Lord's day night."
"Heaven-no stage plays there."
that the book grew in size during the printing"p. signifying the page, f. the folioes from
pag. 513 to 545 (which exceeded the Printer'
computation), m. the marginall notes: if yo
finde f. before any pages from 545 to 568, then
looke the folioes which are overcast; if p. then
the page following."




Introduction.


I7


"Herod Agrippa smitten in theater by
an angel and so died."
"Herod the great, the first erecter of
a theater among the Jews who thereupon
conspire his death."
"King James his statute against prophaning scripture and God's name in
Playes-his Statutes make Players rogues
and rlayes unlawfull pastimes."
"Kings-infamous for them to act or
frequent Playes or favour Players."
" Plagues occasioned by stage plays. All
the Roman actors consumed by a plague."
"Play-bookes see Bookes."
"Players infamous...
-  many of them Papists and most
desperate wicked wretches."
"Play haunters the worst and lewdest
persons for the most part..."
"Play haunting unlawfull..."
" Play-houses stiled by the Fathers
and others, the Devil's temples, Chappels
and synagogues.."
"Play-poets examples of God's judgements on the chiefest of them.
-  Puritans, condemners of Stage-playes
and other corruptions stiled so-The
2




18    How to Make an Index.
very best and holiest Christians called
so... -Christ, his prophets, apostles,
the Fathers and Primitive christians
Puritans as men now judged-hated
and condemned onely for their grace yea
holinesse of life —Accused of hypocrisie
and sedition, and why."
"Puritan, an honourable nickname of
Christianity and grace."
" Theaters overturned by tempests."
It was the strong terms in which women
actors are denounced that gave such
offence at Court, where the Queen and
her ladies were specially attracted to the
stage. Prynne's book was published six
weeks before Henrietta Maria acted in
a pastoral at Somerset House, so that
the following passage could not have
been intended to allude to the Queen:
"Women actors notorious whores..
and dare then any Christian women be
so more than whorishly impudent as to
act, to speake publikely on a stage perchance in man's apparell and cut haire
here proved sinfull and abominable ini
* See Cobbett's State Trials, vol. 3, coll.
561-586.




Introduction.


I9


the presence of sundry men and women?... 0 let such presidents of impudency,
of impiety be never heard of or suffered
among Christians."
There are some interesting letters in
Ellis's Original Letters (2nd Series, vol. 3)
which illustrate the effect on the Court
of these violent expressions of opinion.
Jo. Pory wrote to Sir Thomas Puckering
on September 2cAh, I632: "That which
the Queen's Majesty, some of her ladies
land all her maides of honour are now
practicing upon is a Pastorall penned.by Mr. Walter Montague, wherein her
Majesty is pleased to acte a parte, as
well for her recreation as for the exercise
f' her Englishe."
George Gresley wrote to the same
Puckering on the   following  31st of
January: " Mr. Prinne an Utter Barrister
of Lincoln's Inne is brought into the
IHigh Commission Court and Star
chamber, for publishing a Booke (a
ittle before the Queene's acting of her
fay) of the unlawfullness of Plaies
vherein in the Table of his Booke and
tlis brief additions thereunto he hath




20    How to Make an Index.


these words [the extracts given abov
are here printed], which wordes it is
thought by some will cost him    his
eares, or heavily punnisht and deepel
fined."
Those who thought thus were ampl
justified in their opinion.  Mr. Hil
Burton observes that it was a ver
odd compliment to Queen Henriett
Maria to presume that these words refe
to her, and he adds that the supposition
reminds him of Victor Hugo's sarcas
respecting Napoleon III., that when th
Parisian police overheard any one use the
terms "ruffian " and "scoundrel," they saidc
"You must be speaking of the Emperor!'
Prynne is so full in his particulars that
he might have given us much information
respecting the stage in his own day, whica
we should have welcomed; but, instead,
he is ever more ready to draw his exampls
from Greek and Latin authorities.
In the eighteenth century a practiie
arose of drawing up indexes of sentimerts
and opinions as distinguished from facS.
Such indexes required a special skill n
the indexer, who was usually the origint'



Introduction.


21


author. There is a curious poetical index
to the Iliad in Pope's Homer, referring to
all the places in which similes are used.,
Samuel Johnson was very anxious that
Richardson should produce such an index
to his novels. In the Correspondence of
Samuel Richardson (vol. v., p. 282) is,a letter from Johnson to the novelist,
in which he writes: " I wish you would
add an index rerum, that when the reader
recollects any incident, he may easily
find it, which at present he cannot do,
unless he knows in which volume it is
told; for Clarissa is not a performance
to be read with eagerness, and laid aside
or ever; but will be occasionally consulted
by the busy, the aged and the studious;
and therefore I beg that this edition, by
x. which I suppose posterity is to abide, may
}want nothing that can facilitate its use."
At the end of each volume of Clarissa
arlowe Richardson added a sort of
able of all the passages best worth
remembering, and as he was the judge
himself, it naturally extended to a coniderable length. In September, 1753,
Johnson again wrote to Richardson
I




22    How to Make an Index.


suggesting the propriety of making an
index to his three works, but he added:
"While I am writing an objection arises;
such an index to the three would look like
the preclusion of a fourth, to which I will
never contribute; for if I cannot benefit
mankind I hope never to injure them."
Richardson took the hint of his friend,
and in 1755 appeared a volume of four
hundred and ten pages, entitled, A
Collection of the moral and instructive
Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions, and Reflexions contained in the Histories of
Pamela, Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison, digested under proper heads."
The tables of sentiments are arranged
in separate alphabets for each novel.
The production of this book was a labour
of love to its author, who, moreover, was
skilled in the mechanical work of indexing, and in the early part of his career
had filled up his leisure hours by compiling indexes for the booksellers and
writing prefaces and dedications.  At
the end of his "collection" are two
letters from the author to two of his
admirers; one was to a lady who was




I            Introduction.         23
olicitous for an additional volume to
tr Charles Grandison, supposing that
fork ended too abruptly.
David Hume is to be added to the
ist of celebrated men who have been
i ndexers, although he does not appear to
lave liked the work. In referring to the
\ourth edition of his Essays he wrote:
'"I intend to make an index to it." Two
ears later he is grateful that the work of
Indexing another book is to be done for
him; writing to Millar (December 18th,
1759), he says: " I think that an Index
mtill be very proper, and am glad that
you free me from the trouble of undertaking that task, for which I know myself
to be very unfit."*
Sir James Paget, the great surgeon, not
Only made indexes, but delighted in the
task. He told Dr. Goodhart, apropos of
the Hunterian Museum Catalogues, Colliege of Surgeons, that "it had always been
a pleasure to him to make an index." t
At the end of this chapter I must
* Letters of David Hume to William Strahan,
edited by G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. Oxford, I888.
t Paget's Life, p. 350.




24     How to Make an Index.
refer to an excellent blunder, because i
would not be fair to introduce it wit
the work of the bad indexer, as it is
an instance not exactly of ignorance, but
of too great cleverness.
Of the Fetis Musical Library, bought
by the Belgian Government at his death
for 152,000 francs, an excellent catalogue
was compiled and printed. In the index
are references to Dumas (Alexandre) pre,
and   Dumas   (Alexandre)  fils.  The
musician who consults the work will
be surprised at this unexpected development of these two    famous authors')
powers, but will be disappointed on referring to the numbers cited to find that
they are reports of some legal proceeding
brought by the firm of Alexandre pkre e
fils, the well-known harmonium-makers,;
against a rival firm. The indexer's betteri
acquaintance with Les Trois Mousquetaires[
and La Dame aux Camilias led him astray.,
My friend Mr. J. E. Matthew, who,
communicated this to me, adds: "After
many years of constant use of the
catalogue, this is the  only mistake,
beyond a literal, that I ever found."




i
iI           CHAPTER        II.
AMUSING AND SATIRICAL INDEXES.
j "It will thus often happen that the controversialist states his case first in the title-page;
he then gives it at greater length in the introducltion; again perhaps in a preface; a third time
in an analytical form through means of a table
'of contents; after all this skirmishing he brings
up his heavy columns in the body of the book; and
if he be very skilfull he may let fly a few Parthian,
arrows from the index."-J. HILL BURTON'S
Book-Hunter.
Bl| l5NE of the last things the genuine
0 ' ]   indexer thinks of is to make
'    I     his work amusing; but some
i          wits have been very successful
jin producing humorous indexes, and;others have seen their way to make an.,author ridiculous by satirically perverting
jhis meaning in the form of an ordinary
'index.  We can find specimens of each
jof these classes.
I
t




26     How to Make an Index.
Leigh Hunt has a charming little paper,i
"A Word upon Indexes," in his Indicator.i
He writes: " Index-making has been held\
to be the driest as well as lowest species
of writing.  We shall not dispute theI
humbleness of it; but since we have had
to make an index ourselves,* we have;
discovered that the task need not be\
so very dry. Calling to mind indexes in
general, we found them presenting us a
variety of pleasant memories and contrasts.
We thought of those to the Spectator,
which we used to look at so often at!
school, for the sake of choosing a paper
to abridge.  We thought of the index
to the Pantheon of Fabulous Histories,of the Heathen Gods, which we used to
look at oftener. We remember how we
imagined we should feel some day, if ever
our name should appear in the list of
Hs; as thus, Home, Howard, Hume,
Huniades,. The poets would have!
been better, but then the names, though
perhaps less unfitting, were not so flattering; as for instance Halifax, Hammond,
* To the original edition of the Indicator; the
-reprint (2 vols. 8vo, 1834) has no index.
I,,-'.,.




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 27
Harte, Iughes, -. We did not like to
come af er Hughes."
The indexes to the Tatler and the
Spectado' are full of piquancy, and possess
that ad mirable quality of making the
consulte r wish to read the book itself.
The entries are so enticing that they
lead yo1 on to devour the whole book.
Hunt Writes of them: "We have just
been lo oking at the indexes to the Tatler
and S ectator, and never were more
forcibly  struck  with the feeling we.formerlt expressed about a man's being
better pleased with other writers than
*ith hi mself.  Our index seemed the
poorest and most second-hand in the
world after theirs: but let any one read
theirs, a nd then call an index a dry thing
it he c In. As there ' is a soul of goodness in things evil' so there is a soul of
liumou4 in things dry, and in things dry
by pro ession.  Lawyers know this, as
well as index-makers, or they would die
of sheel thirst and aridity. But as grapes,
ready t/ burst with wine, issue out of
the m st stony places, like jolly fellows
bringing burgundy out of a cellar; so an
/     I
i * i




28     How to Make an Index.
Index, like the Taller's, often giv es us a;
taste of the quintessence of his h mour."
The very title gives good proinise ofwhat is to be found in the boo: "A,
faithful Index of the dull as well as the
ingenious passages in the Tatlers.'
Here are a few entries chosen at r ndom:
Vol. i" Bachelor's scheme to govern a wife."
" Knaves prove fools."
Vol. 2
"Actors censured for adding w rds of
their own in their parts."
" Dead men, who."
"Dead   persons heard, judg d and
censured.
- Allegations laid against themn,
their pleas."
"Love letters before and after m arriage,
found in a grave."
"Mathematical sieve to sift ilpertin}ences in writing and discourse."
" News, Old People die in Fran se."
Vol. 3-                     /,/    "Flattery of women, its ill consequences."
"Maids of Honour, their allowance)
\    \!     I




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 29
of Beef for their Breakfast in Queen
Elizabeth's time."
" Silence, significant on many occasions.
Instances of it."
Vol. 4 -"Blockheads   apt to   admire  one
another."
"Female Library proposed for the Improvement of the Sex."
"Night, longer formerly in this Island
than at present."
In  1757 A   General Index   to the
Spectatorsj Tatlers, and Guardians was
published, and in 1760 the same work
was re-issued with a new title-page.
Certain supposed blots in the original
indexes were here corrected and the
following explanation made in the preface:
"Notwithstanding the learning and care
of the compilers of the first Indexes to
these volumes, some slight inaccuracies
have passed, and where observed they
are altered. Few readers who desire to
know Mr. Bickerstaff's Opinion of the
Comedy called the Country Wife, or the
character of Mrs. Bickerstaff as an actress,
would consult the Index under the word




30    How to Make an Index.


Acts." This seems to refer to an entry io
the index to the first volume of the Tatler,:
"Acts the Country-Wife: (Mrs. Bignel).'
The index to the original edition of the
Spectator is equally good with that Of
the Tatler, but the entries are longer and
more elaborate than those in the latter.
The references are not made to the pages,
as is the case with the Tatler, but to the
numbers of the papers. The following
entries are worthy of quotation:
Vol. 2 -"Gentry of England generally speaking
in debt."
"Great men not truly known till some
years after their deaths."
"Women,, the English excel all other
nations in beauty.
-     Signs of their improvement underi
the Spectator's hands.
---- Their pains in all ages to adorn
the outside of their heads."
A precursor of the Tatler and Spfctator
was the curious Athezian Oracle, of the
eccentric John Dunton, each volume of
which contained " An Alphabetical Table
for the speedy finding of any' questions,




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 31
by a member of the Athenian Society,"
fi'om which the following amusing entries
aire taken:," Ark, what became of it after the
Fiood?"
" Bees, a swarm lit upon the Crown
anid Scepter in Cheapside, what do they.poetend?"
-tHawthorn-tree at Glassenbury, what
thifrk you of it?"
""Ndoh's flood, whither went   the
raters?
" ie, Piper, was he a man or daemon?"
"Triumphant Arch erected in Cheapside
'1P91, described."
A selection from this curious seven —
teenth-century miscellany was made by
Mr. J. Underhill, and published   by
Walter Scott a few years ago.
Shenstone's Schoolmistress is one of the
works of genius which is little known in
the present day, but well repays perusal.
A..  humorous table  of contents was
prepared by the author, which he styled
an index. He wrote: "I have added a
ludicrous index purely to show (fools)
that I am in jest." This was afterwards




32     How to Make an Index.
omitted, but D'Israeli reprinted it in his
Curiosities of Literature. It contains an
amusing prEcis of the chief points of tihe
poem; the whole is short, and a few
extracts will give an idea of its plan;
"A CIRCUMSTANCE in the situation of the
mansion of early Discipline, discovering
the surprising influence of the connexion
of ideas."
"SOME peculiarities indicative o1 a
country school, with a short sketch cf
the sovereign presiding over it."  j,
" SOME account of her night-cap, apron
and a tremendous description of her
birchen sceptre."
"HER titles and punctilious nicety in
the ceremonious assertion of them."
"A VIEW of this rural potentate as
seated in her chair of state, conferring
honours distributing bounties and dispensing proclamations."
Gay composed a full and humorous
index for his interesting picture of
eighteenth-century London-Trivia. The
poet added a few entries to the index
in the quarto edition of his Poems (1720).
The following selected references will
show the character of the index:




. Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 33
"Asses, their arrogance."
" Autumn, what cries then in use."
" Bully, his insolence to be corrected."
"Chairs and chariots prejudicial to
health."
"Cellar, the misfortune of falling into
one."
" Coach fallen into a hole described."
4' Glazier, his skill at football."
"London, its happiness before the invention of Coaches and Chairs."
~ Periwigs, how stolen off the head."
" Quarrels for the wall to be avoided."
" Schoolboys, mischievous in frosty
weather."
" Wall, to whom to be given.
to whom to be denied."
" Women, the ill consequence of gazing
on them."
Of modern examples of the amusing
index, by far the best is that added to
the inimitable Biglow Papers by the accomplished author, James Russell Lowell.
Here are some extracts from the index
to the First Series:
"Adam, eldest son of, respected."
"Babel, probably the first congress."
3




34     How to Make an Index.
"Birch, virtue of, in instilling ce'rtain
of the dead languages."
"Caesar, a tribute to. His Veni, ridi,
Vici censured for undue prolixity."
"Castles, Spanish, comfortable accpmmodation in."
"Eating Words, habit of, convenient in
time of famine."
"Longinus recommends swearing (Fuieli
did the same thing)."
"No, a monosyllable. Hard to utter."
"Noah enclosed letter in bottle, Orobably."
"Ulysses,  husband   of  Penelope.
Borrows money. (For full particulars slee
Homer and Dante.)"
"Wrong, abstract, safe to oppose."
The following are from the Second Series:
"Antony of Padua, Saint, happy in
his hearers."
"Applause, popular, the   summum
bonum."
"'Atlantic,' editors of, See Neptune.
[There is no entry under Neptune.]"
"Belmont. See Woods."
"Bible, not composed for use of
coloured persons."




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 35
" Charles I, accident to his neck."
I" zekiel would make a poor figure at
a Caucus."
"Facts, their unamiability. Compared
to art old fashioned stage-coach."
' lamily trees, a primitive forest of."
'IJeremiah hardly the best guide in
modern politics.",' Missionaries,  useful to  alligators.
Culinary liabilities of."
'Rum and water combine kindly."
'*Shoddy, poor covering for outer or
inmller man."
"'They'll'say,' a notable bully."
"Woods, the, See Belmont."
"World, this, its unhappy temper."
'Writing, dangerous to reputation."
he witty Dr. William King, student of
Christ Church, Oxford, and afterwards.
Ju ge of the Irish Court of Admiralty,
pr sented an example of the skilled contro ersialist spoken of by Hill Burton
4a letting fly "a few  Parthian arrows
from  the Index."  He was dubbed by
Isaac D'Israeli the inventor of satirical
indexes, and he certainly succeeded in
producing several ill-natured ones.




36    How to Make an Index.
When the wits of Christ Church produced under the name of the Ihon.
Charles Boyle the clever volume with
which they thought to annihilate' the
great Dr. Bentley, Dr. King was the Xne
who assisted by producing a bitter intex.
The first edition of Dr. BenSy's
Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris
and the Fables of Esop examin'd (I698)
has no index; but Dr. King's work gas
added to the second edition publi sed
in the same year.  It was styledt yA
short account of Dr. Bentley by way (of
Index. Then follows:
"Dr. Bentley's true story of the M S.
prov'd false by the testimonies of
Mr. Bennet, p. 6.
Mr. Gibson, p. 7.
- Dr. King, p. 8.
Dr. Bentley, p. 19."
"Dr. Bentley's civil usage of Mr. Boy e.
"His civil language to
Mr. Boyle.
-     Sir W. Temple.
"His singular humanity to.
-  Mr. Boyle.
-  Sir Edward Sherburne.




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 37
humanity to Foreigners.
"His Ingenuity in
relating matters of fact.
citing authors.
- transcribing and plundering
notes and prefaces of
- --   Mr. Boyle.
Vizzanius.
Nevelet.
Camerarius.
Editor of Hesychius.
-       Salmasius.
Dr. Bentley.
(" His appeal to Foreigners.
-- a suspicious plan.
a false one.
His modesty and decency in contradi Sing great men.
' (Long list from Plato to Every body).
"His happiness in confident assertions
fol want
of Reading.
of Judgment.
-     of Sincerity.
{" His profound skill in Criticism
From beginning to
The End."




38     How to Make an Index.
This is certainly more vindictive than
witty.
All the wits rushed madly into the
fray, and Swift, in his "Battel fought last
Friday between the Antient and Modern
Books in St. James's Library," committed
himself irretrievably to the wrong side
in this way: "A captain whose name
was B-ntl-y, in person the most deformed
of all the moderns; tall but without shape
or comeliness, large but without strength
or proportion. His armour was patchld
up of a thousand incoherent pieces..
Then look at the leader of the opposirng
host: "Boyl clad in a suit of arm r
which had been given him   by all t'e
gods immediately advanced against ~e
trembling foe, who now fled before hi "'
It is amazing that such a pervert d
judgment should have been given )y
some of our greatest writers, but all is to
be traced to Bentley's defects of temp r,
so that Dr. King was not altogeth r
wrong in his index.
Sir George Trevelyan in his, Ljee,f
Macaulay refers to BRentley's famous
maxim (which in print and talk alile




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 39
he dearly loved to quote), that no man
was' ever written down except by himself,
and quotes what the    historian wrote
after perhaps his tenth perusal of Bishop
Monk's life of the great critic: " Bentley
seems to me an eminent instance of the
extlent to which intellectual powers of a
most rare and admirable kind may be
impaired by moral defects."
Charles Boyle's book went through four
editions, and still there was silence; but
at' last appeared the " immortal" Dissertatin, as Porson calls it, which not only
defeated his enemies, but routed them
ccmpletely. Bentley's Dissertation upon
e Epistles of Phalaris, with an answer
to the objections of the Hon. C.
Bpyle/, Esq., first appeared in I699. De
Qircey described  it as one of the
thre(e most triumphant dissertations existing upon the class of historico-critical
problems, "All three are loaded with a
superfetation of evidence, and conclusive
beyond what the mind altogether wishes."*
In arcother place De Quincey points out
* R4)sicrucians and Free-Masons (De Quincey's
iVorkst vol. 13, p. 388).




,/." '
40     How to Make an Index.
the line of argument followed by Bentley:
"It was by anachronisms of this character that Bentley detected the spuriousness
of the letters ascribed to Phalaris. Sicilian
towns, &c., were in those letters caUled
by names that did not arise until t(hat
prince had been dead for centuries.
Manufactures were mentioned that were
of much later invention. As handles for
this exposure of a systematic forgery,
which oftentimes had a moral significance,
these indications were valuable, and gave
excessive brilliancy to that immortal d ssertation of Bentley's." *
The fate which the wits thought o
bring upon Bentley fell upon them, ard
they quarrelled among themselves.   It
was believed that Charles Boyle, \wh n
credit was to be obtained, looked up n
himself as author of the book; but a}fterwards, when it was discredited, he (nly
awaited the public trial of the conspirators
to wash his hands of the whole affaiir.
Atterbury, who had much to do with thle
production of the volume, was partiqularly
* Memorial Chronology (De Quincey's iork*,
vol. 14, p. 309).




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 41
annoyed by Boyle's conduct. He wrote
to Boyle: "In laying the design of the
book, in writing above half of it, in reviewing [revising] a great part of the rest,
in transcribing the whole and attending
the press, half a year of my life went
away.  What I promised myself from
hence was that some service would be
done to your reputation, and that you
would think so. In the first of these I
was not mistaken-in the latter I am.
WIien you were abroad, sir, the highest
youi could prevail with yourself to go in
you~ opinion of the book was, that you
hoped it would do you no harm. When,
youi returned I supposed you would have
see n that it had been far from hurting
you.  However, you have not thoughtfit to let me know your mind on this
matter; for since you came to England,
Aoo one expression, that I know of, has
dippped from you that could give me
reson to believe you had any opinion,
of what I had done, or even took it,kitdly from me." *
i Memoirs of Bishop Atterbury, compiled by
4lkestone Williams, vol. i. (I869), p. 42.




42     How to Make an Index.
In the same year (1698) King turned
his attention to a less formidable antagonist than the great Bentley. His fourney
to London is a very ingenious parody
of Dr. Martin Lister's Journey to Paris,
and, the pages of the original being
referred to, it forms an index to that
book.
The Royal Society in its early years
had to pass through a long period of
ridicule  and  misrepresentation.  The
author of Hudibras commenced      the
crusade, but the gibes of Butler were
easier to bear than those of Dr. William
King, who was particularly savage against
Sir Hans Sloane.   The Transactiotneer
'(700) and Useful Transactions in Philnsophy (I7o8-I709) were very galling to the
distinguished naturalist, and annoyed 'he
Royal Society, whose Philosophical Trans-,actions were unmercifully laughed at. TO
both the tracts referred to were prefix d
satirical tables of contents, and w/iat
made them the more annoying was that
the author's own words were very' ijr
geniously used and turned against hi.
King writes: "The bulls and blundei




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 43
which Sloane and his friends so naturally
pour forth cannot be misrepresented, so
careful I am in producing them."
Here is a specimen of the contents
of The Transactioneer:
"The Tatler's Opinion of a Virtuoso."
" Some Account of Sir Hans Sloane.
- of Dr. Salmon.
of Mr. Oldenburg.
- of Dr. Plot."
"The Compiling of the Philosophical
Transactions the work of a single person.
the excellence of his style.
- his clearness and perspicacity.
Genius to Poetry.. -- Verses on Jamaica Pepper.
(  Politicks in Gardening.
)     Skill in Botanicks."
The following appear in the contents
of the "Voyage to Cajamai" in Useful
Trnsactions:
Preface of the author'Knew a white bramble in a dark
room."
uthor's introductionMountains higher than hills."
" Hay good for horses."




