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 ä, ö, ü, and arranged as a, o, u." By this Goethe would have to be written Göthe, 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 ä, ö, ü, 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.
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 not Grave of Hope Gravelot Gravesend Gravesend Grave Thoughts.
| Grave, John | Grave at Kherson | |
| Grave at Kherson | Grave, John | |
| Grave of Hope | Gravelot | |
| Grave Thoughts | not | 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 has caused such ludicrous blunders as the following:
"Mill on Liberty
—— on the Floss." [18]
"Cotton, Sir Willoughby,
——, price of."
"Old age
—— Artillery Yard
—— Bailey."
[ [18] 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.
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.
Then follow nearly two columns on Ireland with the marks of repetition (...) throughout.