APPENDIX III. REPORT ON BOOK SIZES.

A Special Committee on Book Sizes of the American Library Association reported (Library journal, 3: 19, 20) the following rule:

Give the outside height in centimeters, using fractions (decimals) where extreme accuracy is desired. For books of special forms, prefix sq., ob., or nar., to indicate square, oblong, or narrow, or else give the actual width after the height. Add a small “^h” to the figures giving the height, except when followed by the width. In the latter case connect height and width with the ordinary symbol ×, always giving the height first. If fractious are not used, give the first centimeter above, e. g., all books between 18 and 19 mark 19^h, because they fall in the 19th centimeter. For the width, measure the board from the hinge to the edge, not including the round. If desirable to give the size of the paper or letter-press, prefix the measurement with p(aper) or t(ype), including in the type neither folio nor signature lines.

For those preferring to use the common designations, the following-rule was unanimously recommended:

Designate each size by its initial letter or letters (followed, if preferred by the cataloguer, by its final letter “o,” superior “º”) assigning the size by the following table, and prefixing sq., ob., nar., if the books be square, oblong, or narrow. Give the exact measurement of all size-curiosities, whether very large or very small.

Numerical symbol formerly used.	Abbreviation to be used.	Limit of outside height, centimeters.
48º	Fe	10
32º	Tt	12.5
24º	T	15
16º	S	17.5
12º	D	20
8º	O	25
4º	Q	30
fº	F	40
fº	F⁵	50
fº	F⁶	60
fº	F⁷	70
fº	etc.	etc.

Any cataloguer desiring to use the term E (18º) may do so by calling the smaller S (16º). This causes no confusion, for either E or S is between 15 and 17½ cm. in height. Books from 20 to 40 cm. high may be called sm. Q, Q, and l. Q when of the square form, but O, l. O, and F, or sm. F, when of the ordinary form. Books smaller than 20 cm., and of the quarto form, are marked sq. D, etc. * * *

The plan of giving the height in centimeters has the advantage that, once stated, it will never be forgotten. By it the size is more easily {116} determined, more quickly recorded, much more definite in its description, and, most important of all, is understood by all users of catalogues after the first time, while the other systems are intelligible only to those familiar with books. The committee therefore recommends the plan of indicating the size by giving the size.

APPENDIX IV. MR. EDMANDS ON ALPHABETICAL ORDER.

Mr. J. Edmands, in “Rules for alfabeting,” read at the meeting of the American Library Association in August, 1887, and published in the Library journal, 12: 326–341, discussed the subject carefully. A committee of the Association was directed to prepare a code of rules, to be reported in the Library journal; for their report see 14: 273–274. Their code coincides with mine (§§ [214]–239), except (1) that they adopt my former order, “person, place, title, subject (except person and place), form,” and not the present rule (§ [214]), “person, place, followed by subject (except person and place), form and title,” an arrangement which probably was not proposed to the committee; and (2) that when two or more names are spelled exactly alike except for the umlaut in names in which the German ä, ö, or ü may occur, the committee put all the names having the umlaut last, e. g., all the Müllers after the Mullers. I arrange by the forenames.

Mr. Edmands correctly states as the principle of alphabeting “Something follows nothing; or, conversely, Nothing before something; thus in

Art of living

Arthur

In clover

Incas

the art, in the first case, and the in, in the second, ar followed by a space, i. e., by nothing, and so precede the single word in which the t and the n are followed by a letter; i. e., by something.”

His Rules agree with those stated or implied in § [214] and following sections, with three exceptions. The first is this:

“A word used independently as a subject heding should precede the same word used in connection with another. And if this word is coupled with another word to form a compound subject heding, it should follow the simple heding. And if this word used as a simple heding is also used a substantiv to form a different subject heding, and is also used adjectivly before a noun, the substantiv use should precede the adjectiv use. And so we hav this order:

Art

Art and artists

Art of conversation

Art amateur

“The reasons for it ar clear and strong. A substantiv should precede an adjectiv, as being the more important word, and as being less closely connected with the following than an adjectiv. In uttering the frases Art applied to industry, Art of conversation, there is a perceptible suspension of the voice after the word Art, which does not occur in the case of Art journal, art amateur.”