44     How to Make an Index.


The most important of King's indexes
was that added to Bromley's Travels,
because it had the effect of balking a
distinguished political character of his
ambition of filling the office of Speaker
of the House of Commons.
William  Bromley (1664-1732), after
leaving Christ Church, Oxford, spent
several years in travelling on the Continent. He was elected a Member of
Parliament in i689, and soon occupied
a prominent position among the nonjurors. In i692 he published "Remarks
in the Grande Tour of France and It aly,
lately performed by a Person of quality.
London.   Printed by E. H. for Tio.
Basset at the George in Fleet Street,
1692."  A second edition appeared in
the following year: " Remarks made in
Travels through France and Italy, with
many Publick Inscriptions. Lately ta en
by a Person of Quality. London (Tho as
Basset) i693."
In March, 1701-1702, Bromley was
electedMember of Parliament for the 1niversity of Oxford, which he continues to
represent during the remainder of his li e.




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 45


In I702 he published another volume
of travels: "Several Years' Travels through
Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Prussia,
Sweden, Denmark and the United Provinces performed by a Gentleman."
In I705 Bromley was supposed to have
pre-eminent claims to the Speakership,
which office was then vacant; but what
was supposed to be a certainty was turned
into failure by the action of his opponents.
They took the opportunity of reprinting
his Remarks, with the addition of a
satirical index, as an electioneering squib.
This reprint appeared as "Remarks in the
Grand Tour... performed by a Person
of Quality in the year 169. The second
edion to which is added a table of the
prinicipal matters. London. Printed for
Joh' Nutt near Stationers' Hall, 1705."
Thit was really the third edition, but
prq ably the reprinters overlooked the
edition of I693. It was reprinted with
the original licence of "Rob. Midgley,
Fe. 2oth, 1691-2."
IJ the Bodleian copy of this book there
is  manuscript note by Dr. Rawlinson to
th effect that this index was drawn up by




46


How to Make an Index.


Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford; but this
was probably only a party rumour. Dr.
Parr possessed Bromley's own copy of
the reprint with the following manuscript
note by the author:
"This edition of these travels is a specimen of the good nature and good manners
of the Whigs, and I have reason to believe of one of the ministry (very conversant in this sort of calumny) for the
sake of publishing 'the Table of the principal matters &dc' to expose me whom
the gentlemen of the Church of England
designed to be Speaker of the House
of Commons, in the Parliament, 1hiat
met Oct. 25 1705.    When    notwithstanding the Whigs and Court join ng
to keep me out of the chair, and  he
greatest violence towards the Memb rs,
turning out some, and threatening oth rs,
to influence  their votes, I had  he
honour (and I shall ever esteem  it a
greater honour than my competitr's
success) to have the suffrages of  o05
disinterested gentlemen for me: suc  a
number as never lost such a quest on
before; and such as, with the additi n




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 47
of those that by force, and contrary to
their inclination, with the greatest reluctance voted against me, must have
prevailed for me.
' This was a very malicious proceeding;
my words and meaning plainly perverted
in several places; which if they had been
improper, and any observations trifling or
impertinent, an allowance was due for
my being very young, when they were
made. But the performances of others,
not entitled to such allowance may be
in this manner exposed, as appears by
the like Tables published for the Travels
of Bp. Burnet and Mr. Addison. Wim.
Brozlney."
I r. Parr took this all very seriously,
and set great value upon the book. He
added a note to that written by Bromley,
in which he said:
"/Mr, Bromley was very much galled
wit} the republication, and the ridiculous,.
but not untrue, representation of the
contents. Such a work would unavoidably} expose the author to derision:
instead therefore of suffering it to be
sol~ after my death, and to become a




48     How to Make an Index.
subject of contemptuous gossip, or an
instrument of party annoyance, I think
it a proper act of respect and kindness
for the Bromley family, for me to put
it in possession of the Rev. Mr. Davenport Bromley, upon the express condition
that he never sells it nor gives it away,
that, after reading it, he seals it up
carefully and places it where no busy
eye, nor thievish hand can reach it.
S. P.,
This note was written in 1823, and the
precautions taken by Parr seem rather
belated. Even the family were little
likely to mind the public seeing a political
skit more than a century old, which did
no dishonour to their ancestor's character.
It is very. probable that Harley wa at
the expense of reprinting the book  as
it is reported that every one who  ame
to his house was asked if he had  een
Mr. Bromley's Travels; and when the
answer was in the negative, Harle at
once fetched a copy, which he preset ted
to his visitor. There is no doubt,  owever, that the index was drawn u by
Dr. King.




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 49
The index is neither particularly amusing nor clever, but it is very ill-natured.
Dr. Parr infers that the book is not misrepresented, but there can be little doubt
that the index is in most instances very
unfair. Thus the first entry in the table is:
"Chatham, where and how situated,
viz. on the other side of Rochester bridge,
though commonly reported to be on this
side, p. x."
The passage indexed is quite clear, and
contains the natural statement of a fact.
"Lodged at Rochester, an episcopal
seat in the same county [Kent]. The
cathedral church is plain and decent,
and the city appears well peopled. When
I lef; it and passed the Bridge I was at
Cha ham, the famous Dock, where so
many of our great ships are built."
Thbe following are some further entries
from the index:;Dover and Calais neither of them
place.s of Strength tho' frontier towns,
P. 2.
<"loulogne the first city on the French
shore, lies on the coast, p. 2." [These
are t e same words as in the book.]
4
)1




50     How to Make an Index.
" Crosses and Crucifixes on the Roads
in France prove it not England, p. 3."
The passage here indexed is as follows:
" Crosses and Crucifixes are so plentiful
every where on this road, that from them
alone an Englishman will be satisfied
he is out of his own country; besides
the Roads are much better than ours."
" Eight pictures take up less room than
sixteen of the same size, p. 14."
This is founded on the following:
"They contain the Histories of the
Old and New Testaments, and are placed
in two rows one above the other; those
that represent the Old Testament are
in the uppermost reaching round the
room and are sixteen. Those of the ew
are under them, but being only e'ght
reach not so far as the former, and
where no pictures are be the doons to
the presses where the sacred vestm nts
are kept."
" Travelling by night not prope  to
take a view of the adjacent count ries,
P. 223.- )
This is a version of the following:
"The   heat of the  weather    ade




Amusing and Satirical Indexes. 5 I
travelling in the night most desirable
and we chose it between Sienna and
Florence.... By this means I could see
little of the country."
" The Duchess dowager of Savoy who
was grandmother to the present Duke was
mother to his father, p. 243."
This is a perversion of the following
perfectly natural observation:
"This was designed by the Dutchess
Christina grandmother of this Duke in
the minority of her son (his father) in
i66o."
The entry, " Jews at Legorn not obliged
to wear red hats, p. 223," contains nothing
absud, but rather is an interesting piece
of Information, because the Jews were
~blnied to wear these hats in other parts
of Italy, and it was the knowledge of
this Tact that induced Macklin to wear a
red baat when acting Shylock, a personation
whibh induced an admirer to exclaim:
\    "This is the Jew
That Shakespeare drew."
Suych perversions as these could have
done Bromley, one would think, little!



52    How to Make an Index.
harm; but the real harm done consisted
in bringing to light and insisting upon
the author's political attitude when he
referred to King William and Queen
Mary as "the Prince and Princess of
Orange." The passage is as follows:
"A gallery, where among the pictures
of Christian Princes are those of King
Charles the Second and his Queen, King
James the Second and his Queen and
the Prince and Princess of Orange."
It would indeed seem strange that one
who had thus referred to his King and
Queen should occupy so important a
public office as Speaker of the House
of Commons. Another ground of offence
was that when in Rome he kissed <he
Pope's slipper.
Although Bromley was disappointed in
1705, his time came; and after the Tory
reaction consequent on  the trial of
Sacheverell he was in   1710 chojsen
Speaker without opposition. There qs a
portrait of Bromley in the Univepsity
Picture Gallery in the Bodleian at Oxford.




CHAPTER III.
THE BAD INDEXER.
"At the laundress's at the Hole in the Wall
in Cursitor's Alley up three pair of stairs, the
author of my Church history-you may also
speak to the gentleman who lies by him in the
flock bed, my index maker."-SWIFT'S Account
of the Condition of Edmund Curl? (Instructions
to a porter how to find Mr. Curl's authors).
AD indexers are everywhere, and
E what is most singular is that
f   each one makes the same sort
of  blunders-blunders which
it w uld seem   impossible that any one
coul   make, until we find these same
blunrlers over and over again in black and
white.  One of the commonest is to place
the r ferences under unimportant words,
for wAlich no one would think of looking,
such l'as A and The. The worst indexes
ojis class are often added to journals
m                  53




54    How to Make an Index.
and newspapers.  A good instance of
confusion will be found in the index to a
volume of The Freemason which is before
me; but this is by no means singular,
and certainly not the worst of its class.
Under A we find the following entries:
"Afternoon Outing of the Skelmersdale
Lodge."
"An Oration delivered," etc.
" Annual Outing of the Queen Victoria
Lodge."
"Another Masonic MS."
Under B:
"Bro. Bain's Masonic Library."
Under F:
" First Ball of the Fellowship Lodge.
" First Ladies' Night."
Under I:                      /
"Interesting Extract from  an  ' Old
Masonian's' Letter."
Under L:
"Ladies' Banquet."
"Ladies' Night."
"Ladies' Summer Outing."
"Late Bro. Sir B. W. Richardson;"
Under N:
"New Grand Officers."




The Bad Indexer.


55


"New Home for Keighley Freemasons."
"New Masonic Hall."
Under 0:
" Our Portrait Gallery."
Under R:
"Recent Festival."
Under S:
" Send-off dinner."
"Summer Festival."
" Summer Outing."
Under T:
"Third Ladies' Night."
Under Y:
" Ye olde Masonians."
There are many other absurd headings,
but these are the worst instances. They
show the confusion of not only placing
references where they would never be
looked for, but of giving similar entries
all over the index under whatever heading
came first to the mind of the indexer. For
insta-nce, there is one Afternoon Outing,
one I'Annual Outing, one Ladies' Outing,
one\ Summer Outing, and three other
Outitngs under 0. None of these have
any Preferences the one from the other.
T7here are a large number of indexes




56    How to Make an Index.


in which not only the best heading is
not chosen, but the very worst is. Thus,
choosing at random, we find such an order
as the following in an old volume of
the Canadian Journal:
/  "A   Monograph    of  the  British
Spongiadae."
"On the Iodide of Barium."
"Sir Charles Barry, a Biography."
" The late Professor Boole."
" The Mohawk Language."
The same misarrangement will sometimes be found even in standard English
journals.
The edition of Jewel's Apology, published by Isaacson in 1825, contains an
index which is worthy of special remark.
It is divided into four alphabets, referring respectively to  (i) Life i (2)
Apology; (3) Notes to Life; (4) Notes to
Apology; and this complicated machinery
is attached to a book of only 286 pages.
I think it is scarcely too much td say
that there is hardly an entry in ithe index
which would be of any use to the/consulter. A few examples will show that
this is not an unfair judgment:




The Bad Indexer.        57
"Belief of a Resurrection."
"Caution, Reformers proceeded with
Caution."
" If Protestants are Heretics let the
Papists prove them so from Scripture."
" In withdrawing themselves from the
Church of Rome, Protestants have not
erred from Christ and his Apostles."
"King John."
"The Pope assumes Regal power and
habit."
" Ditto employs spies."
That this idiotic kind of index (which
can be of no possible use to any one)
is not yet extinct may be seen in one
of those daintily printed books of essays
which are now so common. In mercy
I will not mention the title, but merely
say that it was published in i9oi. A few
yextracts will show the character of the work:
"A Book," etc.
"Is public taste," etc.
On reading old books."
The advantage," etc.
"the blessedness," etc.
":The Book-stall Reader."
The Girl," etc.




58    How to Make an Index.


" The Long Life," etc.
" The Preservative," etc.
" The Prosperity," etc.
"Two Classes of Literature.
There are many instances of such bad
indexes, but it would be tedious to quote
more of them. The amazing thing is
that many persons unconnected with one
another should be found to do the same
ridiculous work, and suppose that by any
possibility it could be of use to a single
human being. But what is even more
astounding is to find intelligent editors
passing such useless rubbish and wasting
good type and paper upon it.
Another prominent blunder in indexing
periodicals is to follow in the index the
divisions of the paper. In an alphabetical
index there should be no classification,
but the alphabet should be follcwed
throughout.  Nothing is so maddening
to consult as an index in which the
different divisions of the periodical are
kept distinct, with a separate alphabet
under each. It is hopeless to consult
these, and it is often easier to turn over
the pages and look through the volume




The Bad Indexer.


59


than to refer to the index. The main
object of an index is to bring together
all the items on a similar subject which
are separated in the book itself.
The indexes of some periodicals are
good, but those of the many are bad. /f
Mr. Poole and his helpers, who had an
extensive experience of periodical literature, made the following rule to be
observed in the new edition of Poole's
Index to Periodical Literature:
"All references must be made from
an inspection, and if necessary the perusal
of each article. Hence, no use will be
made of the index which is usually
printed with the volume, or of any other
index. Those indexes were made by unskilfful persons, and are full of all sorts
of errors. It will be less work to discard them entirely than to supply their
omissions and correct their errors."
This rule is sufficiently severe, but it
cannot be said that it is unjust.
Miss Hetherington, who has had a
singularly large experience of indexes to
periodicals, has no higher idea of these
than Mr. Poole. In an article on " The




6o     How to Make an Index.


Indexing of Periodicals " in the Index
to the Periodical Literature of the World
for i892, she gives a remarkable series of
instances of absurd entries. Some of these
are due to the vicious habit of trying
to save trouble by cutting up the lists of
contents, and repeating the entries under
different headings. Miss Hetherington's
examples are well worth repeating; but
as bad indexing is the rule, it is scarcely
worth while to gibbet any one magazine, as most of them are equally bad.
-It is only amazing how    any one in
authority can allow such absurdities as
the following to be printed. These six
groups are from one magazine:
"Academy in Africa, A Monkey's."
"Africa, A Monkey's Academy in."
"Monkey's Academy in Africa, A."
"Aspects, The Renaissance   in its
Broader."
"Renaissance in its Broader Aspects,
The."
"Campaign, His Last, and After."
"His Last Campaign, and After."
"Entertainment, The Triumph of the
Variety."




The Bad Indexer.


"Triumph of the Variety Entertainment, The."
"Variety Entertainment, The Triumph
of the."
"Evicted Tenants, The Irish, Are they
Knaves?"
" Irish Evicted Tenants, The, Are they
Knaves? "
"French Revolution, Scenes from the."
"Revolution, Scenes from the French."
"Scenes from the French Revolution."
Miss Hetherington adds, respecting
this particular magazine: "But the whole
index might be quoted.  The indexer
seems to have had three lists of contents for his purpose, but he has not
always dared to use more than two,
and so "The Irish Evicted Tenants" do
not figure under the class "Knaves."
The contributors are on another page,
with figures only against their names, the
cause of reference not being specified."
Equally absurd, and contrived on a
similar system, are the following entries
from another magazine:
" Eastern Desert on Foot, Through an."
" Foot, Through an Eastern De-ert on."




62 - How to Make an Index.


"Through an Eastern Desert on Foot."
" Finds, The Rev. J. Sturgis's."
" Sturgis's Finds,, The Rev. J."
"Complexion! What a Pretty."
"Pretty Complexion! What a."
"What a Pretty Complexion!"
These two groups are from a very
prominent magazine:
"Creek in Demerara, Up a."
"Demerara, Up a Creek in."
"Up a Creek in Demerara."
"Home, The Russians at."
"Russians at Home, The."
"The Russians at Home."
In the foregoing, by giving three entries,
one, by chance, may be correct; but in
the following case there are two useless
references:
"Baron de Marbot, The Memoirs of
the."
"Memoirs of the -Baron de Marbot,
The."
But nothing under Marbot.
Some indexers have a fancy for placing
authors under their Christian names, as
these three from one index.
" Philip Bourke Marston."




The Bad Indexer.


63


" Rudyard Kipling."
"Walt Whitman."
These entries are amusing:
" Foot in it, On Putting One's."
" On Putting One's Foot in it."
Surely it is strange that such absurdities
as these should continue to be published!
Mr. Poole drew attention to the evil,
and Miss Hetherington has done the
same; yet it continues, and publishers
are not ashamed to print such rubbish
as that just instanced. We may add a
quite recent instance-viz. Longmnan's
Magazine for October, 1901, which contains an index to the thirty-eighth volume.
It occupies two pages in double columns,
and there are no duplicate entries. In that
small space I find these useless entries:
"According to the Code" (not under
Code).
" Disappearance of Plants" (not under
Plants).
" Eighteenth Century London through
French Eye-glasses " (not under London).
" Gilbert White " (not under White).
" Mission of Mr. Rider Haggard " (not
under Haggard).




64     How to Make an Index.
"Some Eighteenth Century Children's
Books" (not under Children's Books).
"Some Notes on an Examination" (not
under Examination).
The two chief causes of the badness
of indexes are foundI. In the original composition.
2. In the bad arrangement.
Of the first cause little need be said.
The chief fault is due    to the incompetence of the indexer, shown by
his use of trivial references, his neglect
of what should be indexed, his introduction of what might well be left out,
his bad analysis, and his bad headings.
The second cause is still more important, because a competent indexer
may prepare his materials well, and keep
clear of all the faults noticed above,
and yet spoil his work by neglect of a
proper system of arrangement.
The chief faults under this second
division consist ofI. Want of complete alphabetisation.
2. Classification within the alphabet.
3. Variety of alphabets.




The Bad Indexer.


4. Want of cross references.
These   are  all considerable  faults,
and will therefore bear being enlarged
upon.
i. The want of complete alj5habetisation is a great evil, but it was very general
at one time. In some old indexes references are arranged under the first
letter only.  In the index to a large
and valuable map of England, published
at the beginning of this century, the
names of places are not arranged further
than the third letter, and this naturally
gives great trouble to the consulter. In
order to save himself, the compiler;
has given others a considerably greater
amount of trouble. In arranging entries
in alphabetical order it is necessary to
sort them to the most minute difference
of spelling.  The alphabetical arrangement, however, has its difficulties, which
must be overcome; for instance, it looks
awkward when the plural comes before
the singular, and the adjective before
the substantive from which it is formed,
as " naval " and " navies " before " navy."
In such cases it will be necessary to
5




66     How to Make an Index.
make a heading such as "Navy," which
will include the plural and the adjective.
The vowel I should be kept distinct
from the consonant J, and the vowel U
from the consonant V.
More blunders have probably been
made by the confusing of u and n in
old books than from any other cause.
These letters are identical in early manuscripts, and consequently the modern
copyist has to decide which letter to
choose, and sometimes he blunders.
In Capgrave's Chronicles of England
is a reference to the "londe of Iude,"
but this is misspelt "Inde " in the edition
published in the Master of the Rolls'
Series in I858. Here is a simple misprint caused by the misreading of I for J
and n for u; but this can easily be set
right.  The indexer, however, has enlarged it into a wonderful blunder.
Under the letter I is the following curious
piece of information:
" India... conquered by Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, 56 "!!
Many more instances of this confusion
of the letters u and n might be given,




The Bad Indexer.


some of them causing permanent confusion of names; but two (which are the
complement of each other) will suffice.
George London was a very eminent
horticulturist in his day, who at the
Revolution was appointed Superintendent
of the Royal Gardens; but he can seldom
get his name properly spelt because a
later horticulturist has made the name
of Loudon more familiar.  In fact, I
was once called to account by a reviewer
who supposed I had made a mistake in
referring to London instead of London.
The reverse mistake was once made by
the great Duke of Wellington.  C. J.
Loudon (who wrote a very bad hand)
requested the Duke to let him see the
Waterloo beeches at Stratfieldsaye. The
letter puzzled Wellington, who knew
nothing of the horticulturist, and read
C. J. Loudon as C. J. London, and
beeches as breeches; so he wrote off to
the then Bishop of London (Dr. Blomfield). to say that his Waterloo breeches
disappeared long ago.
2. Classification within the alphabet.Examples have already been given where




68    How to Make an Index.
the arrangement of the book is followed
rather than the alphabetical order; but
these were instances of bad indexing,
and sometimes a good indexer fails in the
same way, thus showing how important
is good  arrangement.  An index of
great complexity, one full of scientific
difficulties, was once made by a very able
man. The precis was admirable, and the
various subjects were gathered together
under their headings with great skill
-in fact, it could not well have been
more perfect; but it had one flaw which
spoiled it.  The nature of the index
necessitated -a large number of subdivisions under the various chief headings;
these were arranged on a system clear
to the compiler, and probably a logical
one to him. But the user of the index
had not the clue to this arrangement,
and he could not find his way through
the complicated maze; it was an unfortunate instance of extreme cleverness.
When the index was finished, but be
fore it was published, a simple remedy
for the- confusion was suggested and
carried out.  The whole of the sub



The Bad Indexer.


69


divisions under each main heading were
rearranged in perfect alphabetical order.
This was a heroic proceeding, but it
was highly successful, and the rearranged
index gave satisfaction, and the same
system was followed in other indexes
that succeeded it.
3. Variety  of alphabets.-An  index
should be one and indivisible, and
should not be broken up into several
alphabets. Foreigners are greater sinners '
against this fundamental rule than English- 3
men, and they almost invariably separate
the author or persons from subjects.
Sometimes, however, the division is not
very carefully made, for in the Autoren
Register to Carus' and Engelmann's
Bibliography of Zoology may be found
the following entries: Schreiben, Schriften,
Zu Humboldt's Cosmos, Zur Fauna.
Some English books are much divided.
Thus the new edition of Hutchins's
Dorset (1874) has at the end eight
separate indexes: (i) Places, (2) Pedigrees, (3) Persons, (4) Arms, (5) Blazons,
(6) Glossarial, (7) Domesday, (8) Inquisitions.




70     How to Make an Index.
The index to the original quarto edition
of Warton's History of English Poetry
(I774) has six alphabets, but a general
index compiled by Thomas Fillingham,
was published in 1804, uniform with the
work in quarto. The general index to
the Annual Register has as many as fourteen alphabets. The general index to
the Reports of the British Association is
split up into six alphabets, following the
divisions of each volume.
4. Want of cross references.-Although
an alphabetical index should not be
classified, yet it is necessary to gather
together the synonyms, and place all
the references under the best of these
headings, with cross references from the
others. For instance, Wealth should be
under W, Finance under F, and Population under P; and they should not all
be grouped under Political Economy,
because each of these subjects is distinct
and more conveniently found under the
separate heading than under a grouped
heading.  On the other hand, entries
relating to Tuberculosis must not be scattered over the index under such headings




The Bad Indexer.


71


as Consumption, Decline, and Phthisis,
but be gathered together under the heading chosen, with cross references from the
others. In bad indexes this rule is invariably broken, and it must be allowed
that the proper carrying out of this rule
is very difficult, so that where it is
invariably adopted, we have one of the
best signs of a really good index.
Bad   indexers are  usually much  too
haphazard in their work to insert cross
references.
The careful use of cross references is
next in importance to the selection of
appropriate headings.  Great judgment,
however, is required, as the consulters
are naturally irritated by being referred
backwards and forwards, particularly in
a large index.  At the same time, if
judiciously inserted, such references are
a great help.  Mr. Poole says, in an
article on his own index in the Library
Journal: " If every subject shall have
cross references to its allies, the work
will be mainly a book of cross references
rather than an index of subjects." He
then adds: " One correspondent gives




72     How to Make an Index.
fifty-eight cross references under Mental
Philosophy, and fifty-eight more might
be added just as appropriate."
The indexer should be careful that his
cross references are real, but he has not
always attended to this. In Eadie's Dictionary of the Bible (1850) there is a
reference, "Dorcas see Tabitha," but
there is no entry under Tabitha at all.
In Cobbett's Woodlands there is a good
specimen of backwards and forwards
cross referencing.  The author writes:
"Many years ago I wished to know
whether I could raise birch trees from
the seed.... I then looked into the
great book of knowledge, the Encyclopedia
Britannica; there I found in the general
dictionary:
"'BIRCH TREE- See Betula (Botany
Index).'
"I hastened to BETULA with great
eagerness, and there I found:
"' BETULA-See Beech tree.'
"That was all, and this was pretty
encouragement."
William Morris used to make merry
over the futility of some cross references.




The Bad Indexer.


