B. TITLES.
(a.) ORDER.
148. Preserve the order of words of the title.
Short will depart from the order whenever it can not otherwise abridge the title; Medium and Full will do the same, but they will bracket all words introduced out of their original place as much as if they did not occur in the title at all.
149. When the title-page begins with the indication of the series to which the book belongs, followed by the title of the book, transpose the series name to a parenthesis after the imprint, including the number in the series, when the series is numbered.
Ex. American commonwealths. Virginia; a history of the people, by John Esten Cooke, would be entered Cooke, J: E. Virginia; a history of the people. Boston, 1883. D. (Amer, commonwealths.)
(b.) ABRIDGMENT.
150. The more careful and student-like the probable use of the library the fuller the title should be,—fuller, that is, of information, not of words. Many a title a yard long does not convey as much meaning as two well-chosen words. No precise rule can be given for abridgment. The title must not be so much shortened that the book shall be confounded with any other book of the same author or any other edition of the same book, or that it shall fail to be recognized by those who know it or have been referred to it by title, or that it shall convey a false or insufficient idea of the nature of the work and (under the subject) of its theme and its {68} method of treating its theme. [49] On the other hand, it must not retain anything which could reasonably be inferred from the rest of the title or from its position under a given heading. [50]
[49] This clause must be very differently interpreted according to the character of the catalogue. It expresses rather the object to be aimed at than the point which an ordinary catalogue can expect to reach. To fully describe and characterize every book is impossible for most cataloguers. Still by a little management much may be briefly done. The words drama, play, novel, historical novel, poem, retained from or inserted in the title tell a great deal in a little space.
[50] It must make these omissions not merely that the catalogue may be short but that consulting it may be easy. Other things being equal, that title is best which can be taken in at a glance. What has been said in defence of full titles may be true, that “it takes longer to abridge a title than to copy it in full,” but it is also true that it takes longer for the printer to set the unabridged title, and longer for the reader to ascertain its meaning, and a long-title catalogue, besides being more expensive, is more bulky and therefore less convenient.