“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,