73


He was using a print of an old English
manuscript which was full of notes in explanation of self-evident passages, but one
difficult expression-viz. "The bung of
a thrub chandler "-was left unexplained.
In the index under Bung there was a
reference to Thrub chandler, and under
Thrub chandler another back to Bung.
Still the lexicographers are unable to tell us
what kind of a barrel a " thrub chandler "
really was. I give this story on the authority of my friend, Mr. S. C. Cockerell.
No reference to the contents of a
general heading which is without subdivision should be allowed unless of
course the page is given.
There are too many vague cross
references in the Penny Cyclopcedia
where you are referred from the known
to the unknown. If a general heading
be divided into sections, and each of
these be clearly defined, they should be
cross referenced, but not otherwise. At
present you may look for Pesth and be
referred to  Hungary, where probably
there is much about Pesth, but you do
not know where to look for it in the long




74     How to Make an Index.
article without some clue.  Sometimes
cross references are mere expedients,
particularly in the case of a cyclopedia
published in volumes or parts. Thus a
writer agrees to contribute an article
early in the alphabet, but it is not ready
in time for the publication of the part,
so a cross reference is inserted which
sends the reader to a synonym later on
in the alphabet. In certain cases this
has been done two or three times. An
instance occurs in the life of the distinguished bibliographer, the late Henry
Bradshaw (than whom no one was more
capable of producing a masterly article),
who undertook to write on "Printing"
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. When
the time for publication arrived (1885),
Bradshaw was not ready, and in place
of the article appeared the cross reference,
"PRINTING, TYPOGRAPHIc-See T2ypography."  Bradshaw died on February 10,
i886, and the article on "Typography"
which was published in Vol. 23 in i888,
was written by Mr. Hessels.
Cross referencing has its curiosities as
well as other branches of our subject.




The Bad Indexer.


75


Perhaps the most odd collection of cross
references is to be found in Serjeant
William Hawkins's Pleas of the Crown
(1716; 5th ed., 1771; 7th ed., 4vols., 1795),
of which it was said in the Monthly
Magazine for June, I8oI (p. 419): "A
plain, unlettered man is led to suspect
that the writer of the volume and the
writer of the index are playing at cross
purposes."
The following are some of the most
amusing entries:
"Cards see Dice."
"Cattle see Clergy."
"Chastity see Homicide."
"Cheese see Butter."
"Coin see High Treason."
"Convicts see Clergy."
"Death see Appeal."
"Election see Bribery."
"Farthings see Halfpenny."
"Fear see Robbery."
"Footway see Nuisance."
"Honour see Constable."
" Incapacity see Officers."
" King see Treason."
" Knaves see Words."




76     How to Make an Index.
"Letters see Libel."
"London see Outlawry."
"Shop see Burglary."
"Sickness see Bail."
"Threats see Words."
"Westminster Hall see Contempt and
Lie."
" Writing see Treason."
This arrangement of some of the cross
references is perhaps scarcely fair. They
are spread over several elaborate indexes
in the original, and in their proper places
do not strike one in the same way as
when they are set out by themselves.
One pf the instances given by the critic
in the Monthly Magazine is unfairly cited.
It is there given as "Assault see Son."
The cross reference really is, "Assault
see Son Assault."
Hawkins's work is divided into two
parts, and the folio editions have two
indexes, one to each part; the octavo
edition has four indexes, one to each
volume.
The index to Ford's Handbook of,Spain contains an amusing reference:
N, " Wellington, see Duke."




The Bad Indexer.


77


Besides these four divisions of the chief
faults in indexing, there are many other
pitfalls gaping wide to receive the careless
indexer.
Names are a great difficulty, but it is
not necessary to refer to these more
generally here, as they are fully dealt
with in the rules (see Chapter VI.)
It is not often that an English indexer
has to index a French book, but should
he do so he would often need to be
careful. The Frenchman does not care
to leave that which he does not understand
unexplained. The translation of Love's
Last Shift as La Derni~re Chemise de
I[Amour, attributed by Horace Walpole
to the Dowager Duchess of Bolton in
George I.'s reign, is probably an invention,
but some translations quite as amusing
are genuine.  G. Brunet of Bordeaux,
having occasion in his La France Litt6raire
an  XVP   sitcle to  mention  "White
Knights," at one time the seat of the
Duke of Marlborough, translates it into
Le Chevalier Blanc. When Dr. Buckland,
the geologist, died, a certain French paper
published a biography of him in which it




78     How to Make an Index.
was explained that the deceased had been
a very versatile writer, for besides his
work on geology he had produced one
Sur les Ponts et Chaussdes.  This was a
puzzling statement, but it turned out to
be a translation of Bridgewater Treatises,
in which series his Geology and Mineralogy
was published in I837.
Sometimes contractions give trouble to
the indexer, and he must be careful not
to fill them out unless he is sure of what
they mean. Many blunders have been
made in this way. In the Historie of
Edward IV. (I47 I), edited by that careful
and trustworthy antiquary John Bruce
for the Camden Society in 1838, there
is the following remarkable statement:
"Wherefore the Kynge may say, as Julius
Caesar sayde, he that is not agaynst me
is with me."
This chapter might be made a very
long one by instancing a series of badly
indexed books, but this would be a tedious
recital devoid of any utility, for the blunders
and carelessness of the bad indexer are
singularly alike in their futility.  It is
nevertheless worth while to mention the




The Bad Indexer.


79


index to Peter Cunningham's complete
edition of Walpole's Letters, because
that work deserves a good index. We
may hope that when Mrs. Toynbee
publishes her new and complete edition
of the Letters, she will add a really
satisfactory index. The present index
is very bad and most irritating to the
person who uses it. Examples of most
of the careless and foolish blunders in
indexing are to be found here; for
instance, there are long lists of references
without indication of the reason for
any of them.    The same person is
entered in two places if he is spoken
of under slightly different names. The
same nobleman is referred to as Lord
and as the Earl of —, while sometimes
a heading devoted to Lord -    contains
references to two distinct men.  Van
Eyck has one reference under Van and
another under Eyck. Mrs. Godfrey is
entered under both Godfrey and La
Godfrey. Many other absurdities are to
be found in the index, but the extract
of one heading will be sufficient to show
how ill the arrangement is:




80     How to Make an Index.
" Gower, edition of,
- Baptist Leveson,
Countess of,
Dowager Lady,
-   Duke of,
- Earl of,
John, Earl,
Lady,
- Lady Elizabeth,
- Lady Mary Leveson,
-  Lord,
- Richard Leveson."
There is no authority at all for a Duke
of Gower, and if we look up the reference
(iv. 39) we find that it refers to "the
late Lord G-,     possibly the Earl
Gower.
The confusion by which two persons
are made into one has sometimes an evil
consequence worse than putting the
consulter of an index on the wrong scent,
for the character of an innocent person
may be taken away by this means.
(Constance) Lady Russell of Swallowfield
points out in Notes and Queries, that
in the index to Familiar Letters of Sir




The Bad Indexer.


8I


Walter Scott (I894) there are three references under Lady Charlotte Campbell,
one of which is to a Lady C, really intended for the notorious Lady Conyngham,
mistress to George IV. In another index
Mary   Bellenden  is described  thus:
" Bellenden, Miss, Mistress of George II."
This is really too bad; for the charming
maid of honour called by Gay "Smiling
Mary, soft and fair as down," turned a
deaf ear to the importunities of the king,
as we know on the authority of Horace
Walpole.
The index to Lord Braybrooke's edition
of Pepys's Diary has many faults, mostly
due to bad arrangement; but it must be
allowed that there is a great difficulty in
indexing a private diary such as this.
The diarist knew  to  whom   he was
referring when he mentioned Mr. or
Mrs.; but where there are two or more
persons of the same name, it is hard
to distinguish between them correctly.
This has been a stumbling-block in the
compilation of the index to the new
edition, in which a better system was
attempted.
6




82    How to Make an Index.


It has been said that a bad index is
better than no index at all, but this statement is open to question. Still, all must
agree that an indexless book is a great
evil. Mr. J. H. Markland is the authority
for the declaration that "the omission
of an index when essential should be an
indictable offence."  Carlyle denounces
the publishers of books unprovided with
this necessary appendage; and Baynes,
the author of the Archaological Epistle to
Dean Mills (usually attributed to Mason),
concocted a terrible curse against such
evil-doers. The reporter was the learned
Francis Douce, who said to Mr. Thoms:
"Sir, my friend John Baynes used to
say that the man who published a book
without an index ought to be damned ten
miles beyond Hell, where the Devil could
not get for stinging-nettles."*  Lord
Campbell proposed that any author who
published a book without an index should
be deprived of the benefits of the Copyright Act; and the Hon. Horace
Binney, LL.D., a distinguished American
lawyer, held the same views, and would
* Notes and Queries, 5th Series, VIII. 87.




The Bad Indexer.


83


have condemned the culprit to the same
punishment. Those, however, who hold
the soundest views sometimes fail in
practice; thus Lord Campbell had to
acknowledge that he had himself sinned
before the year 1857.
These are the words written by Lord
Campbell in the preface to the first
volume of his Lives of the Chief Justices
(1857): " I have only further to express
my satisfaction in thinking that a heavy
weight is now to be removed from my
conscience. So essential did I consider
an index to be to every book, that I
proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament
to deprive an author who publishes a
book without an Index of the privilege
of copyright; and moreover to subject
him for his offence to a pecuniary penalty.
Yet from difficulties started by my
printers, my own books have hitherto
been without an Index. But I am happy
to announce that a learned friend at
the Bar, on whose accuracy I can place
entire reliance, has kindly prepared a
copious index, which will be appended
to this work, and another for a new




84


How to Make an Index.


stereotyped edition of the Lives of the
Chancellors."
Mr. John Morley, in an article in-the
Fortnightly Review on Mr. Russell's
edition of Matthew Arnold's Letters, lifts
up his voice against an indexless book.
He says: " One damning sin of omission
Mr. Russell has indeed perpetrated: the
two volumes have no index, nor even a
table of contents." * George Selwyn and
his Contemporaries, a most interesting
but badly arranged book, by John
Heneage Jesse, was published without
an index, and a new edition was issued
(1882) also without this necessary addition.  The student of the manners of
the eighteenth century must constantly
refer to this book, and yet it is almost
impossible to find in it what you want
without great waste of labour. I have
found it necessary to make a manuscript
index for my own use.
* Quoted Notes and Queries, 8th Series, IX. 425.




CHAPTER IV.
THE GOOD INDEXER.
"Thomas Norton was appointed Remembrancer of the city of London in 1570, and
directions were given to him that 'he shall
gather together and reduce the same [the Bookes]
into Indices, Tables or Kalendars, whereby
they may be more easily, readily and orderly
founded. "-Analytical Index to " Remembrancia,".. V.
p. v.
HE acrostic
N      never
D      did
E      ensure
X      exactness
made by a contributor to Notes and
Queries as a motto for an index expresses
very well the difficulties ever present
to the indexer; and the most successful
will confess the truth that it contains,
85




86    How to Make an Index.


however much others may consider his
work to be good.
There are many indexes which are only
of partial merit, but which a little more
care and experience on the part of the
indexer would have made good. If the
medium indexer felt that indexing was work
that must be done to the best of his ability, and he studied the best examples, he
would gradually become a good indexer.
The famous bibliographer, William
Oldys, rated the labours of the diligent
indexer very highly, and expressed his
views very clearly thus:
"The labour and patience, the judgment and penetration which are required
to make a good index is only known
to those who have gone through this
most painful, but least praised part of
a publication.  But laborious as it
is, I think it is indispensably necessary
to manifest the treasures of any multifarious collection, facilitate the knowledge
to those who seek it, and invite them to
make application thereof."*
Similar sentiments were expressed by
* Notes and Queries, 2nd Series, XI. 309.




The Good Indexer.


87


a writer in the Monthly Review which have
been quoted by Dr. Allibone in his valuable Dictionary of English Literature.*
" The compilation of an index is one of
those useful labours for which the public,
commonly better pleased with entertainment than with real service, are rarely
so forward to express their gratitude as
we think they ought to be. It has been
considered a task fit only for the plodding
and the dull: but with more truth it may
be said that this is the judgment of the
idle and the shallow. The value of anything, it has been observed, is best known
by the want of it.  Agreeably to this
idea, we, who have often experienced
great inconveniences from the want of
indices, entertain the highest sense of
their worth and, importance. We know
that in the construction of a good index,
there is far more scope for the exercise
of judgment and abilities, than is
commonly supposed. We feel the merits
of the compiler of such an index, and
we are ever ready' to testify our thankfulness for his exertions."
* Vol. i., p. 85.




88     How to Make an Index.


A goodly roll may be drawn up of
eminent men who have nbt been ashamed
to appear before the world as indexers.
In the first rank we must place the
younger Scaliger, who devoted ten months
on the compilation of an elaborate index
to  Gruter's  Thesaurus Inscritionum.
Bibliographers have been unanimous in
praise of the energy exhibited by the
great critic in undertaking so vast a labour.
Antonio describes the index as a Herculean
work, and LeClerc observes that if we
think it surprising that so great a man
should undertake so laborious a task
we must remember that such indexes
can only be made by a very able man.
Nicolas Antonio, the compiler of one
of the fullest and most accurate bibliographies ever planned, was a connoisseur
of indexes, and wrote a short essay on
the makers of them.    His Bibliotheca
Hispana is not known so well as it
deserves to be, but those who use it find
it one of the most trustworthy of guides.
The system upon which the authors'
names are arranged is one that at first
sight may seem to give cause for ridicule,




The Good Indexer.


89


for they appear in an alphabet of
Christian names; but when we consider
that the Spaniards and Portuguese stand
alone among European nations in respect
to the importance they pay to the
Christian name, and remember, further,
that authors and others are often alluded
to by their Christian names alone, we
shall see a valid reason for the plan.
Another point that should not be forgotten
is the number of Spanish authors who
have belonged to the religious orders
and are never known by their surnames.
This arrangement, however, necessitates a
full index of surnames, and Antonio has
given one which was highly praised both
by Baillet and Bayle, two men who were
well able to form an opinion.
Juan de Pineda's Monarchia Ecclesiastica o historia Universal del Mundo
(Salamnanca, 1588) has a very curious and
valuable table which forms the fifth volume
of the whole set; and the three folio
volumes of indexes in one alphabet to
the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius form
a noble work.
Samuel Jeake, senior, compiled a




go90   How to Make an Index.
valuable work on "Arithmetick" in 1 674,
which was published by his son in 1696:
Aoy-TrLKVXoyta,; or, Arithmetick  Surveighed and Reviewed.   Professor De
Morgan specially refers to this book in
his Arithmetical Books, saying: "Those
who know the value of a large book with
a good index will pick this one up when
they can." He praises it on account of
the value of the information it contains
and the fulness of the references to that
information.  The  alphabetical table,
directing to some special points noted
in the precedent treatise, was probably
the work of Samuel Jeake, junior. The
author's epistle is dated from Rye, 1674,
and one of the entries is curious:
"Winchelsea, when drowned 74."
S. Jeake being a resident at Rye had
an interesting note to add to this:
"Among the records of this town of
Rye is a Memorandum entered that the
year old Winchelsea was drowned (1287)
corn was 2S. the quarter."
Thomas Carlyle denounced the putters
forth of indexless books, and his sincerity
is proved by the publication in 1874 of




The Good Indexer.


91


a separate index to the people's edition
of his Works.  In his introduction to
Cromwell's Letters and Speeches he is
very severe on some of the old folios
he was forced to use:
"The Rushworths, Whitelocks, Nalsons,
Thurloes; enormous folios, these and
many other have been printed and some
of them again printed but never yet edited,
-edited as you edit wagon-loads of
broken bricks, and dry mortar simply by
tumbling up the wagon! Not one of
those monstrous old volumes has so much
as an index. It is the general rule of
editing on this matter.  If your editor
correct the press, it is an honourable
distinction."
A very eminent name may be added
to the list of indexers, for, when a boy
of fifteen, Macaulay made the index to
a volume of the Christian Observer (of
which periodical his father was editor),
and this he introduced to the notice of
Hannah More in these words:
"To add to the list, my dear Madam, \
you will soon see a work of mine in print.
Do not be frightened; it is only the Index




92    How to Make an Index.
to the thirteenth volume of the Christian
Observer, which I have had the honour
of composing. Index-making, though the
lowest, is not the most useless round in
the ladder of literature; and I pride myself
upon being able to say that there are
many readers of the Christian Observer
who could do without Walter Scott's
works, but not without those of, my
dear Madam, your affectionate friend,
THOMAS B. MACAULAY."
Although proud of his work, Macaulay
places index-making in a very low position.
In later life he used a contemptuous
expression when he was describing the
appearance of those who followed the
lowest grade in the literary profession.
The late Mr. H. Campkin, a veteran
indexer, quotes this description in the
preface to one of his valuable indexesthat to the twenty-five volumes of the
Sussex Archacological Collections:
"The compilation of Indexes will always
and naturally so, be regarded as a humble
art; 'index-makers in ragged coats of
frieze' are classed by Lord Macaulay as
the, very lowest of the frequenters of the




The Good Indexer.


93


coffee houses of the Dryden and Swift
era. Yet "'tis my vocation, Hal,' and
into very pleasant companionship it has
sometimes brought me, and if in this
probably the last of my twenty-five years'
labours in this direction, I have succeeded
in furnishing a fairly practicable key to
a valuable set of volumes, my frieze coat,
how tattered soever signifieth not, will
continue to hang upon my shoulders
not uncomfortably."
Though he did not rate highly the
calling of the indexer, Macaulay knew that
that lowly mortal has a considerable power
in his hand if he chooses to use it, for
he can state in a few words what the
author may have hidden in verbiage, and
he can so arrange his materials as to turn
an author's own words against himself.
~Hence Macaulay wrote to his publishers,
"Let no d —     Tory make the index
to my History." When the index was
in progress he appears to have seen x
the draught, which was fuller than he
thought necessary. He therefore wrote
to Messrs. Longmans:
" I am very unwilling to seem captious




94     How to Make an Index.
about such a work as an Index. By all
means let Mr. -- go on. But offer him
with all delicacy and courtesy, from me
this suggestion. I would advise him to
have very few heads, except proper names.
A few there must be, such as Convocation, Nonjurors, Bank of England,
National Debt.   These are heads to
which readers who wish for information
on these subject will naturally turn. But
I think that Mr.- will on consideration
perceive that such heads as Priestcraft,
Priesthood, Party spirit, Insurrection,
War, Bible, Crown, Controversies, Dissent, are quite useless. Nobody will ever
look for them; and if every passage in
which party-spirit, dissent, the art of war,
and the power of the Crown are mentioned, is to be noticed in the Index, the
size of the volumes will be doubled. The
best rule is to keep close to proper
names, and never to deviate from that
rule without some special occasion."
These remarks exhibit Macaulay's
eminently common-sense view of the
* Trevelyan's Life and Letters of Macaulay,
chap. xi.




The Good Indexer.


95


value of an index, but it is evident that
he did not realise the possibility of a
good and full index such as might have
been produced. The History of England,
with all its wealth of picturesque illustration, deserves a full index compiled by
some one capable of exhibiting the
spirit of that great work in a brilliant
analysis.
Sir George Trevelyan's delightful Life
of his uncle was originally published without an index, and Mr. Perceval Clark
made an admirable one, both full and
interesting, which was issued by the
Index Society in i88i. Mr. Clark writes
in his preface:
" The single heading MACAULAY of
course takes up a large space of the
Index, and will be found, together with
a few other headings, to contain everything directly touching him. The list of
his published writings refers of course
only to writings mentioned by his
Biographer, and lays no claim to be
considered an exhaustive bibliography of
his works. The books Macaulay read
that were '-mostly trash' have their




96     How to Make an Index.
places in the body of the Index, while
those that stood by him in all vicissitudes
as comforters, nurses, and companions,
have half a page to themselves under
one of the sections of MACAULAY. The
particulars of his life and work in India
are given under INDIA; localities in
London under LONDON; various newspapers under NEWSPAPERS, and certain
French and Italian towns visited by
Macaulay under their countries respectively."
Just such an index one would like to
see of the History of England.
It may be added that the popular
edition of the Life published subsequently
has an index.
A  large number of official indexes
are excellent, although some very bad
ones have been printed. Still, it may
be generally stated that in Government
Departments there are those in power
who know the value of a good digest, and
understand that it is necessary to employ
skilled labour. The work is well paid,
and therefore not scamped; and plenty of
room is devoted to the index, which is




The Good Indexer.


97


printed in a satisfactory manner in type
well set out.
We have no modern statistics to offer,
but the often quoted statement that in
1778 a total of /12,000 was voted for
indexes to the Journals of the Iouse of
Commons shows that the value of indexes
was appreciated by Parliament in the
eighteenth century. The items of this
amount were:
"To Mr. Edward Moore /6400 as a
final compensation for thirteen  years
labour; Rev. Mr. Forster /3000 for nine
years' labour; Rev. Dr. Roger Flaxman
/3000 for nine years' labour; and /500
to Mr.Cunningham."
One of the most admirable applications
of index making is to be found in the
series of Calendars of State Papers issued
under the sanction of the Master of the
Rolls, which have made available to all
a mass of historical material of unrivalled
value. How many students have been
grateful for the indexes to these calendars,
and also for the aid given to him by the
indexes to Parliamentary papers and other
Government publications!
7




98     How to Make an Index.
It is impossible to mention all the
good official indexes, but a special word
of praise must be given to the indexes to
the Statutes of the Realm, the folio edition
published by the Record Commission.
I have often consulted the Alphabetical
Index to the Statutes from Magna Charta
to the End of the Reign of Queen Anne
(1824) with the greatest pleasure and
profit. It is a model of good workmanship.
The lawyers have analytical minds, and
they know how important full indexes
and digests are to complete their stockin-trade. They have done much, but
there is still much to be done. Lord
Thring drew up some masterly instructions for an index to the Statute Law,
which is to be considered as a step
towards a code.    These instructions
conclude with these weighty words:
" Let no man imagine that the construction of an index to the Statute Law is
a mere piece of mechanical drudgery,
unworthy of the energy and ability of an
accomplished lawyer.  Next to codification, the most difficult task that can be




The Good Indexer.


99


accomplished is to prepare a detailed plan
for a code, as distinct from the easy task
of devising a theoretical system of codification. Now the preparation of an index,
such as has been suggested in the above
instructions, is the preparation of a
detailed plan for a code. Each effective
title, is in effect, a plan for the codification
of the legal subject-matter grouped under
that title, and the whole index if completed would be a summary of a code
arranged in alphabetical order." *
That this question of digesting the law
is to be considered as one which should
interest all classes of Englishmen, and
not the lawyer only, may be seen from
an article in the Nineteenth Century
(September, I877) on the "Improvement
of the Law by Private Enterprise," by the
late Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, who
did so much towards a complete digest
of the law. He wrote:
" I have long believed that the law
might by proper means be relieved of this
* These instructions, with specimens of the
proposed index, are printed in the Law Magazine
for August, 1877, 4th Series, vol. 8, p. 49I.




100   How to Make an Index.
extreme obscurity and intricacy, and might
be displayed in its true light as a subject
of study of the deepest possible interest,
not only to every one who takes an
interest in politics or ethics, or in the
application of logic and metaphysics to
those subjects.  In short, I think that
nothing but the rearrangement and condensation of the vast masses of matter
contained in our law libraries is required,
in order to add to human knowledge
what would be practically a new department of the highest and most permanent
interest. Law holds in suspension both
the logic and the ethics, which are in
fact recognised by men of business and
men of the world as the standards by
which the practice of common life ought
to be regulated, and by which men ought
to form their opinions in all their most
important temporal affairs. It would be
a far greater service to mankind than
many people would suppose to have
these standards clearly defined and
brought within the reach of every one
who cared to study them."
The following remarks will apply with




The Good Indexer.


IOI


equal force to a more general and
universal index than that of the law:
"The preparation of a digest either of
the whole or of any branch of the law
is work of a very peculiar kind. It is
one of the few literary undertakings in
which a number of persons can really
and  effectively  work together.  Any
given subject may, it is true, be dealt
with in a variety of different ways; but
when the general scheme, according to
which it is to be treated, has been determined on, when the skeleton of the book
has been drawn out, plenty of persons
might be found to do the work of filling
up the details, though that work is very
far from being easy or matter of routine."
The value of analytical or index work
is set in a very strong light by an observation of Sir James Stephen respecting
the early digesters of the law. The origin
of English law is to be found in the
year-books and other series of old
reports, which from the language used
in them and the black-letter printing
with its contractions, etc., are practically
inaccessible. Lord Chief Justice Coke




I02   How to Make an Index.


and others who reduced these books
into form are in consequence treated as
ultimate authorities, although the almost
worshipped Coke is said by Sir James
to  be  "one of the most confused,
pedantic, and inaccurate of men."
A good index is that to the Works
of Jeremy Bentham, published in i843
under the dictation of Sir John Bowring.
-The Analytical Index to the Works of
Jeremy Bentham   and to the Memoirs
and Correspondence was compiled by
J. H. Burton, to whom it does great
credit. The indexer prefixed a sensible
note, where he writes:
"In some instances it would have
been impossible to convey a notion of
the train of reasoning followed by the
author, without using his own words, and
in these no attempt has been made
to do more than indicate the place
where the subject is discussed. In other
cases where it has appeared to the compiler that an intelligible analysis has been
made, he may have failed in his necessarily abbreviated sentences in embodying
the meaning of the original, but defects




The Good Indexer.