The reason is not strong enough to justify interfering with the alphabetical order, which demands that amateur shall precede and. It is needless to compel the searcher to stop and think whether the word “art” in the phrase he is hunting for is a noun {117} or an adjective; indeed, it is not only a useless refinement, but positively dangerous, as likely occasionally to lead him to overlook an entry which is out of its alphabetical order.

The same objection applies to the practice of some cataloguers of putting the plural immediately after the singular, even when the alphabet demands that it should precede (as Charities, Charity), or when many entries might come between (as between Bank and Banks). This practice Mr. Edmands condemns.

The second exception is this:

“A single ful name should precede a double initial, i. e., a surname with one Christian name should stand before the same surname with two Christian names; thus,

John,

J. M.,

not

J. M.

John.

This plainly contradicts the principle “nothing before something.” A period is too trifling a matter to arrange by, and neglecting that

	J followed by nothing	J
should precede	J followed by o,	John.

The third exception is this:

A book written by a single author should precede one written by him and another.

(See the argument in the note to § [240].)

The rules which agree are in substance as follows:

New. Titles with the initial word New used as a proper adjective followed by a common noun, and those in which it forms a part of a compound place name should be arranged in one series, alfabeting by the last part. (New Amsterdam, new boat, New Canaan, new life.) Single words beginning with new, whether names of persons, places, or things, should be arranged in a following alfabetical series.

The hyfen is best disregarded, words connected by it being arranged as two words.

If an article, which belongs before a word used as a heding, is inserted after it, it is not to be taken account of in alfabeting.

The plural in s should follow the singular. The possessive case singular should follow the singular and precede the plural in s. The sequence, however, may not in either case be immediate. Several entries may intervene. Plurals in ies of words ending in y should precede the singular, tho not necessarily in immediate connection.

Common and proper nouns. In the case of words used sometimes as common and sometimes as proper nouns, the true order is person, place, and thing.

Surnames. Whenever a single name. Charles, Henry, William, is used as the sole designation of a person, this should precede the same word used as a surname. If several ranks are represented by one name, precedence should be given to those bearing the highest rank in this order, pope, emperor, king, noble, saint. If these represent different nationalities they should be groupt in the alfabetical order of the countries; and numerically under each country, as John I., John II. {118}

Family names that hav the same sound, but a different spelling, must be separated, but the reader should be aided as much as we can by a free use of cross references.

In names beginning with La, Le, and De—not French names—written separately, it is better to disregard the separation, and arrange these words as if they were written solidly.

Abbreviations. Names beginning with M’, Me, St, and Ste should be arranged as if written out in ful, as Mac, Saint, and Sainte, for the reason that they ar uniformly so pronounct, and often so written. And for the same reason entries beginning with Dr., M., Mme., Mlle., Mr., and Mrs. should be treated as if they were written in ful, as Doctor, Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle, Mister, and Mistress.

Forenames. When Christian names ar given in ful, the arrangement should be in strict alfabetical order, following the surname. And use should be made of all the helps which the cataloger has given for distinguishing two or more persons whose names ar identical.

Titles, such as Gen., Don., Sir, ar to be allowed to stand, but not to affect the arrangement.

Numerals occurring as hedings should be treated as if written out in letters. The novel “39 men for one woman” should be entered under t.

Initials. If the cataloger has simply followed the title-page and given only initials of Christian names, the only safe course is to treat every initial as a name; and, on the axiom “Nothing before something,” the initial should precede the ful name. Thus J. precedes James even tho, as may afterwards be learned, the J. stands for Jehoshaphat.

Dash. In order to save space in printing, and for distinctness to the eye, it is wel to use a dash to represent a word or group of words that might otherwise hav to be repeated; or to inset the words that come under the general heding. Care should be taken to make clear what the dash stands for, and to confine its use within proper bounds.

It may be used when we hav several books written by one person; but it should not be used to cover another person of the same surname.

It may be used to represent a word or group of words that indicate a definite subject, as heat, moral science, socialists and Fourierism, society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. But it should not be used to represent a part of a compound subject-heding, nor a part of a title; e. g., in the entries Historical portraits, Historical reading, the word Historical should be spelled out in each case.