When novels belong to a connected series, and are meant to be read in a particular order, it is helpful to indicate the order of reading. French fiction is noteworthy in this respect, Balzac's Scènes de la vie, Zola's Les Rongon-Macquart, Ohnet's Les batailles de la vie, and Rolland's Jean-Cristophe, may be named as examples. In English fiction we have Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire and Mrs. Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford. A recent example is that of Mr. Hugh Walpole, whose novels are arranged in order of sequence in this way
Walpole, Hugh. Studies in place:
The wooden horse.
Maradick at forty.
Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill.
— Prologues to "The rising city":
The prelude to adventure.
Fortitude.
— The rising city.
They can be given in this order in the catalogue, instead of alphabetically, for the reason that a general title is accorded to the series. Title-entries are required in the customary manner under "Wooden," "Maradick," "Mr.," "Prelude," "Fortitude," "Rising," but not under "Studies in place" or "Prologues."
The order of reading of sequels is indicated by means of notes to the entries, as
Wood, Mrs. Henry. The Channings.
— Roland Yorke.
Sequel to the above.
Dumas, Alexandre. Chicot the jester.
Sequel to Marguerite de Valois.
— Forty-five guardsmen.
Sequel to Marguerite de Valois and Chicot the
jester.
— Marguerite de Valois.
The sequels are Chicot the Jester and Forty-five
guardsmen.
Sometimes the books are placed in the order they are intended to be read, and numbered accordingly. The first comes into place in its alphabetical order of title, and the rest follow irrespective of the alphabetical order, after this manner
Dumas, Alexandre. The Chevalier d'Harmental
— 1. The companions of Jehu
— 2. The first republic
— 1. The conspirators
— 2. The Regent's daughter
— The Count of Monte-Cristo
— The last Vendée; or, the she-wolves of Machecoul
— 1. Marguerite de Valois
— 2. Chicot the jester
— 3. Forty-five guardsmen
This is not so desirable a form as the notes appended to the entries, because it is less clear in meaning. It also needs an explanatory note that the books are numbered in the order of sequence, otherwise it will not be understood that each series of numbers stands apart from the rest.
At this point it may be mentioned that well-known works of fiction are often more familiarly known by short titles than by what may be called their official titles, especially if those titles include proper names. This has to be taken into account for title-entries, if not in the main entries. Accordingly "The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe" is entered as "Robinson Crusoe," "The posthumous papers of the Pickwick Club" as "Pickwick Papers," and "The personal history and experience of David Copperfield the Younger" as "David Copperfield."
Books with changed titles are among the "pitfalls" that beset the path of the librarian, and call for special alertness on the part of the cataloguer. Three such books came under notice on a single day recently, and are here named, as they show the difficulty of preventing the acquisition of duplicates and of the consequent addition of superfluous entries to the catalogue. An American edition of a novel by Agnes and Egerton Castle, entitled The heart of Lady Anne, was duly catalogued by that title until found to be the same book as French Nan (American editions are troublesome in this respect); Anderson's The a b c of artistic photography in theory and practice (1913) was found to be identical with his The artistic side of photography (1908); and Norton's Bible student's handbook of Assyriology (1913) to be merely a new edition of his Popular handbook of useful and interesting information for beginners in the elementary study of Assyriology (1908).