103


of this description are indigenous to
Indexes in general."
But here all is utility, and it is to
the literary index that we turn for
pleasure as well as instruction.
The index to Ruskin's Fors Clavigera,
vols. i-8 (i887), is a most interesting book,
especially to Ruskin admirers.  There
are some specially delightful original and
characteristic references under the heading
of London, such as the following:
" London, Fifty square miles outside of,
demoralised by upper classes
Its middle classes compare unfavourably with apes
Some blue sky in, still
Hospital named after Christ's
native village in,
Honestest journal of, Punch.
crossings, what would they be
without benevolent police? "
The index is well made and the
references are full of life and charm,
but the whole is spoilt by the bad
arrangement. The entries are set out in
single lines under the headings in the
successive order of the pages. This looks




104   How to Make an Index.
unsystematic, as they ought to be arranged
in alphabet.  When the references are
given in the order of the pages they should
be printed in block.
There are several entries commencing
with " 's "; thus, under
"ST. GEORGE."
p. 386:
"s war
" of Hanover Square,"
P. 387:
" 's Square
's, Hanover Square
p. 389:
" 's law
's school
's message
's Chapel at Venice."
In long headings that occupy separate
pages these are repeated at the top of
the page, but the headings are not sufficiently full: thus the saints are arranged
in alphabet under S; George commences
on page 386. On
p. 387:
" Saint-Saints continued
story of,"




The Good Indexer.


105


p. 388:
"what of gold etc. he thinks good for
people, they shall have"
p. 389:
" tenth part of fortunes for"
p. 390:
"his creed"
P. 391:
" loss of a good girl for his work"
In the case of all the references on
these pages you have to go back to
page 386 to find out to whom they
refer.
There is a particularly bad block of
references filling half a page under
Lord.
"Lord, High Chancellor, 7.6; 's Prayer
vital to a nation, 7.22; Mayor and
Corporation, &c
of Hosts."
It is a pity that an interesting index
should be thus marred by bad arrangement.
Dr. Birkbeck Hill's complete index to
his admirable edition of Boswell's Life
of Johnson is a delightful companion
to the work, and may be considered as
a model of what an index should be;




i o6 How to Make an Index.
for compilation, arrangement, and printing all are good.  Under the different
headings are capital abstracts in blocks.
There are sub-headings in alphabet under
the main heading Johnson.
A charming appendix to the index
consists of "Dicta Philosophi: A Concordance of Johnson's Sayings."
IDr. Hill writes in his preface:
"In my Index, which has cost me
many months' heavy work, 'while I bore
burdens with dull patience and beat the
track of the alphabet with sluggish resolution,' I have, I hope, shown that I
am not unmindful of all that I owe
to men of letters.  To the dead we
cannot pay the debt of gratitude that
is their due. Some relief is obtained from
its burthen, if we in our turn make the
men of our own generation debtors
to us.  The plan on which my Index
is made, will I trust be found convenient.
By the alphabetical arrangement in the
separate entries of each article the reader,
I venture to think, will be greatly facilitated in his researches. Certain subjects
I have thought it best to form into groups.




The Good Indexer.


1o7


Under America, France, Ireland, London,
Oxford, Paris and Scotland, are gathered
together almost all the references to
those subjects. The provincial towns of
France, however, by some mistake I
did not include in the general article.
One important but intentional omission
I must justify.  In the case of the
quotations in which my notes abound
I have not thought it needful in the
Index to refer to the book unless the
eminence of the author required a
separate  and  a second  entry.  My
labour would have been increased beyond all endurance and my Index have
been swollen almost into a monstrosity
had I always referred to the book as
well as to the matter which was contained in the passage that I extracted.
Though in such a variety of subjects
there must be many omissions, yet I
shall be greatly disappointed if actual
errors are discovered.  Every entry I
have made myself, and every entry I
have verified in the proof sheets, not
by comparing it with my manuscript,
but by turning to the reference in the




io8   How to Make an Index.
printed  volumes.  Some   indulgence
nevertheless may well be claimed and
granted.  If Homer at times nods, an
index maker may be pardoned, should
he in the fourth or fifth month of his
task at the end of a day of eight hours'
work grow drowsy. May I fondly hope
that to the maker of so large an index
will be extended the gratitude which
Lord Bolingbroke says was once shown
to lexicographers?  ' I approve,' writes
his lordship, 'the devotion of a studious
man at Christ Church, who was overheard in his oratory entering into a
detail with God, and acknowledging the
divine goodness in furnishing the world
with makers of dictionaries."'
It is impossible to speak too highly
of Dr. Hill's indexes to Boswell's Life of
Johnson and Boswell's Letters and Johnson
Miscellanies.  Not only are they good
indexes in themselves, but an indescribable literary air breathes over every
-page, and gives distinction to the whole.
The index volume of the Lif/e is by no
means the least interesting of the set,
and one instinctively thinks of the once




The Good Indexer.


log


celebrated Spaniard quoted by the great
bibliographer Antonio-that the index of
a book should be made by the author,
even if the book itself were written by
some one else.
The very excellence of this index
has been used as a cause of complaint
against its compiler.  It has been said
that everything that is known of Johnson
can be found in the index, and therefore
that the man who uses it is able to pose
as a student, appearing to know as much
as he who knows his Boswell by heart;
but this is somewhat of a joke, for no
useful information can be gained unless
the book to which the index refers is
searched, and he who honestly searches
ceases to be a smatterer. It is absurd
to deprive earnest readers of a useful
help lest reviewers and smatterers misuse it.
Boswell himself made the original index
to the Life of Johnson, which has several
characteristic signs of its origin.  Mr.
Percy Fitzgerald, in his edition (Ic874),
reprints the original " Table of Contents
to the Life of Johnson," with this note:




IIo   How to Make an Index.
" This is Mr. Boswell's own Index, the
paging being altered to suit the present
edition; and the reader will see that it
bears signs of having been prepared by Mr.
Boswell himself. In the second edition
he made various additions, as well as
alterations, which are characteristic in
their way. Thus, 'Lord Bute' is changed
into 'the Earl of Bute,' and 'Francis
Barber' into  'Mr. Francis   Barber.'
After Mrs. Macaulay's name he added,
'Johnson's acute and unanswerable refutation of her levelling reveries'; and
after that of Hawkins he put 'contradicted and corrected.' There are also
various little compliments introduced
where previously he had merely given
the name. Such as 'Temple, Mr., the
author's old and most intimate friend';
'Vilette, Reverend Mr., his just claims
on the publick'; Smith, Captain, his
attention to Johnson at Warley Camp';
'Somerville, Mr., the authour's warm and
grateful remembrance of him'; 'Hall,
General, his politeness to Johnson at
Warley Camp'; Heberden, Dr., his
kind attendance on Johnson.' On the




The Good Indexer.


I I I


other hand, Lord Eliot's 'politeness to
Johnson' which stands in the first
edition, is cut down in the second to
the bald 'Eliot, Lord'; while 'Loughborough, Lord, his talents and great good
fortune,' may have seemed a little offensive, and was expunged. The Literary
Club was reverentially put in capitals.
There  are also such odd entries as
'Brutus, a ruffian,' &c."
One wishes that there were more indexes
like Dr. Hill's in the world; and since I
made an index to Shelley's works, I have
often thought that a series of indexes of
great authors would be of inestimable
value.
First, all the author's works should be
indexed, then his biographies, and lastly
the anecdotes and notices in reviews
and other books. How valuable would
such books be in the study of our
greatest poets! The plan is quite possible of attainment, and the indexes
would be entertaining in themselves if
made fairly full.
It- is not possible to refer to all the
good indexes that have been produced,




J12   How to Make an Index.
for they are too numerous.   A  very
remarkable index is that of the publications of the Parker Society by Henry
Gough, which contains a great mass of
valuable information presented in a handy
form. It it the only volume issued by
the society which is sought after, as
the books themselves are a drug in the
market.  Mr. Gough was employed to
make an index to the publications of
the Camden Society, which would have
been of still more value on account of
the much greater interest of the books
indexed; but the expense of printing the
index was too great for the funds of the
society, and it had to be abandoned,
to the great loss of the literary world.
Most of the archaeological societies,
commencing with the Society of Antiquaries, have issued excellent indexes, and
the scientific societies also have produced
indexes of varying merit.
The esteem in which the indexes of
Notes and Queries are held is evidenced
by the high prices they realise when they
occur for sale. Mr. Tedder's full indexes
to the Reports of the Conference of




The Good Indexer.


I13


Librarians and the Library Association
may also be mentioned.
A very striking instance of the great
value which a general index of a book
may possess as a distinct work can be
seen in the " Index to the first ten
volumes of Book Prices Current (I887 -I896), constituting a reference list of
subjects and incidentally a key to Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature,
London, 190o."
Here, in one alphabet, is a brief bibliography of the books sold in ten years
well set out, and the dates of the distinctive editions clearly indicated. The compilation of this index must have been a
specially laborious work, and does great
credit to William Jaggard, of Liverpool,
the compiler.
The authorities of the Clarendon Press,
Oxford, are to be highly commended for
their conduct in respect to the index
to Ranke's History of England. This
was attached to the sixth volume of the
work published in I875. It is by no
means a bad index in itself; but a revised
index was issued in x897, which is a
8




II4   How to Make an Index.


greatly improved edition by the addition
of dates and fuller descriptions and
Christian names and titles to the persons
mentioned. The new index is substantially the same as the old one, but the
reviser has gone carefully through it,
improving it at all points, by which means
it was extended over an additional twentythree pages. It is instructive to compare
the two editions. Four references as


they appear in the
improvement:
Old index.
" Lower House."
"Window tax v. 102."
" Witt, John de."
" Witt, Cornelius de."


two will show the
New index.
"Lower House see
Commons, House
of."
"Window tax, imposed I695 v. 102."
"Witt, Cornelius de."
"Witt, John de."


Miss Hetherington has very justly
explained the cause, of bad indexing.
She says that it has been stated in the
Review of Reviews that the indexer is
born, not made, and that the present
writer said: "An ideal indexer needs
many qualifications; but unlike the poet




The Good Indexer.


I I 5


he is not born, but made!" She then
adds to these differing opinions: " More
truly he is born and made."
I agree to the correction and forswear
my former heresy. Certainly the indexer
requires to be born with some of the
necessary qualities innate in him, and
then he requires to have those qualities
turned to a practical point by the study
of good examples, so as to know what
to follow 'and what to avoid.   Miss
Hetherington goes on to say:
"As a matter of fact, people without
the first necessary qualifications, or any
aptitude whatever for the work are set
to compile indexes, and the work is
regarded as nothing more than purely
mechanical copying that any hack may
do. So long as indexing and cataloguing
are treated with contempt rather than
as arts not to be acquired in a day, or
perhaps a year, and so long as authors
and their readers are indifferent to good
work, wil worthless indexing continue." *
What, then, are the chief characteristics
* index to the Periodical Literature of the
World (i892).




I6   How to Make an Index.
that are required to form a good indexer?
I think they may be stated under five
headings:
I. Common-sense.
2. Insight into themeaning of the author.
3. Power of analysis.
4. Common feeling with the consulter
and insight into his mind, so that the
indexer may put the references he has
drawn from the book under headings
where they are most likely to be sought.
5. General knowledge, with the power
of overcoming difficulties.
The ignorant man cannot make a good
index. The indexer will find that his
miscellaneous knowledge is sure to come
in useful, and that which he might doubt
would ever be used by him will be found
to be helpful when least expected.  It
may seem absurd to make out that the
good indexer should be a sort of Admirable Crichton. There can be no doubt,
however, that he requires a certain
amount of knowledge; and the good
cataloguer and indexer, without knowing
everything, will be found to possess a
keen sense of knowledge.




The Good Indexer.


II 7


As I owe all my interest in bibliography
and indexing to him, I may perhaps be
allowed to introduce the name of my
elder brother, the late Mr. B. R.
Wheatley, a Vice-President of the Library
Association, as that of a good indexer.
He devoted his best efforts to the
advancement of bibliography.  When
fresh from school he commenced his
career by making the catalogue of one of
the parts of the great Hleber Catalogue.
He planned and made one of the earliest
of indexes to a library catalogue-that of
the Athenaeum Club. He made one of the
best of indexes to the transactions of a
society in that of the Statistical Society,
which he followed by indexes of the
Transactions of the Royal Medical and
Chirurgical Society, Clinical, and other
societies. He also made an admirable
index to Tooke's History of Prices-a
work of great labour, which met with the
high approval of the authors, Thomas
Tooke and William Newmarch.




-'HA


CHAPTER V.


DIFFERENT CLASSES OF INDEXES.
"Of all your talents you are a most amazing
man at Indexes. What a flag too, do you hang
out at the stern! You must certainly persuade
people that the book overflows with matter,
which (to speak the truth) is but thinly spread.
But I know all this is fair in t ade, and you have
a right to expect that the publick should purchase
freely when you reduce the whole book into an
epitome for their benefit; I shall read the index
with pleasure."-WILLIAM CLARKE TO WILLIAM'
BOWYER, NICHOLS'S Literary Anecdotes, vol. 3,
p. 46.
IN  dealing with the art of the
H    indexer it is most important to
I    consider the different classes of
indexes. There are simple indexes, such   as those    of names    and
places, which only require care and
proper alphabetical arrangement.      The
It8




Different Classes of Indexes. I 9
makers of these    often  plume  themselves upon their work; but they must
remember that the making of these indexes can only be ranked as belonging
to the lowest rung of the index ladder.
The easiest books to index are those
coming within the classes of History,
Travel, Topography, and generally those
that deal almost entirely with facts. The
indexing of these is largely a mechanical
operation, and only requires care and
judgment.   Verbal indexes    and  concordances are fairly easy when the plan
is settled; but they are often works of
great labour, and the compilers deserve
great credit for their perseverance. John
Marbeck stands at the head of this body
of indefatigable workers who have placed
the world under the greatest obligations.
He was the first to publish a concordance
of the Bible,* to be followed nearly two
centuries later by the work of Alexander
* "A Concordance, that is to sale, a worke
wherein by the ordre of the letters of the ABC
ye male redely finde any worde conteigned in
the whole Bible, so often as it is there expressed
or mencioned... anno 1550."-Folio.




120   How to Make an Index.
Cruden, whose name has almost become
a synonym for a concordance. After the
Bible come the works of Shakespeare, indexed by Samuel Ayscough (I 790), Francis
Twiss (1805), Mrs. Cowden Clarke (1845),
and Mr. John Bartlett, who published
in 1I894 a still fuller concordance than
that of Mrs. Clarke. It is a vast quarto
volume of 1,910 pages in double columns,
and represents an enormous amount
of self-denying labour.  Dr. Alexander
Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon (1874) is
something more than a concordance, for
it is a dictionary as well.
A dictionary is an index of words.
We do not mention dictionaries in this
connection to insist on the fact that they
are indexes of words, but rather to point
out that a dictionary such as those of
Liddell and Scott, Littre, Murray, and
Bradley, reaches the high watermark
of index work, and so the ordinary indexer is able to claim that he belongs to
the same class as the producers of such
masterpieces as these.
Scientific books are the most difficult
to index; but here there is a difference




Different Classes of Indexes. 121
between the science of fact and the
science of thought, the latter being the
most difficult to deal with. The indexing
of books of logic and ethics will call forth
all the powers of the indexer and show
his capabilities; but what we call the
science of fact contains opinions as well
as facts, and some branches of political
economy are subjects by no means easy
to index.
Some authors indicate their line of
reasoning by the compilation of headings.
This is a great help to the indexer; but if
the author does not present such headings,
the indexer has to make them himself,
and he therefore needs the abilities of the
prtcis-writer.
There are indexes of Books, of Transactions, Periodicals, etc., and indexes of
Catalogues. Each of these classes demanas a different method. A book must
be thoroughly indexed; but the index of
Journals and Transactions may be confined to the titles of the papers and
articles. It is, however, better to index
the contents of the essays as well as
their titles.




I22 How to Make an Index.


Before the indexer commences his
work he must consider whether his index
is to be full or short. Sometimes it is
not necessary to adopt the full indexfrequently it is too expensive a luxury for
publisher or author; but the short index
can be done well if necessary.
Whatever plan is followed, the indexer
must use his judgment. This ought to
be the marked characteristic of the good
indexer.  The bad indexer is entirely
without this great gift.
While trying to be complete, the
indexer must reject the trivial; and this
is not always easy. He must not follow
in the steps of the lady who confessed
that she only indexed those points which
specially interested her. We have fair
warning of incompleteness in The Register
of Corpus Christi Guild, York, published
by the Surtees Society in i872, where we
read, on page 321:
"This Index contains the names of
all persons mentioned in the appendix
and foot-notes, but a selection only is
given of those who were admitted into
the Guild or enrolled in the Obituary."




Different Classes of Indexes. 123
The plan here adopted is not to be
commended, for it is clear" that so important a name-list as this is should be
thoroughly indexed.  However learned
and judicious an editor may be, we do
not choose to submit to his judgment
in the offhand decision of what is and
what is not important.
There is a considerable difference in
the choice of headings for a general or
special  index-say, for instance, in
indexing electrical subjects the headings
would differ greatly in the indexes of
the Institution of Civil Engineers or
of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
In the former, dynamos, transformers,
secondary or storage batteries, alternate
and continuous currents would probably
be grouped under the general heading
of Electricity, while in the latter we shall
find Dynamos under D, Transformers
under T, Batteries under B, Alternate
under A, and Continuous under C.
The indexes to catalogues of libraries,
etc., are among the most difficult of indexes
to compile. It was not usual to attach an
index of subjects to a catalogue of authors




124   How to Make an Index.
until late years, and that to the Catalogue
of the Athenacumn Club Library (i85I) is
an early specimen. The New York State
Library Catalogue (1856) has an index,
as have those of the Royal Medical
and Chirurgical Society (i86o) and the
London Library (i865 and i875). That
appended to the Catalogue of the Manchester Free Library (i864). is more a
short list of titles than an index.
There are special difficulties attendant
on the indexing of catalogues. Books are
written in many languages, and there is
considerable trouble in bringing together
the books on a given subject produced
in many countries. The titles of books
are not drawn up on the same system
or with any wish to help the indexer.
Titles are seldom straightforward, for they
are largely concocted to attract the
readers, without any honest wish to express correctly the nature of the contents
of the book. They are usually either too
short or too enigmatical. The titles of
pamphlets, again, are often too long; and
it may be taken as an axiom that the
longer the title the less important the book.




Different Classes of Indexes. 125
The indexer, however, has a great
advantage over the cataloguer, because
the latter is bound by bibliographical
etiquette not to alter the title of a book,
while the indexer is at liberty to alter
the title as he likes, so as to bring together
books- on the same subject, however
different the titles may be. Herein consists the great objection to the index
composed of short titles, as in Dr.
Crestadoro's Index to the Manchester Free
Library Catalogue. Books almost entirely
alike in subject are separated by reason
of the different wording of the titles.
It is much more convenient to gather
together under one entry books identical
in subject, and there is no utility in
separating an "elementary treatise" on
electricity from "the elements" of electricity. One important point connected
with indexes to catalogues is to add the
date of the book after the name of the
author, so that the seeker may know
whether the book is old or new.
An index ought not to supersede the
table of contents, as this is often useful
for those who cannot find what they want




I26   How to Make an Index.
in the index, from having forgotten the
point of the heading under which it would
most likely appear in the alphabet.
In the year  900o there was a controversy in The Times on a proposed
subject index to the catalogue of the
library of the British Museum. It was
commenced on October I5th by a letter
signed "A Scholar," and closed on
November g9th by the same writer, who
summed up the whole controversy. "A
Scholar " expressed himself strongly against
the proposal, and as he himself confesses
he used very arrogant language. In consequence of which, most readers must
have desired to find him proved to be
in the wrong. This desire was satisfied
when Mr. Fortescue, the keeper of the
printed books at the British Museum,
delivered his address as President of the
Library Association on August 27th last.
The two points made by the " Scholar"
were: (i) That the making of a general
subject index to the catalogue proposed
by the authorities of the British Museum
would be a waste of money; (2) That it
was a great evil for the five-yearly indexes




Different Classes of Indexes. 127
originated by Mr. Fortescue to be discontinued.
Now let us see what is to be said
with authority on these points.
Mr. Fortescue said:
" Last Autumn... I read with respectful astonishment a letter to ' The
Times ' from a writer who preferred to
veil his identity under the modest signature of 'a Scholar.' There I read that
'the studious public of this country and
Europe in general have been surprised
by the news that the authorities of the
British Museum seriously contemplate
the compilation of a subject index to
the vast collection of printed books
in that library.' I can assure you that
the surprise of the studious public and
of Europe in general cannot have surpassed my own when I thus learned
of what the authorities were seriously
contemplating. Nevertheless, it left me
able, I thought, to discern that their vast
conceptions had not been so fortunate as
to gain the approval of 'a Scholar' and
to marvel whence The Thnes and other
great journals had drawn their truly




128    How to Make an Index.
surprising information.  Some of the
arguments put forth in sundry criticisms
of the 'scheme' showed how much thought
had been bestowed upon matters which
then first dazzled my bewildered imagination. It may come some day (who shall
say what will not?), this General Index,
or it may never come. But up to the
present moment I am aware of no
authority who is seriously contemplating
so large a venture unless perhaps it be
'a Scholar' himself."
Then as to the five-yearly indexes
Mr. Fortescue said:
"Experience has taught us that there
is no form of subject-index which the
public values so highly as one which gives
the most recent literature on every possible
subject. And to meet this manifest want
we shall certainly continue to issue, with
all the latest improvements I hope, the
modest Indexes which we have hitherto
published in five-yearly (I am afraid as
President of The Library Association I
should say 'in quinquennial') volumes.
The Museum sweeps its net so wide and
in such remote seas that a more or less




Different Classes of Indexes. 129
complete collection of books on almost
every subject or historical event is gathered
within it for future students. To take
only two incidents from the last year or
two, the next index will contain not less
than a hundred and forty books and
pamphlets, in almost every European
tongue, on the Dreyfus case, and from
four to five hundred books on the present
war in South Africa. Such bibliographical
tests have more than an ephemeral or
immediate value.  They will remain as
records of events or phases of thought
long after their causes shall have faded
from all but the page of history."
Of late years the dictionary catalogue
has come very largely into use in public
libraries. This consists of a union of
catalogue of authors and index of subjects which is found to be very useful
and illuminating to the readers in free
libraries, most of whom are probably not
versed in the niceties of bibliographical
arrangement, but are more likely to want
a book on a particular subject than to
require a special book which they know.
Mr. Cutter has written the history of the
9




130 How to Make an Index.
dictionary catalogue in the United States
Special Report (pp. 533-539), and he
traces it back in America to about the
year i815.
Excellent specimens of these dictionary
catalogues have been produced.  They
are of great value to the ordinary reader
at a small public library, but I venture
to think that to construct one for a
large library is a waste of power, because
if several large libraries of a similar
character do the same thing, there is
constant repetition and considerable loss
by the unnecessary outlay.  If a fairly
complete standard index were made, it
could be used by all the libraries, and
in return the libraries might unite to
pay its cost.  I am  pleased to know
that Mr. Fortescue prefers to keep index
and catalogue distinct. He said in his
address:
"I have formed, so far as I know,
but one dogmatic conviction, and it is
this: that the best catalogue which the
art of man can invent is a catalogue in
two inter-dependent yet independent
parts; the first and greater part an




Different Classes of indexes. 131
alphabetical catalogue of authors, the
second and lesser part a subject-index.
I know well that I shall be told that I
am out of date, that such an opinion
is as the voice of one crying in the
wilderness-that the dictionary catalogue
has won its battle-but even so, perhaps
the more so, do I feel it the part of a
serious and immovable conviction to
declare my belief that-for student and
librarian alike-this twofold catalogue,
author and subject each in its own
division, is the best catalogue a library
can have, and that the dictionary catalogue is the very worst. But whatever
may be our individual opinion on this
head, it is only necessary to enter into
a very simple calculation to see that
if the dictionary system could have
governed the rules of the British Museum
Catalogue it would by now have consisted
of not less than twelve million entries;
and assuredly it would have been neither
completed nor printed to-day."




CHAPTER VI.
GENERAL RULES FOR ALPHABETICAL
INDEXES.
"In order to guard against blunders Bayle
proposed that certain directions should be drawn
up for the guidance of the compilers of indexes."
HESE rules, originally drawn up
by a committee of the Index
Society, were primarily intended
for the use of indexers making
indexes of indexless books to be published
by the society, which, being produced
separately from the books themselves,
needed some introductory note. In all
cases, however, some explanation of the
mode of compilation should be attached
to the index. The compiler comes fresh
from his difficulties and the expedients
he has devised to overcome them, and
it is therefore well for him to explain to
132




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 133
the user of the index what those special
difficulties are.
The object of the Index Society was
to set up a standard of uniformity in the
compilation of' the indexes published by
them. Although rigid uniformity is not
needed in all indexes, it is well that these
should be made in accordance with the
best experience of past workers rather
than on a system which varies with the
mood of the compiler. It is hoped that
the following rules may be of some
practical use to future indexers.
In the eighth chapter of fHow to Catalogue a Library there are a series of rules
for making a catalogue of a small library
in which are codified the different points
which had been discussed in the previous
chapters. In the present chapter the
Index Society rules are printed in italic,
and to them are now added some illustrative remarks.  There is necessarily a
certain likeness between rules for indexing
and rules for cataloguing, but the differences are perhaps more marked. At all
events, the rules for one class of work will
not always be suitable for the other class.




134    How to Make an Index.
I. Every workshould have one index to the
whole set, and not an index to each volume.
An index to each volume of a set
is convenient if a general amalgamated
index to the whole set is given as well;
but a work with several indexes and no
general one is most inconvenient and
irritating, while to have both seems extravagant. If, however, the author or
publisher is willing to present both, it is
not for the user of the book to complain.
2. Indexes to be arranged in alphabetical
order, proper names and subjects being
united in one alphabet. An introduction
containing some indication of the classification of the contents of the book indexed to
be prefixed.
In an alphabetical index the alphabet
must be all in all. When the alphabet
is used, it must be used throughout.
There is no advantage in dividing proper
names from   subjects, as is so often
done, particularly in foreign indexes.
Another objectionable practice frequently
adopted in the indexes of periodical
publications is to keep together the




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 135
entries under the separate headings used
in the journal itself, and thus to have
a number of distinct alphabets under
different headings. This union of alphabetical and classified indexing has been
condemned on a former page, and need
not here be referred to further.
In the case of large headings the items
should be arranged in alphabetical order
under them.   There is occasionally a
difficulty in carrying this out completely,
but it should be attempted.  We want
as little classification as possible in an
alphabetical index.  Mr. W. F. Poole
wisely said in reference to the proposal
of one of his helpers on the Index of
Periodical Literature to place Wealth,
Finance, and Population under the heading
of Political Economy: "The fatal defect
of every classified arrangement is that
nobody understands it except the person
who made it and he is often in doubt."
3. The entries to be arranged according
to the order of the English alphabet. I
and J and U and V to be kept distinct.
There are few things more irritating




x36 How to Make an Index.
than to find the alphabet confused by the
union of the vowel i with the consonant,
or the vowel u with the consonant v. No
doubt they were not distinguished some
centuries ago, but this is no reason why
they should again be confused now that
they are usually distinct.  There may
be special reasons why they should be
mixed together in the British Museum
Catalogue, but it is not evident that
these are sufficient.
The only safe rule is to use the English
alphabet as it is to-day in an English
index. One of the rules of the American
Library Association is: " The German
ae, oe, ue always to be written d, 6, ii, and
arranged as a, o, M." By this Goethe
would have to be written Gbthe, which is
now an unusual form, and I think it would
be better to insist that where both forms
are used, one or other should be chosen
and all instances spelt alike.  It is a
very common practice to arrange d, 2 ii,
as if they were written ae, oe, ue; but
this leads to the greatest confusion, and
no notice should be taken of letters that
are merely to be understood.




Ru/es for Alphabetical Indexes. 137
4. Headings consisting of two or more
distinct words are not to be treated as
integral portions of one word; thus the
arrangement should be.
Grave, John          Grave at Kherson
Grave at Kherson     Grave, John
Grave of Hope        Gravelot
Grave Thoughts   n   Grave of Hope
Gravelot             Gravesend
Gravesend            Grave Thoughts.
The perfect alphabetical arrangement is
often ignored, and it is not always easy
to decide as to what is the best order;
but the above rule seems to put the
matter pretty clearly. If no system is
adhered to, it becomes very difficult to
steer a course through the confusion.
When such entries are printed, a very
incongruous appearance often results from
the use of a line to indicate repetition
when a word similar in spelling, but not
really the same word, occurs; thus, in the
above, Grave surname, Grave substantive,
and Grave adjective must all be repeated.
It is inattention to this obvious fact that




I38    How to Make an Index.
has caused such ludicrous blunders as
the following:
"Mill on Liberty
on the Floss." *
"Cotton, Sir Willoughby,
-, price of."
"Old age
Artillery Yard
Bailey."
These are all genuine entries taken from
books, and similar blunders are not
uncommon even in fairly good indexes;
thus, in the Calendar of Treasury Papers,
1714-1719, issued by the Public Record
Office, under Ireland are the following
entries:
"Ireland, Mrs. Jane, Sempstress and
Starcher to King William; cxcvii. 32.
* Miss Hetherington gives an additional instance
of this class of blunder, but her only authority is
(< said to be from the index of a young lady's scrap
book":
"Patti, Adelina,
-     oyster."
The example in the text is absolutely genuine,
although it has been doubted.




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. I 39
Attorney General of, See Attorney
General, Ireland."
Then follow nearly two columns on
Ireland with the marks of repetition (..
throughout.
The names of streets in the Post Office
Directory are now arranged in a strict
alphabetical order on the lines laid down
in this rule; thus we have:
"White Street
White's Row
White Heart
Whitechapel."
Again:
"Abbott Road
Abbott Street
Abbott's Road."
Again:
"King Square
King Street
King and Queen Street
King David Street
King Edward Road
King William Street
King's Arms Court




140    How to Make an Index.
-  King's Road
Kinglake Street
Kingsbury Road
Kingsgate Street."
Sometimes there is a slip, as might be
expected in so complicated a list of names.
Thus in the foregoing sequence Kinghorn
Street comes between King William
Street and King's Arms Court, while I
think it ought to come immediately before
Kinglake Street; but, after all, this is a
matter of opinion.  Strattondale Street
comes before Stratton Street; but this is
merely a case of missorting.
There is one piece of alphabetisation
which the editor of the Post Office
Directory has always adopted, and that
is to place Upper and Lower under those
adjectives, and Old Bond Street under
Old, and New Bond Street under New.
These two names belong to what is
practically one street (although each
division is separately numbered), which
is always spoken of as Bond Street, and
therefore for which the majority of persons
will look under Bond. South Molton




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 141
Street is correctly placed under South
because there is no North Molton Street,
and the street is named after South
Molton; while South Eaton Place is
merely a continuation of Eaton Place.
Some persons, however, think that names
should be treated as they stand, and that
we should not go behind them to find out
what they mean.
5. Proper Names of foreigners to be
arranged alphabetically under the prefixesDal               ' Dal Sie
Del                Del Rio
Della              Della Casa
Des          as    Des Cloiseaux
Du.u Bois
La.La Condamine
Le                 Le Sage,
but not under the prefixesD    as  Abbadie   not D'Abbadie
Da,,  Silva,,  Da Silva
De,,  La Place,,   De La Place
Von,,   Humboldt,,    Von Humboldt
Van,,   Beneden,,   Van Beneden.




142    How to Make an Index.
It is an acknowledgedprinciple that when
the prefix is a preposition it is to be rejected;
but when an article, it is to be retained.
When, however, as in the case of the French
Du, Des, the two are joined, it is necessary
to retain the preposition. This also applies
to the case of the Italian Della, which
is often rejected by cataloguers. English
names are, however, to be arranged under
the prefixes:
De       \     (   De Quincey
Dela     } as     Delabeche
Van     J         Van Mildert,
because these prefixes are meaningless in
English, and form an integral part of
the name.
Whatever rule is adopted, some difficulty
will be found in carrying it out: for
instance, if we consider Van Dyck as a
foreigner, his name will appear as Dyck
(Van); but if as an Englishman, his
name will be treated as Vandyck.
A prefix which is translated into the
relative term in a foreign language cannot
be considered as a fixed portion of the
name. Thus Alexander von Humboldt,




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 143
when away from his native Germany,
translated his name into Alexandre de
Humboldt. The reason why prefixes are
retained in English names is because they
have no meaning in themselves, and
cannot be translated. There is a difficulty
here in respect to certain names with
De before them; for instance, the
Rothschilds call themselves De Rothschild, but when the head of the family
in England was made a peer of the United
Kingdom he became Lord Rothschild
without the De. In fact, we have to come
to the conclusion that when men think of
making changes in their names they pay
very little attention to the difficulties
they are forging for the cataloguer and
the indexer.
In this rule no mention is made of such
out-of-the-way forms as Im Thurn and
Ten Brink. It is very difficult to decide
upon the alphabetical position of these
names. If the indexer had to deal with
a number of these curious prefixes, it
would probably be well to ignore them;
but when in the case of an English index
they rarely occur, it will probably be better




I44 How to Make an Index.
to put Im Thurn under I and Ten Brink
under T.
With respect to the translation of
foreign titles, the historian Freeman made
a curious statement which is quoted
in one of the American Q.P. indexes.
Freeman wrote:
"No man was ever so clear [as
Macaulay] from the vice of thrusting in
foreign words into an English sentence.
One sees this in such small matters as
the accurate way in which he uses foreign
titles. He speaks, for instance, of the
'Duke of Maine,' the 'Count of Avaux,'
while in other writers one sees the
vulgarism of the Court Circular, 'Duke
de Maine,' 'Duc de Maine,'-perhaps
'Duc of Maine."'
Duke de Maine and Duc of Maine
may be vulgar, they are certainly incorrect; but I fail to see how it can be
vulgar to call a man by his right name
-" Duc de Maine." I do not venture
to censure Macaulay, but for lesser men
it is certainly a great mistake to translate
the names of foreigners, in spite of Freeman's expression of his strong opinion.




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 145
6. Proper names with the prefix St.,
as St. Albans, St. John, to be arranged
in the alphabet as if written in full-Saint.
When the word Saint represents a ceremonial title, as in the case of St. Alban,
St. Giles, and St. Augustine, these names
are to be arranged under the letters A and
G respectively; but the places St. Albans,
St. Giles's, and St. Augustine's will be
found under the prefix Saint. The prefixes
M' and Mc to be arranged as zi written
in full-Mac.
This rule is very frequently neglected,
more particularly in respect to the neglect
of the difference between Saint Alban the
man and St. Albans the place.
7. Peers to be arranged under their
titles, by which alone in most cases they are
known, and not under their family names,
except in such a case as Horace Walpole,
who is almost unknown by his title of
Earl of Orford, which came to him late
in life. Bishops, deans, etc., to be always
under their family names.
About this rule there is great difference
of opinion. The British Museum practice
10




I46   How to Make an Index.
is to catalogue peers under their surnames,
and the same plan has been adopted in the
Dictionary of National Biography. It is
rather difficult to understand how this
practice has come into being. There are
difficulties on both sides; but the great
majority of peers are, I believe, known
solely by their titles, and when these
noblemen are entered under their family
names cross references are required
because very few persons know the family
names of peers.  The Library Association and Bodleian rules adopt the
common-sense plan of entering noblemen
under their titles, and Mr. Cutter gives
some excellent reasons for doing this,
although he cannot make up his mind to
run counter to a supposed well-established
rule. Mr. Cutter writes:
"STANHOPE Philip Dormer, 4th Earl
of Chesterfield.... This is the British
Museum   rule and Mr. Jewett's.  Mr.
Perkins prefers entry under titles for
British noblemen also, in which I should
agree with him if the opposite practice
were not so well established. -The reasons
for entry under the title are that British




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 147
noblemen are always spoken of, always
sign by their titles only, and seldom put
the family name upon the title-pages of
their books, so that ninety-nine in a
hundred readers must look under the
title first. The reasons against it are that
the founders of noble families are often
as well known-sometimes even betterby their family name as by their titles
(as Charles Jenkinson, afterwards Lord
Liverpool; Sir Robert Walpole, afterwards
Earl of Orford); that the same man
bears different titles in different parts of
his life (thus P. Stanhope published his
History of England from   the Peace of
Utrecht as Lord Mahon, and his Reign
of Queen Anne as Earl Stanhope); that
it separates members of the same family
(Lord Chancellor Eldon would be under
Eldon, and his father and all his brothers
and sisters under the family name, Scott),
[Mr. Cutter forgot that Lord Eldon's
elder brother William was also a peerLord Stowell] and brings together
members of different families (thus the
earldom of Bath has been held by
members of the families of Chande,




148   How to Make an Index.
Bourchier, Granville and Pulteney, and
the family name of the present Marquis
of Bath is Thynne), which last argument
would be more to the point in planning
a family history."
The advocates of the practice of
arranging peers under their family names
make much of the difficulties attendant on such changes of name as
Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban's,
Benjamin Disraeli (afterwards Earl of
Beaconsfield), Sir John Lubbock (now
Lord Avebury), and Richard Monckton
Milnes (afterwards Lord Houghton).
These, doubtless, are difficulties, but I
believe that they amount in all to very
few as compared with the cases on the
other side.
This is a matter that might be settled
by calculation, and it would be well worth
while to settle it. Mr. Cutter says that
ninety-nine in a hundred must looL under
the title first, but 'I doubt if the percentage be quite as high as this. If it
were, it ought to be conclusive against any
other arrangement than that under titles.
Moreover, these instances do not really




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. I49
meet the case, for they belong to another
class, which has to be dealt with in
cataloguing-that is, those who change
their names. When a man succeeds to
a peerage he changes his name just as a
Commoner may change his name in order
to succeed to a certain property.
8. Foreign compound names to be arranged
under thefirst name, as Lacaze Duthiers.
English compound names under the last,
except in such cases as Royston-Pigott, where
the first name is a true surname. The
first name in a foreign compound is, as
a rule, the surname; but the first name
in an English compound is usually a
mere Christian name.
This rule is open to some special
difficulties.  It can be followed with
safety in respect to foreign names, but
special knowledge is required in respect
to English names.    Of late years a
large number of persons have taken a
fancy to bring into prominence their
last Christian name when it is obtained
from  a surname.   They then hyphen
their Christian name with their surname,




I50   How to Make an Index.
because they wish to be called by both.
The Smiths and the Joneses commenced
the practice, but others have followed
their lead. The indexer has no means
of telling whether in a hyphened name
the, first name is a real surname or not,
and he needs to know much personal
and family history before he can decide
correctly.
Hyphens are used most recklessly
nowadays, and the user has no thought
of the trouble he gives to the indexer.
If the Christian name is hyphened to the
surname, and all the family agree to use
the two together as their surname, the
indexer must treat the compound name as
a true surname. Often a hyphen is used
merely to show that the person bearing
the names wishes to be known by both,
but with no intention of making the
Christian name into a surname. Thus
a father may not give all his children the
same Christian name, but change it for
each individual, as one son may be James
Somerset-Jones and another George
Balfour-Jones. In such a case as this
the hyphen is quite out of place, and




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. I 5 I
Jones must still be treated as the only
surname. No one has a right to expect
his Christian name to be treated as a
surname merely by reason of his joining
the Christian name to the surname by
a hyphen. He must publicly announce
his intention of treating his Christian
name as a surname, or change it by Act
of Parliament. Even when the name is
legally changed, there is often room for
confusion. The late Mr. Edward Solly,
F.R.S., who was very interested in these
inquiries, drew my attention to the fact
that the family of Hesketh changed their
name in i 806 to Bamford by Act of
Parliament, and subsequently obtained
another Act to change it back to Hesketh.
The present form of the family names is
Lloyd-Hesketh-Bamford-Hesketh.
With respect to Spanish and Portuguese
names it is well to bear in mind that
there are several surnames made from
Christian names, as, for instance, Fernando
is a Christian name and Fernandez is
a surname, just as with us Richard is a
Christian name and Richards a surname.
9. An adjective is frequently to be




152    How to Make an Index.
preferred to a substantive as a catchword;for
instance, when it contains the point of the
compound, as Alimentary Canal, English
History; also when the compound forms
a distinctive name, as Soane Museum.
The object of this rule is often overlooked, and many indexers purposely
reject the use of adjectives as headings.
One of the most marked instances of an
opposite rule may be seen in the index
to Hare's Walks in London (1878), where
all the alleys, bridges, buildings, churches,
courts, houses, streets, etc., are arranged
under these headings, and not under
the proper name of each. There may
be a certain advantage in some of these
headings, but few would look for Lisson
Grove under Grove, and the climax of
absurdity is reached when Chalk Farm
is placed under Farm.
ro. The entries to be as short as is consistent with intelligibility, but the insertion
of names without specification of the cause
of reference to be avoided, except in particular cases.  The extent of the references,
when more than one page, to be marked by
indicating the first and last pages.




Rules for A~lphabetical Indexes. I53
This rule requires to be carried out with
judgment. Few things are more annoying
than a long string of references without
any indication of the cause of reference,
but on the other hand it is objectionable
to come across a frivolous entry. The
consulter is annoyed to find no additional
information in the book to what is
already given in the index. It will therefore be found best to set out the various
entries in which some fact or opinion is
mentioned, and then to gather together
the remaining references under the heading of Alluded to.
The most extreme instances of annoying
block lists of references under a name
are to be found in Ayscough's elaborate
index to the Gentleman's Magazine, where
all the references under one surname are
placed together without even the distinction of the Christian name. The late
Mr. Edward Solly made a curious calculation as to the time that would be employed
in looking up these references. For
instance, under the name Smith there are
2,41i entries en masse, and with no initial
letters. If there were these divisions,




154   How to Make an Index.
one would find Zachary Smith in a few
minutes, but now one must look to each
reference to find what is wanted. With
taking down the volumes and hunting,through long lists of names, Mr. Solly
found that two minutes were occupied
in looking up each reference; hence it
might take the consulter eight days
(working steadily ten hours a day) to find
out if there be any note about Zachary
Smith in the magazine, a task which no
one would care to undertake.
A like instance of bad indexing will be
found in Scott's edition of Swift's Works.
Here, there are 638 references to Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford, without any
indication of the reason why his name
is entered in the index. This case also
affords a good instance of careless
indexing in another particular, for these
references are separated under different
headings instead of being gathered under
one, as follows:
Harley (Robert)     277 references.
Oxford (Lord)        III,,
Treasurer, Lord Oxford 300




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 155
The late Mr. B. R. Wheatley read a
paper before the Conference of Librarians
(1877) on this subject of indexes, without
details of the reason or cause of reference,
entitled, " An 'Evitandum' in Indexmaking, principally met with in French
and German Periodical Scientific Literature " (Transactions, p. 88). He pointed
out that often in German Indexes the
entries in the Sack Register would be full
and correct, while those in the Namen
Register would usually be meagre, and
consist merely of the surnames of the
authors and the initials of their Christian
names. fe then referred to many instances of the uselessness of these indexes.
He further referred to the forty so-called
indexes of subjects added to Allibone's
valuable Critical Dictionary of English
Literature, which are practically useless.
He concluded his paper with these words:
"You are referred to the 'Morals and
Manners ' index for such varied subjects
as Apparitions, Divorce, Marriage, Duelling, Freemasonry, Mormonism, Mythology, Spiritualism and Witchcraft. There
are 1,365 names in this index, and how




156   How to Make an Index.
are you to discover which belong to any
of the above subjects without wading
through the whole? It is, in fact, an
entire system of indexing backwards
from particulars to generals, instead of
from generals to particulars. It is something like writing on a sign-post on the
road to Bath, 'To Somersetshire,' and
if in one phrase I were to add a characteristic entry to these sub-indexes, or
to give one form of reference which
should be typical of this style of index,
I should say-Needle, see Bottle of Hay.
You find the bottle of hay-but where
is the needle?"
The form in which the various entries
in an index are to be drawn up is worthy
of much attention, and particular care
should be taken to expunge all redundant words. For example, it would be
better to write:
"Smith (John), his character; his
execution,"
than
"Smith (John), character of; execution of";
or




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. I 57
" Brown (Robert) saves money,"
than
" Brown (Robert), saving of money by."
A good instance of the frivolous entry
is the hackneyed quotation,
" Best (Mr. Justice), his great mind,"
which is supposed to be a reference to
a passage in this form: "Mr. Justice
Best said that he had a great mind to
commit the man for trial." This particular reference is almost too good to
be true, and I have not been able to
trace it to its source.  That has been
said to be in the index to one of
Chitty's law-books, and it is added that
possibly Chitty had a grudge against
Sir William Draper Best, one of the
Puisne Judges of the King's Bench from
i8i9 to i824, and Lord Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas from 1824 to
i829, in which latter year he was created
Lord Wynford. Another explanation is
that it was a joke of Leigh Hunt's, who
first published it in the Examiner.
i I. Short entries to be repeated under
such headings as are likely to be required,
in place of a too frequent use of cross




158    How to Make an Index.
references. These references, however, to
be made from cognate headings, as Cerebral to Brain, and vice versd, where the
subject matter is diferent.
Cross references are very useful, but
they are not usually popular with those
who are unaccustomed to them.      They
ought to be used where the number of
references under a certain heading is
large, but it is always better to duplicate
the references than to refer too often to
insignificant entries.
12. In the case of journals and transactions brief abstracts of the contents of the
several articles or papers to be drawn up
and arranged in the alphabetical index
under the heading of the article.
The advantage of this plan is that a
precis can be made of the articles or
papers which will be useful to the reader
as containing an abstract of the contents,
much of which might not be of sufficient
importance to be sorted out in the alphabet;
in the case where the entries are important they can be duplicated in the alphabet.
A good specimen of this plan of indexing




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. I59
may be found in the indexes to the
Journal of the Statistical Society.
13. Authorities quoled or referred to in a
book, to be indexed under each author's name,
the titles of his works being separately set
out and the word " quoted " added in italics.
This rule is quite clear, and there is
nothing to be added to it. It is evident
that all books quoted should be indexed.
14. When the indexedpage is large, or
contains long lists of names, it is to be
divided into four sections, referred to respectively as a, b, c, d; thus if a page
contains 64 lines, 1-16 will be a, 17-32 b,
33-48 c, 49-64 d. If in double columns,
the page is still to be divided into four-a
and b forming the upper and lower halves
of thefirst column, and c and d the upper
and lower halves of the second column.
This division of the page will often
be found very useful, and save much time
to the consulter.
15. When a work is in more than one
volume, the number of the volume is to be
specified by small Roman numerals. In the
case of long sets, such as the " Gentleman's




60o   How to Make an Index.


Magazine," a special Arabic numeral for
indicating the volume, distinct from the page
numeral, may be employed with advantage.
The frequent use of high numbers in
Roman capitals is very inconvenient.
6. Entries which   refer to complete
chapters or distinct papers, to be printed in
small capitals or italics.
This is useful as indicating that the
italic entry is of more importance than
those in Roman type.
I 7. Headings to be printed in a marked
type. A dash, instead of indentation, to
be used as a mark of repetition.  The dash
to be keptfor entries exactly similar, and
the word to be repeated when the second
differs in any way from  the first.  The
proper name to be repeated when that of
a diferent person. In the case of joint
authors, the Christian name or initials oj
the first, whose surname is arranged in
the alphabet, to be in parentheses, but the
Christian names of the second to be in
the natural order, as Smith (John) and
Alexander Brown, not Smith (John) and
Brown (Alexander).




Rules ior AlXphabetical - Indexes. i 6 i
Dashes should be of a uniform length,
and that length should not be too great.
It is a mistake to suppose that the dash
is to be the length of the line which
is not repeated.  If it be necessary to
make the repetition of a portion of the
title as well as the author, this should be
indicated by another dash, and not by the
elongation of the former one.
The reason for the last direction in this
rule is that the Christian name is only
brought back in order to make the
alphabetical position of the surname clear;
and as this is not necessary in respect
to the second person, the names should
remain in their natural order.
The initials which stand for Christian
names often give much trouble, particularly among foreigners.  Most Frenchmen use the letter M. to stand for
monsieur, giving no Christian name; but
sometimes M. stands for Michel or other
Christian name commencing with M.
The Germans are often very careless in
the use of initials, and I have found in
one index of a scientific periodical the
following specimens of this confusion:
II




i62    How to Make an Index.
(X) H. D. Gerling, (2) H. W. Brandes,
(3) D. W. Olbers. Here all three cases
look alike, but in the first H. D. represent
two titles-Herr Doctor; in the second,
H. W. represent two Christian namesHeinrich Wilhelm; and in the third
one title and one Christian nameDr. W. Olbers.
The above rules do not apply to
subject indexes, and in certain cases may
need modification in accordance with the
special character of the work to be
indexed. On the whole, it may be said
that an alphabetical index is the best;
but under special circumstances it may
be well to have a classified index.
Generally it may be said that there are
special objections to classification, and
therefore if a classified index is decided
upon, it must needs be exceptional, and
rules must be made for it by the maker
of the index.
In the foregoing rules no mention is
made of the difficulties attendant on the
use of Oriental names. Under "Rules
for a Small Library" in How to Catalogue
a Library, I wrote:




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 163
"7. Oriental names to be registered
in accordance with the system adopted
by a recognised authority on the subject."
This, however, is only shifting the
responsibility. In an ordinary English
index this point is not likely to give much
trouble, and the rule may be safely
adopted of registration under the first
name. But where there are many names
to be dealt with, difficulties are sure to
arise. In India the last name is usually
adopted, and the forenames are frequently
contracted into initials, so that it is
obligatory to use this name. We must
never forget the practical conclusion that
a man's real name is that by which he
is known. But the indexer's difficulty in
a large number of cases is that he does
not know what that name is. Sir George
Birdwood has kindly drawn up for me the
following memorandum on the subject,
which is of great value, from the interesting historical account of the growth of
surnames in India under British rule
which he gives.




164   How to Make an Index.
ON THE INDEXING OF THE NAMES OF
EASTERN PEOPLE.
Confining  myself to the  peopleParsees,  Hindoos,  and  Mussulmans
(muslimnin)-of India, I find it very
difficult to state an unexceptionable rule
for the indexing of their names; and I
index them in the order in which they
are signed by the people themselves.
The first or forename of a Parsee or
a Hindoo, but not of a Mussulman if
he be a Pathan, is his own personal or,
as we say, " Christian "-that is, baptismal
or " water "-name; and their second their
father's personal name, and not his family
or, as we say, "blood" name, or true
surname.  The naming of individuals
in the successive generations of a Parsee
or Hindoo, and certain Mussulmanee
families, runs thus: A. G., N. A., U. N.,
and so on, the grandfather's name
disappearing in the third generation.
The Parsees only in comparatively recent
times adopted family or true surnames
derived from the personal or paternal
names, or both, of the first distinguished




V


Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 165
member of the family, or from his occupation or place of residence, or from some
notable friend or patron of his, or from
some title conferred on him by the ruler
whose subject he was. Thus the Patels
of Bombay are descended from Rustom
(the son of) Dorabjee, who, for the
assistance he gave the English in I692
against the Seedee of Junjeera, was created,
by sanad (i.e. patent), patel (i.e. mayor)
of the Coolees of Bombay.
The Parsee Ashburners derive their
patronymic from an ancestor in the early
part of the late century, the friend and
associate of a well-known English gentleman then resident in Western India. The
Bhownaggrees take their name from an
ancestor, a wealthy jaghirdar, who in
1744 built a tank of solid stone for public
use at Bhavnagar in Kattyawar, and
also from their later official connection
with this well-known "model Native
State."  The Jamsetjee Jejeebhoys and
Comasjee Jehanghiers derive their doublebarreled surnames from the first baronet
and knight, respectively, of these two
eminent Parsee families.  Other well



I66   How to Make an Index.
known Parsee surnames are Albless,
Bahadurjee, Banajee, Bengalee, Bhandoopwala, Bharda, Cama (or Kama), Dadysett,
Damanwala, Gamadia, Gazdar, Ghandi,
Kapadia, Karaka, Khabrajee, Kharagat,
Kohiyar, Marzban, Modee, Petit (Sir
Dinshaw Manockjee Petit, first baronet
of this name), Panday, Parak, Sanjana,
Sayar, Seth, Sethna, Shroff, Talyarkan,
Wadia.  Some of their surnames are
very eccentric, such as Doctor, Readymoney, Solicitor, etc., and should be
abolished.  There is actually  a Dr.
Solicitor.
The interesting point about the Parsee
surnames is that when first introduced,
through the influence of their close contact with the English, they were not
absolutely hereditary, but were changed
after a generation or two.  Thus the
present Bhownaggrees used, at one time,
the surname of Compadore, from the
office so designated held by one of their
ancestors under the Portuguese.
The Hindoos have always had surnames,
and jealously guard their authenticity and
continuity in the traditions of their




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 167
families, although they do not, even
yet in Western India, universally use
them  in public.  Their personal and
paternal names are derived, among the
higher castes, from the names of the gods,
the thousand and one names of Vishnoo
and Seeva, of Ganesha, etc., and from the
names of well-known mythological heroes,
historical saints, etc., the name selected
being one the initial of which indicates
the lunar asterism (nakshatra) under
which the child (i.e. a son) is born; but
their surnames have a tribal, or, as in
the case of the Parsees, a local, or official,
or some other merely accidental, origin.
If, then, we had only to deal with
the Hindoos and Parsees, they might be
readily indexed under their surnames.
But when we come to the Indian Mussulmans the problem is at once seen to be
beset with perplexities which seem to
me impossible to unravel. The Indian
Mussulmans-indeed all muslimin-are
classified as Sayeds, Sheikhs, Mo(n)gols,
and  Pathans.  The   Sayeds (literally,
" nobles," "lords ") are the descendants
of the Prophet Mahomet, through his




i68   How to Make an Index.
son-in-law Allee; those descended through
Fatima being distinguished as Sayed
Hussanee and Sayed Hooseinee, and
those from his other wives as Sayed Allee.
The first name given to a Mussulman of
this class is the quasi-surname Sayed or
Meer (also, literally, "nobleman," " lord "),
followed by the personal name and the
paternal name; but these quasi-surnames
often fall into disuse after manhood has
been reached.
The Sheikhs (literally, "chiefs "),-and
all muslimin descended from Mahomet and
Aboo Bukeer and Oomur are Sheikhs,have one or other of the following surnames placed before or after their personal
and paternal names: Abd, Allee, Bukhs,
Goolam, Khoaja, Sheikh. But as Sayeds
are also all Sheikhs, they sometimes, on
attaining manhood, assume the surname
of Sheikh, dropping that of Sayed, or
Meer, given to them at birth.
The Mo(n)gols, whether of the Persian
(Eranee) sect of Sheeahs, or the Turkish
(Tooranee) sect of Soonnees, have placed
before, or after, their personal and paternal
names, one or other of the following




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 169
surnames: Aga (" lord "), Beg (" lord "),
Meerza, and Mo(n)gol. But in Persia
both Sayeds and Sheikhs assume, instead
of their proper patronymics, the surname of
Aga, or Beg, or Mo(n)gol; while Mo(n)gols
whose mothers are Sayeds are given the
pre, or post, surname of Meerza.
The Pathans have the surname Khan
(" lord ") placed invariably after their
personal and paternal names. But Sayeds
and Sheikhs often have the word Khan
placed after their class, personal, and
paternal names-not, however, as a surname, but as a complimentary or substantial
title, pure and simple.
Again, all classes of muslimin, and the
Hindoos also, and even the Parsees, are in
the habit of adding all sorts of complimentary and substantial titles both before
and after their names. How, then, is it
possible to apply any one rightly reasoned
rule to the indexing of such names, or
any but the arbitrary rule of thumb:-to
index them in the order in which the bearer
of them places them in his signature to
letters, cheques, and other documents?
This gets over all the embarrassing




I70    How to Make an Index.
difficulties created by the paraphernalia of a
man's official designations, complimentary
-or substantial, titles, etc. Take, for
example, this transcript of a hypothetical
Hindoo official's visiting-card:
"Dewan Sahib" (official and courtesy
titles).
" Rajashri " (special social title).
"A." (personal name).
"B." (paternal name).
"Z." (family or true surname).
No Englishman unfamiliar with the
etiquettes of Indian personal nomenclature could possibly index such a card
as this with intelligent correctness. But
this Hindoo gentleman would simply sign
himself in a private letter, "A. B. Z."
(i.e. A., the son of B., of the clan of Z.),
and so he should be indexed.
The personal names of muslimin also
have for the most part an astronomical
association, being generally selected from
those beginning with the initial or finial
letter of the name of the planet ruling
the day on which the child (i.e. a son)
is born.
I presume that what I have here said




Rules for Alphabetical Indexes. 171
of the methods of naming the Indian
Mussulmans also applies to the muslimin
of Persia and Central Asia and Turkey
and Arabia; but beyond these countries
I have no information as to the methods
of naming people in the other Oriental
Indies, such as Ceylon, Burmah, China,
and Japan.
As to the transliteration of Oriental
personal names, I always accept that
followed by the person bearing them.
I have put the matter as briefly as
possible, and almost too briefly for absolute
accuracy of expression; and it will be
noted I say nothing of local exceptions
to the general rule regulating Hindoo
names of persons; and, again, nothing of
female names, Hindoo, Mussulmanee, or
Parsee.
GEORGE BIRDWOOD.
January 9, 1902.




CHAPTER VII.
How   TO SET ABOUT THE INDEX.
"And thus by God's assistance we have finished
our Table. Miraculous almost was the execution
done by David on the Amalekites who saved
neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to
Gath. I cannot promise such exactness in our
Index, that no name hath escaped our enquiry:
some few, perchance, hardly slipping by, may
tell tales against us. This I profess, I have not,
in the language of some modern quartermaster,
wilfuldy burnt towns, and purposely omitted
them; and hope that such as have escaped our
discovering, will only upon examination appear
either not generally agreed on, by authors, for
proper names, or else by proportion falling
without the bounds of Palestine, Soli Deo
gloria."-THOMAS FULLER.
ULES     are  needed   for  index
making in order to obtain uni
formity, but the mode of working
must to a large extent be left to
the indexer. Most of us have our own
172




How to Set About the Index. 173
favourite ways of doing things, and it is
therefore absurd to dictate to others how
to set to work. If we employ any one to
do a certain work, we are entitled to
expect it to be well done; but we ought
to allow the worker to adopt his own
mode of work.   Some men will insist
not only on the work being well done,
but also upon their way of doing it.
This takes the spirit out of the worker,
and is therefore most unwise.
Still, I have found that those who are
unaccustomed to index work are anxious
to be informed how to proceed. The
following notes are therefore only intended as hints for the use of those who
wish for them, and need not be acted
upon if the reader has a plan that he
finds better suited for his purpose. Two
essentially different kinds of index must
be considered first: (i) There is the
index which is always growing; and (2)
there is the index that is made at one
time, and is printed immediately it is
ready for the press.  The same course
of procedure will not be suitable for both
these classes.




174   How to Make an Index.
i. Indexes to commonplace books
belong to this category.  It has been
usual here to leave a few pages blank
for the index, and to arrange the entries
in strict alphabetical order under the
first letters and then under the first vowel
following a consonant, or the second,
when the initial is a vowel. This is
highly  inconvenient  and  confusing,
especially when words without a second
vowel, as Ash and ESpfs, are placed at
the head of each letter, Ash coming
before Adam and Abel, and Epps before
Ebenezer. It is better to spare a few
more pages for the index, and plan the
alphabet out so that the entries may
come in their correct alphabetical order.
Unfortunately the blank index is usually
set out according to this absurd vowel
system. Commonplace books are now,
however, very much out of fashion. A
better system of note-keeping is to use
paper of a uniform size, to -write each
distinct note on a separate sheet of paper,
and to fasten the slips of paper together
by means of clips. If this plan is adopted,
the notes are much more easily consulted,




How to Set About the Index. 175
and they can be rearranged as often
as is necessary.  Now   the index can
be made on cards, or a special alphabeticised * book can be set aside for the
purpose.  Cards of a uniform size, kept
in trays or boxes, are very convenient for
the purpose of making an ever-growing
index. You can make a general index in
one alphabet, and when you have any
special subject on hand, you can choose
out the particular cards connected with
that subject, and arrange them in a distinct alphabet. When the distinct alphabet is no longer required, the cards can
be rearranged in the general alphabet.
Cards are unquestionably the most convenient for an index that is ever changing
in volume and in form. Rearrangement
can be made without the trouble of
re-writing the entries.
2. For an index which is made straight
off at one time, and sent to the printer
* Some may consider this a monstrous word;
but it conveys a convenient description of blank
books with the alphabet marked on the leaves
of the book either cut in or with tablets
projecting from the margin.




I76   How to Make an Index.
when finished, foolscap paper is probably
the most convenient to use. The pages
as written upon can be numbered, and
this will relieve the mind of the indexer of
fear that any of these should be lost. The
numbering will serve till the time comes
for the index to be cut up and arranged.
Some indexers use separate slips of a
uniform size, or cards, with a single entry
on each slip. Although this plan has
the advantage that you can keep your
index in alphabetical order as you go
along, which is sometimes convenient for
reference, it is, on the whole, a cumbersome one for an index, although it is
almost essential for a catalogue.
In the present day when paper is so
cheap, it is well to use fresh sheets all
of the same size-either quarto post or
foolscap. Some persons are so absurdly
economical as to use the blank sides of
used paper, such as envelopes, etc., so that
their manuscript is of all sizes and will
never range. It is necessary to warn such
persons that they lose more time by the
inconvenient form of their paper than
they gain by not buying new material.




How to Set: About the Index. I77
In general practice the most convenient
plan is to make your index straight on,
using the paper you have chosen. Another
plan is to use a portfolio of parchment
with an alphabet cut on the leaves, and
with guards to receive several leaves of
foolscap under each letter. Thus every
entry can be written at once in first
letters. Where there are many large
headings this is very convenient, and
time is saved by entering the various
references on the same folio without the
constant repetition of the same heading.
Possibly the most convenient method is
to unite the two plans. Those references
which we know to belong to large headings can be entered on the folios in the
alphabetical - guard-book, and the rest
can be written straight through on the
separate leaves.
Before commencing his work, the
indexer must think out the plan and the
kind of index he is to produce; he will
then consider how he is to draw out
the references.
Whatever system is adopted, it is well
to bear in mind that the indexer should
12




178   How to Make an Index.
obtain some knowledge of the book he
is about to index before he sets to work.
The following remarks by Lord Thring
may be applied to other subjects than law:
" A complete knowledge of the whole
law is required before he begins to make
the index, for until he can look down
on the entire field of law before him,
he cannot possibly judge of the proper
arrangement of the headings or of the
relative importance of the various provisions."
During his work the indexer must constantly ask himself what it is for which
the consulter is likely to seek.  The
author frequently uses periphrases to
escape from the repetition of the same
fact in the same form, but these periphrases will give little information when
inserted as headings in an index; and
it is in this point of selecting the best
catchword that the good indexer will
show his superiority over the commonplace worker.
This paramount characteristic of the
good indexer is by no means an easy one
to acquire. When the indexer is absorbed




How to Set About the Index. 179
in the work upon which he is working, he
takes for granted much with which the
consulter coming fresh to the subject is
not familiar. The want of this characteristic is most marked in the case of
the bad indexer.
In printing references to the entries
in an index it is important to make a
distinction between the volume and the
page; this is done best by printing the
number of the volumes in Roman letters
and the page in Arabic numerals. When,
however, the volumes are numerous, the
Roman letters become cumbersome, and
mistakes are apt to occur, so that one is
forced to use Arabic numerals; and in
order to distinguish between volume and
page, the numbers of the volumes must
be printed in solid black type.
When a book is often reprinted in
different forms it would be well to refer
to chapters and paragraphs, so that the
same index would do for all editions.
The paragraphs in Dr. Jessopp's edition of
North's Lives of the Norths are numbered,
but they are not numbered throughout.
The references are very confusing and




i80   How to Make an Index.
require a key. Thus, P stands for Preface;
F for Life of the Lord Keeper; ), Life of
Dudley; J, Life of Dr. John; R, Autobiography of Roger, and also Notes; R L,
Letters from Lady North; R I, Letters
from Roger North; and S, Supplementary.
In the Letters the references are to pages
and not to paragraphs.  With such a
complicated system, one is tempted to
leave the index severely alone. This is
the more annoying in that the index is
not a long one, and the pages might have
been inserted without any great trouble.
Much confusion has been caused by
reprinting an index for one edition in a
later one without alteration. An instance
may be given by citing the reprint of
Whitelock's Memorials, published at the
University Press, Oxford, in 1853. The
original edition is in one volume folio
(1682, reprinted 1732), and the new
edition is in four volumes octavo. But to
save expense the old index was printed
to the new book. The difficulty was in
part got over by giving the pages of the
1732 edition in the margin; but as may
be imagined, it is a most troublesome




How to Set About the Index. I8I
business to find anything by this means.
Moreover, the old index is not a good
one, but thoroughly bad, with all the
old misprints retained in the new edition.
As a specimen of the extreme inaccuracy
of the compilation, it may be mentioned
that under one heading of thirty-four
entries Mr. Edward Peacock detected
seven blunders. Although Mr. Peacock
had no statistics of the other entries,
his experience led him to believe that
if any heading were taken at random,
about one in four of the entries would
be found to be misprinted.
In the case of a large index it is
necessary to take into consideration the
greatly increased work connected with
arrangement. The amount of this may
be said to increase in geometrical rather
than in arithmetical progression. When
the indexer comes to the last page of a
great book he rejoices- to have finished
his work; but he will find by experience,
when he calculates the arrangement
of his materials, that he has scarcely
done more than half of what is before
him.




182 How to Make an Index.
If cards or separate slips are used, these
will only need to be arranged for the'
press; but if sheets of paper have been,
written upon, these will have to be cut up.
There is little to be said about this, but
it is worth giving the hint that much time
is saved if shears or large scissors are
used, so that the whole width of paper
may be severed in two cuts.
In the case of a small index there is
little difficulty with material, for it can
be arranged at once into first letters, and
when the table is cleared of the slips these
can be placed in the pages of an ordinary
book to keep them distinct, and can then
be sorted in perfect alphabet and pasted
down. In the case of a large index it
will be necessary to place the slips in a
safer place. Large envelopes are useful
receptacles for first letters; and when the
slips are placed in them, the indexer will
feel at ease and sure that none will be lost.
It is well to go through the whole of the
envelopes of first letters and sort the slips
into second and third letters before the
pasting is commenced, so that you may
know that the order is correct, or make




How to Set About the Index. 183
such -alterations as are necessary before
it is too late. The final perfect alphabetical arrangement can be made when
the slips are placed on the table ready
to be pasted.
The sorting of slips into alphabetical
order seems a simple matter which scarcely
needs any particular directions; still such
have been, made.
The late Mr. Charles F. Blackburn,
who had had a considerable experience,
gave some instruction for sorting slips in
his Hints on Catalogue Titles (1884). He
wrote:
"Having never seen in print any
directions for putting titles into alphabetical order, I venture to describe the system
I have been accustomed to use. First
sort the entire heap into six heaps, which
will lie before you thus:
A-D         E-H         I-M
N-R           S         T-Z.
Then take the heap A —D and sort it
into its component letters, after which
each letter can be brought into shape by
use of the plan first applied to the whole
alphabet. It is best to go on with the




I84   How to Make an Index.
second process until you have the whole
alphabet in separate letters, because if
you brought A, for example, into its component parts and put them into alphabetical order, you might not impossibly find
some A's among the later letters-one of
the inevitable accidents of sorting quickly.
With this hint or two the young cataloguer
will easily find his way; and various devices for doing this or that more handily
are sure to suggest themselves in the
course of practice. The great thing is
to be started."
The latter part of this extract is good
advice, but I think it is a mistake to make
two operations of the sorting in first letters,
for it can be done quite easily in one.
The following suggestion made by Mr.
Blackburn is a good one, and is likely to
save the very possible mixture of some
of the heaps:
"In my own practice I have got into
a way of letting the slips fall on the
table at an angle of forty-five degrees.
Then, if the accumulation of titles should
cause the heaps to slide, they will run
into one another distinct, so that they




How to Set About the Index. i85
can be separated instantly without sorting
afresh."
I have never myself found any difficulty
in sorting out into first letters at one time,
and it soon becomes easy to place the
slips in their proper heaps without any
thought. Mr. F. B. Perkins, of the Boston
Public Library, however, in his paper
on "- Book Indexes " gives some good
directions which are worth quoting here:
" Next alphabet them by initial letters.
This process is usually best done by
using a diagram or imaginary frame of
five rows of five letters each, on which
to put the titles at this first handling.
The following arrangement of printers'
dashes will show what I mean. (The
letters placed at the left hand of the first
row and right hand of the last indicate
well enough where the rest belong.)
A                               U
B                               V
C                        -      W
D                               X
E                               Y- Z.)
* Public Libraries in the United States. Special
Report. Part I., i876, p. 730.




i86 How to Make an Index.
When the alphabetical arrangement is
completed so far as the indexer considers
it necessary for his purpose, it is time to
think of the pasting down of the slips.
This can be done in several ways, and
the operator will doubtless choose that
which suits him best. As already remarked, men will always find out the
way most agreeable to themselves, and
it is unwise to insist on others following
our way in preference to their own.
The human mind is capable of interesting itself in almost anything its may
undertake;  but indexing  cannot be
other than hard work, and it is unfair
to make it harder by fixing unnecessary
limits. The worker is always happier at
his work if he is allowed to do it in his
own way.
The first thing to settle is as to the
paper upon which the index is to be
pasted. A very large-sized paper is inconvenient, and foolscap or quarto is the
best for constant handling,-all the pages
should be of exactly the same size.
Sometimes it is necessary to have a small
margin, but generally the width of the




How to Set About the Index. 187
paper used for the index should be
followed. There is no greater mistake
than to study economy in the use of
paper for pasting on. Some persons have
facilities for the use of wastepaper that
has been printed on on one side, and, not
having been used, is in good order and
of equal size.  Some persons cut up
newspapers, but this is a practice not to
be recommended, not only on account
of the print, but because the paper is
generally so abominably bad and tearable.
If the wastepaper referred to above is
not within reach, it is well to buy a
good printing-paper, which can be cut
into the size required. There are, however, many cheap papers already machinecut into the size required, which can
easily be obtained.
Some with the love of saving strong
upon  them  cut up newspapers into
lengths of about four inches wide, and
paste the slips upon these, with the
result that all the ragged ends give continual trouble, and are apt to be torn
away. Of all savings, this is the most
ill-advised.




i88 How to Make an Index.
Although the " copy " is to be printed
from at once, and will soon become useless, it is a great comfort to have material
that is convenient to handle while it is
required.  Some thought may also be
given to the compositor, whose life will
be made a burden to him if you send
him " copy " with all the ends loose. It
is also well to keep the pages as flat as
possible, so that a heap of these do not
wobble about, but keep together smooth
and tidy.
Sometimes it may be desirable to paste
only on half the paper, so as to have
room for additional entries. If this is
done, the side must be altered periodically,
or the pages with slip about and give
endless trouble.
When the index is in course of arrangement the greatest care must be taken
that none of the slips are lost, for such
a loss is almost irreparable-first because
you do not know when a slip goes astray;
and even if you do know of your loss
it is almost impossible to remedy it, as
you have no clue to the place from
which the slip came.




How to Set About the Index. I89
There will always be anxiety to the
indexer while his work is being cut up
and sorted. A breeze from a window
when a door is opened may blow some
of his slips away.  Too many of the
slips should not be allowed on the table
at one time, and the indexer will feel
the greatest comfort when he knows that
his slips are safely reposing in their
several envelopes.  All queries should
also be kept in envelopes, and each
envelope should be inscribed with a
proper description of its contents. When
the slips are pasted down they are
safe-that is if they have been affixed
securely to the paper.. Having made these general observations, we may now proceed to consider
how to paste. It seems a very simple
matter, that requires no directions; but
even here a few remarks may not be
out of place.
When your paper is ready in a pile
of about fifty pages, each page numbered
in its proper sequence, you can proceed
to work. For the purpose of laying down
slips on uniform pages at one time, paste




9go   How to Make an Index.
is the only satisfactory material. Gum
will only be used by the inexperienced.
It cannot be used satisfactorily on large
surfaces, like paste, and when it oozes
up between the slips it is stickier and
does more damage in fixing the pages
together than paste does. You might as
well fix paperhangings on your walls
with gum.
As to paste, if you have a long job
on hand it is better to have it made
at home, of a good consistency, but not
too thick. It ought to run freely from
the brush. A good cook will make good
paste, but if you are specially particular
you can make it yourself. If you require
it to last for any time, you must add a
little alum; but when you have a big
index before you, you will use a bowl
of paste in an evening, and there is therefore no question as to keeping.
"Stickphast" is a very good material;
it sticks well and keeps well, and it is
an excellent adjunct to the writing-table,
but it is not suitable for pasting down
a long index. It is too dear, it is too
thick, and it is too lumpy. If the paste




How to Set About the Index. i9i
is made at home, it need not be lumpy;
and lumps, when you are pasting, are
irritating to the last degree.
The paper and the paste being ready,
with a fair-sized brush to spread the
paste, we come to consider how best to
proceed with the work in, hand. You
require a good-sized table, —a large board
on tressels in an empty room is the best,
but a dining-table will serve. At the
extreme right of the table you place the
batch of paper upon which you are about
to paste, and then sort your slips in
perfect order, ranging them in columns
from right to left. The object of thus
going backwards is to save you from
passing over several columns as you take
the slips off the table, and, instead, going
straight on. You can push your batch
of paper on as-the various columns successively disappear. More slips should
not be set out than you can paste at
one sitting, as it is not well to leave the
slips loose on the table. Of course, you
can paste from the left side if you wish,
and then the columns will range from
left to right; but this is not so convenient




I92 How to Make an Index.
for continued arrangement of the columns
of slips as you require them.
There are more ways than one in
placing the paste upon the paper; the
most usual way is to paste down the two
sides of the paper just the width of the
slips, and some add a stroke down the
middle. Another way is to put a plentiful
supply of paste on a page or board, and
then to place the back of each slip upon
this. If you place your fingers on the two
ends and press them towards the middle,
the slip will be ready to be placed in
its proper position, having taken up just
sufficient paste. A still different plan is
to paste the board or paper as in the
previous case, and then place the face of
the whole page on this. You then take
it off, and, placing the dry side on the
batch of paper, proceed to affix the slips
to it.  The advantage of the two last
processes is that the paper is not so
wet as in the first-mentioned plan, and in
consequence the paper does not curl so
much, but lies flatter. In the first place
the sheets must be set out separately on
the floor to dry, so that they may not




How to Set About the Index. I93
stick together, but this is not so necessary
in the two latter processes.
Some indexers strongly object to
pasting.  This was the case with Mr.
E. H. Malcolm, who wrote thus to Votes
and Queries:
"I long ago discovered the cause of
imperfections in my own work. It was
the 'cutting into slips 'and 'laying down '
processes. The fact is you cannot be
sure of preserving the cuttings or slips,
if very numerous; they are almost certain
to get mixed or lost, or elude you somehow. My remedy is this. I now take
cheap notepaper and write one entry
only on each leaf. Having compiled my
index thus from A to Z, I arrange my
slips and manipulate them as I would a
pack of cards, although shuffling only for
the purpose of getting the arrangement of
the letters right. Thus I save myself all
the labour and trouble of pasting or
laying down the slips in analytical order.
I do not mind a little extra expenditure
of paper by only entering one item on
every slip, for I am compensated for the
appearance of bulk by finding that I
I3




194    How to Make an Index.
have secured order and arrangement
free from the consequences of a finical
arrangement of the slips and a dirty and
tiresome labour of pasting down." *
As already pointed out in these pages,
Mr. Malcolm is quite right respecting slips
for a growing index; but when it comes
to sending the " copy" to the printer the
case is different.  Here there is more
safety in the pasted down slips, which are
less likely to be lost than the loose ones
even when numbered.
As you proceed in your work you may
wish to know how far your index agrees
with other indexes in its proportion of
letters, and to calculate what proportion of the whole you have already done.
Some calculations as to the relative
extent of the different letters have been
made. Thus B is the largest letter in
an index of proper names, but loses its
pre-eminence in an index of subjects; and
S takes high rank in both classes.
Mr. F. A. Curtis,+ of the Eagle
* 5th S., vi. 114 (1876).
t Assurance Magazine, vol. viii., i86o,
PP. 54-7.




How to Set About the Index. 195
Insurance Office, made in i858 a calculation of the relative proportions of the
different letters of the alphabet in respect
to proper names. He described his object
in a letter entitled, " On the Best Method
of Constructing an Index." He wrote
that, having had occasion to construct an
index of the lives assured in the " Eagle "
Company, he had drawn up      a  few
observations upon the subject. "The
requirements of an index and the proportions of its several parts are the two
principal questions to b.- considered.
Under the first head it may be observed
that the index of a company upon a large
scale should afford as much abstract
information  as possible.  Those who
refer to it do so with different views,
for the objects of their inq uiry must
necessarily vary with their respective
duties. It is therefore desirable that the
index should be constructed with a view
to provide for the wants of each person,
so far, at least, as to enable him to obtain
information in the most direct way; and
it will be proper to insert in the index
particulars some of which do not usually




196   How to Make an Index.
find a place in such a book. Let it be
supposed that an individual signing his
name 'J. Smith' inquires about the
bonus, premium, or assignment, etc., of
his policy, without stating either number,
date, or amount. This is not an unusual
case, and it will serve to illustrate my
meaning by showing the nature of the
difficulties which have to be encountered.
J. may stand for John, James, Joseph, etc.
There will probably be many of each kind
in connection with the like surname, and
it would be very difficult to discover,
without a tedious investigation, to which
policy J. Smith refers, unless the individuality of each person recorded in
the index under that name be distinctly
shown. The 'locality' of the assurance
might be adopted as a mark of distinction;
and we should in many instances be
able to fix upon the right name by simply
comparing the address of the writer with
the place where the policy was effected."
This is a most valuable suggestion to
all indexers.  Many persons, to save
trouble at the time, write initials instead
of full Christian names. It should be a




How to Set About the Index. 197
rule always to write these in full. When
the index comes to be printed, the
Christian names can be contracted if it
is necessary to save space. The most
important matter in the arrangement of
an index is to avoid the confusion of
two persons as one, and the possibility
of making this blunder is greatly increased by the use of initials instead of
full names.  In the British MAuseum
Catalogue it has been found necessary
in many cases to add particulars to distinguish between men with the same names.
Mr. Curtis goes on to say:
"With regard to the second part of
this subject-i.e. the proportions of the
several parts of the index-I may observe
that the most useful mode of division
appears to me to be that which is adopted
by many offices-namely, to classify the
surname under its first letter, and to
subdivide according to the first vowel
thereafter, adopting the first subdivision
for such names as 'Ash,' 'Epps,' etc.,
which have no succeeding vowel."
This, however, is a very unnatural
arrangement, and has been, I believe,




198    How to Make an Index.
very generally given up. It is therefore
unnecessary to refer further to Mr.
Curtis's calculations of the proportions of
the vowels in the subdivisions. Calculations can be made for the subdivision of
the complete alphabet with a better
result. Of course, in the case of initial
vowels the following consonants have
most to be considered, and in initial
consonants the following vowels.   Mr.
Curtis's calculations respecting the first
letters of surnames are of much value.
He used the commercial lists of the Post
Office London Directory, and compared
them with Liverpool, Hull, Manchester,
Sheffield, Birmingham, and Bristol directories, and with three lists of different
assurance companies; and after making
his calculations from nearly 233,000 surnames, he found the total average very
similar in its result. Mr. William Davis
made similar calculations from the Clergy
List, which came out much the same.
These he contributed to Notes and
Queries,* and subsequently he made a
further calculation from French names.t
* 2nd S., vi. 496.  t 3rd S., iv. 371.




How to Set About the Index.   9gg
I have united these results in one table
as follows
CLERGY  FRENCH
LIST.  NAMES.
A...  31      3'I    2-9
B... 10-9    1CI3    11'5
C...  8-5     7-9    9-2
D...  4'3     4'7   IO07
E...  2-4     2'5    O'9
F...  3,6     3      3'9
G...  5-1     4,6     7-4
H...  86      9'3    3-5
I, J...  3-2     3'5    2-4
K...  2 0     ir8    6-4
L...  47      4'3   Io08
M...  6-7     6,9    8 8
N...  2 0     rc6     f'2...      Io      oI       6
P...  5'9-    6 i    6-7
Q...  0'2     o,0    0-3
R...  4-6     4'4,   5'3
S...  9-7     7'7    4'3
T...  4'0     4*4    3'3
U, V...   VO     I*3     3-2
W...  7-9     8'3    o'8
x...   o O    o 0o    W
Y...  0-5     0-4    O'l
z         O'I    0o0    0.0




200 How to Make an Index.
It will be noticed that B is strongest
in all three, and C is fairly equal. S is
smaller in French names, but probably
would be much larger in German names.
H and W are also much smaller in
French, while D and L are much
larger. The preponderance of the latter
letters is of course caused by the large
number of names beginning with De
and La.
Indexes are not confined to proper
names, and therefore it is necessary to
add some calculations as to the proportions
of the several letters in indexes of subjects.
The following table is formed from three
large indexes, each different in character.
I. represents Gough's Index to the Publications of the Parker Society, which
may be taken as a very good standard
index. The subjects are very varied, and
there are no specially long headings; it
also contains proper names as well as
subjects.  II. represents an index of
subjects in Civil Engineering which contains a good number of large headings.
III. represents the index to the Minutes
of a public board, and also contains a




How to Set About the Index. 201
considerable proportion of large headings.
It will be seen that the numbers vary
so considerably as to be of very little
practical value. The percentages are, I
think, interesting, but they show conclusively that indexes will vary so considerably that in order to obtain a satisfactory
percentage a separate calculation will
have to be made in each case. Large
headings will vitiate any average; in fact,
I have lately had to do with an index
in which R was the largest letter, on
account of such extensive headings as
Railways and Roads.
One striking point in the averages is
that B is found to be displaced from
the pre-eminent position it occupies in the
percentages of proper names.
I.      II.    III.
A... 10o-67   2.63   5.58
B...  6'94   5-07    6'28
C... 1563    8'26    8-84
D...  2-48    45~    4.65
E...  3'23    6.94  11"39
F...  2-85    3'38   i163
G...  4'34    3*56  rI86




202    How to Make an Index.


I.     II.    III.
H...  434     3-I9   2'09
I... I174    2'72   1'39
J...  397    o'14  0o46
K...  0'74   0'05   0-23
L...  5'58   4'97  I5'12
M...  5 71   5 82   7 67
N...  I'37 - 0-19   0'93
0...  I'74   I'31   I63
P...  9'31   6-75   7'67
Q...  o'2    094    0'47
R...  2'48  12-38   8'14
S...  8'44  13'32   81I4
T...  3 60   5'72   I'40
U...  050    005    0'47
V... 0o99    o6I    2'33
W...  2'6I   7'41   1'51
X...  0'03   o'oo   o'oo
Y...  0'22   0'00   0'00
Z...  0'37  0o09    o'o6
I00'00  I00'00  I00'00
When the whole index is pasted down
it is not yet ready for the printer, as it
will require to be marked for the in-.
struction of the compositor. The printer




How to Set About the Index. 203
will have general instructions as to the
kind of type to be used and the plan
to be adopted, but it will be necessary
to mark out those words that are not to
be repeated and to insert lines indicating
repetition. There are also sure to be little
alterations in wording, necessitated by the
coming together of the slips, which could
not t,!, foreseen when the slips were first
written out.
In a large work it is probable that
your employers are importunate for
"copy," and you will be urged to send
this to the printer as you have it ready.
If possible, it should be kept to the end,
so that you may look over it as a whole,
and so see that the same subjects are
not in more places than one. You will
probably have to make modifications in
your plan as you go along, and this may
cause difficulties which you will now be:
able to set right.
Much of the value of an index depends
upon the mode in which it is printed,
and every endeavour should be made
to set it out with clearness. It was not
the practice in old indexes to bring the




204 How to Make an Index.
indexed word to the front, but to leave
it in its place in the sentence, so that
the alphabetical order was not made
perceptible to the eye.
There is a great deal to arrange in
preparing for the press. Lines of repetition are often a source of blundering,
specimens of which have already been
given.
The dash should not be too long, and
very often space is saved and greater
clearness is obtained by putting the
general heading on a line by, itself, and
slightly indenting the following entries.
Black type for headings and for the
references to volume and page add much
to the clearness of an index, but some
persons have a decided objection to the
spottiness that is thus given to the page.
Tastes differ so much in respect to
printing that it is not possible to indicate
the best style to be adopted, and so
each must choose for himself.   One
point, however, is of the greatest importance, and that is where a heading is
continued over leaf it should be repeated
with the addition of continued at the end




How to Set About the Index. 205
of the heading. It is not unusual in
such cases to see the dash used at the
top of the page, which is absurd.
When the index has been put into
print, the indexer has still to correct the
press, and this is not always an easy
matter, as the printer is scarcely likely
to have understood all the necessarily
elaborate and complicated marks used in
preparing for the press. It will therefore
still be some time before the end is in
sight, and probably the indexer will see
cause to agree with my statement on a
former page, that in the case of a large
index, when the indexing of the book
itself is completed, little more than half
of the total work is done.
-/




CHAPTER VIII.
GENERAL OR UNIVERSAL INDEX.
" When Baillet, the learned author of the
Jugemens des Savans, was appointed by M. de
Lamoignon keeper of the exquisite library
collected by that nobleman, he set to work to
compile an index of the contents of all the books
contained in it, and this he is said to have completed in August, 1682. After this date, however,
the Index continued to grow, and it extended to
thirty-two folio volumes, all written by Baillet's
own hand."
S knowledge increases and books
and magazines gather in number,
the  need   for  many    indexes
becomes daily more evident.
We often are certain that something
has been written on a subject in which
we are interested, but in vain we seek
for a clue to it.    We want a key to
all this ever-increasing literature.
206




General or Universal Index. 207


As long ago as I842 the late Thomas
Watts, of the British  Museum, one
of the most learned and all-knowing of
librarians, spoke to the late Dr. Greenhill
of Hastings on the need for the formation
of an Index Society. This date I give
on the authority of Dr. Greenhill. Mr.
Watts was a perfect index in himself,
and few inquirers sought information
from him which his fully stored mind
was not able to supply; and he was
not jealous of the printed index, as
some authorities are. Twelve years after
-in 1854-an announcement was made
in Notes and Queries of the projected
formation of a "Society for the Formation of a General Literary Index." In
the 2nd Series, vol. i., p. 486, the
late Mr. Thomas Jones, who signed
himself "Bibliothecar. Chetham.," commenced a series of articles, which he
continued for several years, as a contribution to this general index; but nothing
more was heard of the society. Inquiries
were made in various numbers of Notes
and Queries, but no response was obtained.
In 1876 a contributor to the same




208    How to Make an Index.
periodical, signing himself "A. H.," proposed the formation of a staff of index
compilers. In 1874 the late Professor
Stanley Jevons published his Principles of
Science. In the chapter on Classification
he enlarged on the value of indexes, and
added:
"The time will perhaps come when
our views upon this subject will be extended, and either Government or some
public society will undertake the systematic
cataloguing and indexing of masses of
historical and  scientific  information,
which are now almost closed against
inquiry" (ist ed., vol. ii., p. 405; 2nd
ed., p. 718).
In the following year Mr. Edward Solly
and I, without having then seen this
passage, consulted as to the possibility of
starting an Index Society, but postponed
the actual carrying out of the scheme for
a time. In July of this same year, 1875,
Mr. J. Ashton Cross argued in a pamphlet
that a universal index might be formed
by co-operation through a clearing-house,
and would pay if published in separate
parts. In September, 1877, some letters




General or Universal Index. 209
by Mr. W. J. Thoms, who signed himself
"A Lover of Indexes," were published
in the Pail MHa/ Gazette, in which the
foundation of an Index Society was
strongly urged. In October, I877, Mr.
Cross read a paper before the Conference
of Librarians, which was a revival of
the scheme previously suggested.  Mr.
Robert Harrison, late Secretary of the
London Library, in a report of the
Conference of Librarians published in
the Athenaum for October 13th, 1877,
wrote:
Could not a permanent Index Society
be founded with the support of voluntary
contributions of money as well as of
subject matter? In this way a regular
staff could be set to work, under competent direction, and could be kept
steadily at work until its performances
became so generally known and so useful
as to enable it to stand alone and be
self-supporting. Many readers would
readily jot down the name of any new
subject they met with in the book before
them, and the page on which it occurs,
and forward their notes to be sorted and
14




210   How to Make an Index.
arranged by any society that would
undertake the work."
Mr. Justin Winsor, the late distinguished
librarian of Harvard University, writing
to the Athenzeum, said:
"We have been in America striving
for years to get some organised body to
undertake this very work."
Following on all this correspondence,
the Index Society was founded; but after
doing some useful work it was amalgamated
with the Index Library founded by Mr.
Phillimore, having failed from want of
popular support. This want of permanent
success was probably owing to its aim
being too general.  Those who were
interested in one class of index cared
little for indexes which were quite different
in subject.
I fear that the interest of the public
in the production of indexes (which is
considerable) does not go to the length of
willingness to pay for these indexes, which
from the fewness of those who care for
these helps must always be expensive.
When suggestions were made in Notes
and Queries for the compilation and




General or Universal Index. 211
publication of certain needed indexes,
Mr. J. Cuthbert Welch wrote that the
editor of a journal offered to publish an
index if he could obtain sufficient subscribers.  Respecting  this  offer, the
publisher said, "Altogether I had six
offers to take one copy each."  This
rebuff caused Mr. Welch to say, "Is it
not rather that people are not energetic
to buy such indexes than that publishers are not energetic enough to issue
them?" *
There is still a great want for indexes
of history and biography, and it is probable
that if the objects of the Index Society
had been confined to these it might have
been more successful. In November, 1878,
Mr. Edward Solly wrote a letter to me
in which he sketched out a very important
scheme for a biographical index which
would be of the greatest value.  He
wrote:
" I do not think the Index Society can
take up any subject of greater utility, or
one more likely to be of service to the
general public as well as students, than
* 8th S., i. 364.




2I2   How to Make an'Index.
an Index of Biographies.  An entire
index of all known lives would obviously
be much too large an undertaking; we can
only attempt a part of the subject. Probably in the first instance we should do
well to try and form an index of British
lives; such a work would I think, if
tolerably complete, certainly fill at least
ten large octavo volumes.
" The work might be considerably
diminished in bulk if we were to determine to leave out all names now to be
found in certain standard works such as
Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary.  It
is evident, however, that to do this would
greatly diminish the value of our index,
and would cause us to put aside hundreds
of memoranda which it is most important
to index, I mean references to more recent
notes, memoirs, letters and anecdotes,
which are to be met with in journals and
lives, and which often throw new and
important light on older published
Biographies.
" It is on account of these difficulties
that I would propose that we endeavour
to undertake an index of Biographical




General or Universal Index. 213
references of persons who have died in
a certain given period-say I800-1825,
or 8oo00-850, or perhaps I750-1800.
" With a view to this I should like to
see lists made of all Biographical matters
in such books as the Gentleman's
Magazine, European Magazine, Monthly
Magazine, Anti-Jacobin Magazine, etc
Also such books as the Annual Necrology,
Public Characters, Living Authors, etc.,
and thirdly of references to Biographical
Memoranda dispersed throughout Lives
and Memoirs such as' Kilvert's Memoirs,'
I mean books in which no one from the
title would expect to find such information."
It will be seen that such an index as
is here sketched would be an inestimable
help to the student. It would form a
useful supplement to the Dictionary of
National Biography, for it must be remembered that such an index would
contain a majority of references to men
and women whose claims to distinction
or notoriety do not attain to the standard
set up by the promoters of that grand
work. Possibly, if such an index was




214 How to Make an Index.
undertaken by co-operation as an object
in itself, and not as one among other
subjects, it might be compiled in one
alphabet instead of in periods, which
would make it much more valuable for
reference. Naturally the great advantage
of periods is that, if left incomplete, what
is published (if it covers a period) will
always be of value, while a portion of
the alphabet would be almost worthless.
The Rev. John E. B. Mayor has
collected a great mass of biographical
references which are of much value. In
an interesting communication on his
indexes he suggests the formation of a
British Biographical Society which might
be called the Antony Wood Society.*
There is one project of the Index
Society which has never been undertaken,
but which is still wanted as much as
ever-viz. a general or universal index.
Some think this- to be an impossibility,
and that to attempt its preparation is a
waste of time.  Those who hold this
opinion have not sufficient faith in the
simplicity and usefulness of the alphabet.
* Notes and Queries, 5th S., xii. 5 I 1.




General or Universal Index. 2I5
Every one has notes and references of
some kind, which are useless if kept unarranged, but, if sorted into alphabetical
order, become valuable.
The object of the general index is just
this, that anything, however disconnected,
can be placed there, and much that would
otherwise be lost will there find a restingplace. Always growing and never pretending to be complete, the index will
be useful to all, and its consulters will
be sure to find something worth their
trouble, if not all they may require.
Some attempts have been made at
compiling a general index, for what are
Poole's Index, Index of Essays, Q.P.
Indexes, Hetherington's Index to the
Periodicals of the World, and Indexes to
"The Times," but contributions towards
a universal index? Such a work as is
here proposed can scarcely be carried out
unless Government aid is extended to it;
but surely the small amount of money
that need be expended upon a sort of
general inquiry office would be well
laid out!
A sort of skeleton index of universal




216   How to Make an Index.
information might be drawn up, and this
could be added to gradually, partly by
specialised effort and partly by the reception of any stray references of interest
sent by those who recognise that their
notes would find a home. This could
be kept in a clearing-house and referenceroom.
When the index had become of some
importance, and was recognised as a help
to the inquirer, it could be printed.
When published, it might be interleaved,
so that additions might be made which
could be sent to the office. Gradually
the index would grow into a work of
very considerable importance
One of the chief objections to index
catalogues of public libraries is that the
same work is practically repeated by each
library, while a general index would be
useful to all. Surely some arrangement
might be made by which the various
libraries would contribute funds to the
central office and receive the indexes,
which would serve their purpose as well
as those of all the other libraries!
Having said so much, it seems necessary




General or Universal Index. 217
to explain rather more fully what the
general index should contain and what
should be omitted. To explain it in a
few words, it should be a sort of
encyclopaedia of references rather than
of direct information; but it shduld contain more headings than any existing
encyclopaedia. Every one must have felt
the want of some book which would give
information or references on a large
number of subjects that are constantly
topics of ordinary conversation, but are
consistently ignored in the ordinary books
of reference. On the other hand, mere
technical references should be omitted,
because these details would ove' )ad the
work, and because specialists have their
own sources of information. It is the
general information which every one is
supposed to possess that is so difficult
to obtain.
In the first instance the groundwork
of the index should be laid down with
care by an expert. All special bibliographies should be entered under their
subjects, both those published separately
and those included in other books.




218    How to Make an Index.


Various societies have published indexes.
There are those among the publications
of the Index Society and many others.
The Bibliographical Society has published
indexes  to   the  German    periodical
Serapeuni and to Dibdin's edition of
Ames' and Herbert's Typographical
Antiquities; but very few persons know
of these books.
The authorities of the British Museum
have given students an immense help
by gathering separate indexes and bibliographies on various subjects into the
dwarf bookcases in the Reading-room.
Here are a large number of aids to knowledge of which the general reader would
have known nothing if they had not so
obligingly been brought under his notice.*
A  large  number of books    contain
special information of importance on
various subjects, the existence of which
* The late Professor Justin Winsor gave a list of
indexes in his useful Handbook for Readers (for
the Boston Public Library); and I added a
"Preliminary List of Indexes" to What is an
index? London, I879. Other lists have also
been published by the British Museum, etc.




General or Universal Index. 2I9
would never be guessed from the titles.
Attempts at general indexes of special
subjects have been published, such as
F. S. Thomas's Historical Notes (1509 -1714), and the main points of these should
be included in the proposed General Index.
When a good groundwork has been
made, the index could be printed; and
doubtless, if this printed index was widely
circulated, a large number of helpers
would speedily be found. Many persons
know of places where full information
on some subject may be found, and
would be glad to place their collections
where they would be helpful to others.
There can surely be no doubt that a
general inquiry office with such an evergrowing index and a library of printed
indexes would be a boon not only to the
student, but to the general public. Every
day the great truth that keys to knowledge are more and more required is
generally appreciated.
As a groundwork for such a general
index, selection could be made from
the books already mentioned; and from
the index volumes of Watt's Bibliotheca




220    How to Make an Index.
Britannica (1824), which, with all its
faults, is one of the most valuable
helps to bibliography, and the subject
index of James   Darling's Cyclopcedia
Bibliographica (I854-I859), many useful
references could be obtained. These two
books are gradually getting out of date,
but- information may be obtained from
their pages which is not easily to be
obtained elsewhere.
In closing this subject, I feel that too
great honour cannot be done to the
memory of W. F. Poole, who placed the
world under great obligations by the production of his Index of Periodical Literture. As far back as i848, when a
student at Yale College, he published an
Index to Subjects treated in the Reviews
and other Periodicals (New York). In
1853 an improved edition was published
as the Index to Periodical Literature.
When Mr. Poole attended the Library
Conference at London in 1877 he expressed publicly his pleasure in seeing
on the shelves of the British Museum
Library a copy of his first index, which
he had not seen for some years elsewhere.




General or Universal Index. 221
He realised that the work, if it were to
be continued, was too great an undertaking for one man, and he succeeded
in arranging for a co-operative index,
which is continued now in several supplements under the able superintendence
of Mr. William I. Fletcher.
An Index to the " Times" was started
by J. Giddings in 1862-63, but not continued. Later, Mr. S. Palmer commenced
a Quarterly Index, which has been continued forward to the present time, and
also backward. In I899 Bailey's Annual
Index to the " Timnes" came into being.
The indexing of a paper such as the
Times is a very arduous and difficult
undertaking. In consequence, these indexes cannot be considered as models of
what such works should be.
Mr. Corrie Leonard Thompson criticises in Notes and Queries (7th S., x. 345)
the arrangement of the headings of
Palmer's Index to the " Times" severely,
but not unfairly. He writes:
"The following are instances of the
absurdities which appear in the volume
just issued (Oct.-Dec. x842), and will




222   How to Make an Index.
serve to illustrate the system which has
been adopted throughout the index:
"In November, 1842, a floating chapel
on the Severn was loosed from its
moorings; this occurrence appears in the
index under the 'heading, 'Disgraceful
Act.' Again, referring to the dry weather
that was prevailing at the time, the
entry is, ' Present Dry Season.' Other
references to the same subject are, however, to be found under the heading
'Weather,' which of course is correct.
"A more marked example of carelessness or ignorance of the art of indexing, or
both, is that of two women who were committed to Ruthin prison-on]e, Amelia
Home for firing a pistol at a man named
Roberts; the other, Jane Williams, for
stealing a mare belonging to Robert
Owen. This occurrence is entered under
the letter R-' Rather uncommon for
Females.' The chance of any one looking
under Rather for an occurrence of this
kind must be infinitesimal, to say the
least of it; and so on.  A storm  at
Saone-et-Loire is indexed under 'Fatal
Storm,' and an account 'of the trial of a




General or Universal Index. 223
small boy for stealing a twopenny pie will
be found under 'Atrocious Criminal.'
A certain Jane Thomas was so overjoyed
at seeing her mother waiting at the stagedoor of a theatre that she died in her
arms.  The employment of capitals is
most remarkable, as is also the arrangement of the words, 'Death of Jane Thomas
in her Mother's Arms in Holborn at Joy
in Seeing her parent at the Stage Door
to Receive her.'
"The errors pointed out in'these examples, omitting the last instance, as well
as the additional fault of indexing under
adjectives which have no distinctive feature
in them to guide the searcher, evidently
arise from the fact that the simple heading of the newspaper article has been
taken, without any attempt being made
to discover the actual contents of such
article."
As already stated on a previous page,
it is most important to index the articles
in periodicals afresh, and not always to
follow the heading of the original. This
is of course more particularly the case in
respect to newspapers, where the headings




224   How to Make an Index.
are drawn up to catch the reader's eye.
The same rule may be insisted on in
respect to all indexing, and this is so
important that the restatement of it may
well conclude this little volume.
In making a general index of several
volumes, always index the volumes afresh,
and do not be contented with using
what has been done before. It is always
wiser to put 'new wine into new bottles.'




INDEX.


ABECEDARIE as a synonym
of index, 8.
Acrostic as a motto for an
index, 85.
Adjectives, when to be
used as catchwords, 151.
-- (substantival) as headings, 15I.
Allibone's Dictionary of
English Literature
alluded to, 87.
-     the forty indexes, 155.
Alphabet (One) for indexes,
134; order of the English
alphabet, 135.
Alphabetisation, Want of
complete, in indexes, 65.
Alphabets, Variety of, in
indexes, 69.
Annual Register, fourteen
alphabets in the il dex, 70.
Antonio (N.), value of his
Bibliotheca Hispana, 88
-     his quotation of the
remark that an index
should be made by the
author of the book, og9.
Appendix, objection to the
plural appendices, 12.


Archaeological Epistle to
Dean Milles, not by
Mason, but by Baynes,
82.
Arrangement (Bad) in indexes, 64.
Athenceum  (The), suggestion of an Index Society
in 1877, 209.
Athenaeum library catalogue, index of subjects,
117, 124.
Athenian Oracle, Index to,
30.
Atterbury (Bishop), his connection with the attack
upon Dr. Bentley, 40.
Authorities quoted or referred to to be indexed,
159.
Ayenbite of Inwyt, table of
contents to the book, 6.
BAILLET, his index to the
books in the Lamoignon
Library, 2: 6.
Ba' et's Alvearie, use of the
words "index" and
"table" in that book, 8


225


I5




226


Index.


Baronius, noble. index to
his Annales Ecclesiastici,
89.
Bartlett (John), concordance to Shakespeare, 120.
Bayle, his opinion on the
need of judgment in the
compilation of an index,
132.
Baynes (John), his terrible
curse, 82.
Bellenden (Mary) maligned
in an index, 81.
Bentham's Works, Good
index to, by J. H. Burton,
102.
Bentley's Dissertation on
the Epistle of Phalaris,
attack of the "Wits"
upon this book and Dr.
King's Index, 36.
Best (Mr. Justice), his
great mind, 157.
Bible, Concordances to the,
I19.
"Bibliothecar. Chetham.,"
his contribution to a
general index in Notes
and Queries, 207.
Biglow Papers, Humorous
index to, 33.
Biographical (British)
Society suggested by the
Rev. John E. B. Mayor,
214.
Biography, Dictionary of
National, plan of arranging peers under their
surnames instead of their
titles, I46.


Birdwood's (Sir George)
note "On the Indexing
of the Names of Eastern
People," i64.
Blackburn (Charles F.),
Hints on Catalogue Titles
quoted, 183.
"Book   Prices Current,"
General index to, 13.
Boswell's Life of Johnson,
Boswell's own index, log.
- Dr. Birkbeck Hill's
admirable index to his
edition, 105.
Boyle (Hon. Charles), his
attack upon Bentley, 36.
- offended Atterbury, 40.
"Boyle upon Bentley," 36.
Boyle's  (Hon.   Robert)
Considerations touching
N a tural Philosophy,
table of contents called
an index, 13.
BritishAssociation Reports,
index in six alphabets, 70.
British Museum, collection
of indexes in the Reading-room a great boon,
218.
-   proposed subject index
to the catalogue of the
library, 126.
Bromley's (William) Travels, ill-natured index
made to them by Dr.
King, 44; his note on the
attack made upon him, 46;
his Jacobite leanings, 52;
his portrait at Oxford,
52.




Index.


227


Bruce's (John) edition of
Historie of Edward IV.,
absurd filling up of initialsJ. C., 78.
Brunet   (G.)  translates
While Knight as Le
Chevalier Blanc, 77.
Buckland (Dr.) said to be
the author of a work Su"
les Fonts et Chaussdes, 77.
Burton (Hill), Book-Hunter,
allusion to the power in
the hands of an indexer,24.
-   his reference to
Prynne's Histrio-Mastix,
20.
-     his index to Bentham's
Works, o02.
CALENDAR as a synonym
of index, 7.
Camden Society's publications, Proposed index to,
112.
Campbell (Lady Charlotte)
maligned in an index, 81.
Campbell (Lord) proposed
punishment for the publication of an indexless
book, 82.
-     his confession, 83.
Campkin (Henry), plea for
index-makers, 92.
Canadian Journal, bad
index, 56.
Capgrave's Chronicle of
England, blunder in the
index, 66.
Cards or separate slips
used for indexes, 182.


Carlyle (Thomas), he denounces the putters-forth
of indexless books, 82, 9x.
-   his reference to
Prynne's Histrio-Mastix,
15.
--  his remarks on the
want of indexes to the
standard historical collections, 91.
Catalogue as a synonym of
index, 7.
Catalogues, Indexes to, 123.
-of libraries, Indexes
to, 123.
Chitty (E.), his supposed
grudge against Justice
Best, 157.
Christian Observer, Index
to, by Macaulay, 9I.
Cicero, his use of the word
" index," 6, 8.
Clark's (Perceval) index
to Trevelyan's Life of
Macaulay, 95.
Clarke (Mrs. Cowden), her
Concordance to Shakespeare, 120.
Clarke (William) quoted,
118.
Classification within the
alphabet, Evils of, 58, 67.
Cobbett's     Woodlands
quoted, 72.
Coke (Lord Chief Justice)
an inaccurate man, IoI.
Commonplace books, Indexes to, I74.
Concordances to the Bible,
I19.




228


Index.


Concordances to Shakespeare, 120.
Contractions, dangers in
filling them out, 78.
Corpus Christi Guild, York,
Incomplete index to The
Register of, 122.
Crestadoro's Index to the
Manchester Free Library
Catalogue, I25.
Cross (J. Ashton), proposal for a universal index, 208, 209.
Cross references not usually popular, 158.
-   curiosities of, 72.
-   want of, in indexes, 70.
Cunningham (Mr.) paid
~500 for indexing, 97.
Curll's authors, instructions how to find them, 53.
Curtis (F. A.) on the best
method of constructing
an index, 195.
Cutter's rule as to the
arrangement of peers under their surnames, 146.
Cutting up of entries when
written on pages of paper,
182.
" DA," surnames not to be
arranged under this prefix, 141.
"Dal" surnames to      be
arranged   under    this
prefix, 141.
Darling's (James)   Cyclop  dia   Bibliographica,
Index, 22o


Dashes in printing representing repetition to be
of uniform length, 161,
204; instances of incorrect use of them, 80,
I38.
"De,"   French  surnames
not to be arranged under
this prefix, 141; English
surnames to be arranged
under this prefix, 142.
De Quincey on Bentley,
39.
"Del," "Della," surnames
to be arranged under
these prefixes, 141.
"Des," surnames to be
arranged under this prefix, 141.
Dictionary catalogue, its
history, 29.,
- Mr. Fortescue's objections to it, 130.
Dictionary makers really
indexers, 120.
Disraeli's (Isaac) Literary
Miscellanies quoted, I.
Drayton  (M.), his   use
of the word   "index,"
I1.
"Du," surnames to be arranged under this prefix,
14I.
Dugdale's  Warwickshire,
the words " index" and
" table" both used, 9.
Dumas (Alexandre) pere
et fils, confused  with
Alexandre pdre et fils,
harmonium-makers, 24.




Index.


229


EADIE'S Dictionary of the
Bible, Cross reference in,
72.
Electricity, Indexes of, 123.
Ellis's  Original  Letters
quoted, I9.
Encyclopedia  Britannica,
Cross references in, 72, 74.
Envelopes as safe receptacles for index slips, 182,
189.
Erasmus made alphabetical
indexes, 7.
FETIS MUSICAL LIBRARY,
blunder in the index to
the catalogue, 24.
Flaxman (Dr. Roger) paid;3000 for indexing, 97.
Fleming (Abraham), his use
of the word " index," 8.
Fletcher (William I.), his
valuable additions to index literature, 221.
Ford's Handbook of Spain,
Amusing cross reference
in, 76.
Forster (Rev. -) paid ~3000
for indexing, 97.
Fortescue (G. K.) on the
proposed subject index
to the British Museum
library catalogue, 126.
-     on five-yearly indexes
to the British Museum
catalogue, 128.
Freeman's opinion that
foreign names should be
Englished, 144.
Freemason,   bad   index
quoted, 54


Fuller (Thomas) quoted, 3,
172.
GAY'S Trivia, humorous index, 32.
Gentleman's Magazine, badness of the index of
names, I53.
Gerarde's Herbal, by Johnson, use of the words
"index" and "table" in
that book, 9.
Giddings (J.), index to The
Times, 221.
Glanville's (Joseph) Vanity
of Dogmatizing quoted, 2.
Gough (H.), index to Parker
Society'spublications, 112.
Greenhill (Dr.) on the formation of an Index
Society, 207.
Gruter's Thesaurus Inscriptionum, index to the book
by Scaliger, 88.
Gum    an   unsatisfactory
material for laying down
slips, 189.
HARDY (SIR T. DUFFUS),
remarks on the "Pyebook," 7.
Hare's Walks in London,
Index to, 152.
Harley (Robert, Earl of
Oxford), the index to
Bromley's Travels attributed to him, 46, 48.
Harrison (Robert) proposes
the formation of an Index
Societyin TheAthenceum
209.




230


Index.


Hawkins's Pleas of the
Crown, Odd cross references in, 75.
Headings, alphabetical arrangement of, 137.
--   instances of bad, 54.
- printing of, 160.
Henrietta Maria offended.
with Prynne's Histrio.
Mastix,.8.
Heskeths, their change of
name, I5S.
Hetherington's (Miss)
opinions on the indexing
of periodicals, 59; specimens ofabsurd references
quoted by her, 60; on
the qualifications of an
indexer, xx4.
Hill's (Dr. Birkbeck) admirable indexes, xo5-Io8.
Historical collections, need
of indexes to these standard works, 91.
Homer, poetical index to
Pope's translation of the
Iliad, 21.
House of Commons' Journals, sums paid for the
indexes, 97.
Hume (David), index to his
Essays, 23; he was glad
to be saved from the
drudgery of making one,
23.
Hunt (Leigh), his opinion
on index-making, 26.
- supposed author of the
joke on Best's great mind,
I57.


Hutchins's Dorset, Separate indexes to, 69.
Hyphen, Use of, in compound names, 149.
I AND J to be kept distinct,
66, I35.
Im  Thurn, place of this
name in the alphabet, 143.
Index, alphabetical order
not at first considered
essential, 6; classification
to be abjured in an alphabetical index, 58, 67,; evils
of dividing an index into
several alphabets, 69;
General or Universal
Index (chap. viii.), 206,
223; history of the word,
7; use by the Romans, 6;
naturalisation of the word
in English, 8; introduced
into  English  in  the
nominative   case,  Io;
How to Set About the
Index (chap. vii.), 172 -205; long struggle with
the word "table," 7; soul
of a book, Title-page; one
index to each book, 134;
two chief causes of the
badness of indexes, 64;
varied kinds of, 5.
Index-learning ridiculed, 2.
Index Society, its formation, 2I0; publishedindex
to Trevelyan's Life of
Macaulay, 95; amalgamation  with  the  Index
Library, 210.




Index.


231


Indexer, chief characteristics of a good indexer,
xi6; difference of opinion
as to whether the indexer
is " born, not made," "not
born, butmade," or "born
and made," 114; power
in his hands, 93; The
Bad Indexer (chap. iii.),
53-84; The Good Indexer
(chap. iv.), 85-117.
Indexes, Amusing     and
Satirical Indexes (chap.
ii.), 25-52; Different
Classes  of  Indexes
(chap. v.), 118-131; General Rules for Alphabetical Indexes  (chap.
vi.), 132-171; list of indexes, 2x8; official indexes, 96;    to  great
authors proposed, III;
veneration due to the
inventor of indexes, i.
India said in the index to
Capgrave's Chronicle to
be conquered by Judas
Maccabeus, 66.
Indical, word used by
Fuller, 4.
Indice, word used by Ben
Jonson, Io.
-   French word, Io.
-     Italian word, Io.
Indices, objections to the
use of this plural in
English, Ii.
Indicium, the original of
the French indice, Io.
Initials, Careless use of, 161.


Inventory as a synonym
of index, 7.
J.C., absurd filling out of
these initials, 78.
Jaggard's (William) index
to Book Prices Current,
II3.
Jeake's Arithmetick Surveighed  and  Reviewed,,
Index to, 89.
Jevons (Professor Stanley),
his suggestion of an
Index Society, 208.
— his Principles of
Science quoted, 208.
Jewel's Apology by Isaacson, bad index, 56.
Jews generally wore red
hats in Italy, but not at
Leghorn, 5x.
Johnson (Dr.), his division
ofnecessary knowledge, 5.
-   advises Richardson to
add an index to his
novels, 21.
Jones (Thomas), his contribution to a general
index in Notes and
Queries, 207.
Jonson (Ben), his use of the
word "indice," 10.
KING (DR. WILLIAM), the
inventor of satirical indexes, 35.
-     his attack upon Bentley
in the index to "Boyle
upon Bentley," 36.




232


Index.


King (Dr. William), his
parody of Lister'sJourney
to Paris, 42.
- his attack upon Sir
Hans Sloane and the
Philosophical Transactions," 42.
satirical index     to
Bromley's Travels, 44
Knowledge, what is true, I.
"LA," surnames to be
arranged under this prefix, I41.
Lamoignon (M. de), his
library,  indexed   by
Baillet, 206.
Lawyers good indexers, 98.
"Le," surnames to be arranged under this prefix,
I41.
Library Association, Index
to Reports, 113.
Lister's Journey to Paris
parodied by Dr. King, 42.
Littre, his derivation of
indice, 10.
London (George), his name
often spelt Loudon, 67.
Longman's Magazine, bad
index, 63.
Loudon (C. J.), the Duke
of Wellington mistakes
his signature for that of
the Bishop of London, 67.
Lowell's Biglow Papers,
humorous index, 33.
"M"' AND "Mc" to be
arranged as if written
"Mac," 145.


Macaulay (Lord) an indexer, 91.
- indexers treated with
contempt by him, 92.
- his opinion on the
index to his History,
93.
-     objection to the indexing of his History by a
Tory, 93.
- his   Englishing  of
foreign names approved
by Freeman, 144.
- on Bentley's foibles, 38.
Maine (Duc de), Duc of
Maine, Duke de Maine,
or Duke of Maine, I44.
Malcolm (E. H.) quoted,
193.
Markland (J, H.), remarks
on indexing, 82.
Mayor's (Rev. John E. B.)
collection of biographical
references, 214.
Michel's (Dan) Ayenbite of
Inwyt, table of contents, 6.
Minsheu, his use of the
word "index," 9.
Montaigne's Essays, index
to Florio's translation,
12.
Moore   (Edward)  pai d
~6400 for indexing, 97.
More (Hannah), Macaulay's letter to her, 9I.
Morley  (John)  protests
against indexless books,
84.
Morris (William) on an
absurd cross reference, 72.




Index.


233


NAMES, authors arranged
under their Christian
names, 89; compound
names, 149; proper names
with prefixes, 145; rule
for the arrangement of
compound names, 149;
rules for the arrangement
of foreign and English
respectively, 141, r42.
North's Lives of the Norths,
index to Jessopp's edition, 179.
Norton (Thomas), Remembrancer of London, an
indexer, 85.
Notes and Queries, announcement in its pages
of the projected formation
of an Index Society in
x854, 207.
- indexes highly appreciated, I12.
Noy (Attorney-Ge n e r a 1)
prosecutes Prynne, 15.
Numerals, Use of, for series
of volumes, 159.
OLDYS (WILLIAM) on the
need of indexes, 86.
Oriental names, Rules for
indexing, i63; Sir George
Birdwood's notes on the
names of Eastern people,
x64.
Oxford (Robert Harley,
Earl of) reported to be
author of the index to
Bromley's Travels, 46,
48.


PAGE, when a division of a,
should be marked, I59.
Paget (Sir James) pleased
to make an index, 23.
Paper, saving of, an unwise
economy, 176, x87.
Parr (I)r.), note on the index to Bromley's Travels,
47.
Paste the only material
for laying down slips,
189.
Peacock (Edward), detection of blunders in Oxford reprint of Whitelock's Memorials, 181.
Peers to be arranged under
their titles, I45.
Penny Cyclopaedia, vague
cross references in, 73.
Periodicals, transactions,
etc., Indexing of, I21;
usually badly indexed,
59.
Perkins (F. B.), plan of
arranging slips, 185.
Philosophical Transactions
laughed at by Dr. King,
42.
Pineda (Juan de), index to
his Mlonarchia Ecclesiastica, 89.
Plays, Prynne's attack upon,
'6;
Plinie's Natural Historic,
by Holland, Use of the
word " index" in, Io.
Plutarch's Lives, by North,
the index called a table,
8.




234


Index.


Poole's (W. F.) Index to
Periodical Literature
quoted, 59; its great value,
220; new edition by cooperation, 22i; his remarks on cross references,
71.
Printing of headings, x60;
special type, 160.
P r y n n e, Histrio-Mastix,
specimens from the index,
I4.
-   a martyr to his conscientiousness in making
an index, 15.
Puritans, Prynne's praise
of, 17.
"Pye" as a synonym    of
index, 7 (note).
"Pye-book," derivation, 7
(note).
RANKE'S History of England, issue of revised
index by the Clarendon
Press, 113.
Rawlinson (Dr.) on the
index to Bromley's
Travels, 45.
Register as a synonym of
index, 7, 8.
Remembrancia, Index to,
quoted, 85.
Repetition, Marks of, in
an index, 161, 204; instances of incorrect use
of them, 80, 138.
Richardson (S.), index to
his three novels, 22.
-     a practised indexer, 22.


Royal Society attacked by
Dr. King, 42.
Rules for Al phabetical
Indexes (chap. vi.), I32 -I71.
Rules for cataloguing referred to, 133.
Ruskin's Fors Clavigera,
Index to, 103.
Russell (Constance, Lady)
points out confusions in
indexes, 80.
"ST." to be arranged in the
alphabet as " Saint," 145.
Saints to be arranged under
their proper names, I45.
Scaliger, his index to
Gruter's Thesaurus Inscripfionum, 88.
Schmidt (Dr. Alexander),
Shakespeare  Lexicon
(I874), I20.
"Scholar's (A)" opposition
to publication of a subjectindex to the British
Museum library catalogue, 126.
Scientific books, Indexing
of, 120.
Scobell's Acts and Ordinances of Parliament,
the words "index" and
"table" both used, 9.
Selwyn (George), and his
Contemporaries,  p u b
lished without an index,
84.
Seneca, his indication of the
contents of his books, 6.




Index.


235


Shakespeare, his use of the
word "index," x1.
Shenstone'sSchoolmistress,
humorous table of contents, 31.
Shylock acted by Macklin
in a red hat, 51.
Sloane (Sir Hans) laughed
at by Dr. King, 42.
Solly (Edward), calculation
of the time wasted in
looking up a reference in
the index to the Gentleman's Magazine, 253.
- note on early indexes,
I4.
-     proposes the formation
of an Index Society, 208.
-     scheme  of  a  biographical index, 211.
Spectator, The, Index to,
30.
Spectators,  Tatlers, and
Guardians, general index,
29.
Speed's History of Great
Britaine, the words '' index" and "table" both
used, Io.
State papers, indexes to
the calendars, 97.
Statutes of the   realm,
valuable index to the
edition of the Record
Commission, 98.
Stephen (Sir J. Fitzjames)
on a complete digest of
the law, 99.
-     on the early digesters
of the law, Iox.


Summary as a synonym of
index, 7.
Swift's Battle of the Books
quoted, 38.
-     Condition of Edmund
Curll quoted, 53.
-     his satirical reference
to index-learning, 2.
--- Tale of a Tub quoted, 2.
--  orks edited by Scott;
bad index, 154.
Syllabus as a synonym of
index, 7, 8.
TABLE as a synonym of
index, 7, 8, 9.
Tatler, The, Index to, 27.
Tedder (H. R.), his indexes
to Reports of Conference of Librarians and
Library Association; 112.
Ten Brink, place of this
name in the alphabet,
I43.
Thomas (F. S.), Historical
Notes referred to, 219.
Thompson (Corrie L.), his
criticism  of  Palmer's
index to The Times, 221.
Thonms (W. J.) urged the
formation of an Index
Society, 209.
Thring (Lord), his instructions for an index to the
Statute Law, 98.
Thrub-chandler, Bung of a,
73.
Times (The), Indexes to,
22i; criticism on Palmer's
index, 221.




236


Index.


Translations (French) of
titles, 77.
Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay, Index to, by Perceval
Clark, 95.
U AND N, Confusion between, 66.
U and V to be kept distinct, 66, I35.
"VAN," foreign names not
to be indexed under this
prefix, 141.
-   English names to be
indexed under this prefix, I42,
Vergil (Polydore), Anglicce
Historace has a good
index, 14.
"Von," surnames not to
be arranged under this
prefix, 141.
WALFORD     (CORNELIUS),
inquiry for the earliest
index, 14.
Walpole's Letters, Bad index to, 79; examples of
bad entries, 80.
Warton's History of En.
glish Poetry, index, 70.


Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, index, 2i9.
Watts (Dr.), his warning
against index-learning, 2.
Watts (Thomas), his expression of the need for
an Index Society, 207.
Welch (J. Cuthbert) on the
publication of an index
to a journal, 2II.
Wellington   (Duke   of),
amusing misreading of
Loudon's letter, 67.
-     cross  reference  in
Ford's  Handbook     to
Spain, 76.
Wheatley (B. R.) as a good
indexer, 117; his "Evitandum" in indexing,
I55.
White Knights translated
as Le Chevalier Blanc, 77.
Whitelock's Memorial, Carlyle's condemnation of,
91; index to Oxford reprint, x80.
Winsor (Justin) advocated
the formation of Index
Society, 210.
Wynford (Lord), previously
Sir W. D. Best, I57.
York, Register of Corpu
Christi Guild, index, x22.


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