A most commendable feature of modern cataloguing is the explanatory notes and other annotations appended to catalogue entries. These are for the most part to be found in the lists of additions to libraries published monthly, quarterly, or annually; such publications lending themselves readily to this descriptive form of cataloguing. The classified catalogue has also the advantage over the dictionary form for this purpose, because, rarely having more than a single entry for each book, the question as to where the note is to go does not arise. The dictionary catalogue having two or more entries, the addition of annotations enlarges it materially, besides presenting the difficulty of deciding to which of the entries the note is to be attached, if not to all. Some notes are better under the author-entry, and others are more appropriate to the subject. Nevertheless, some fully annotated dictionary catalogues have been issued, notably Mr. C. W. F. Goss's catalogues of the Bishopsgate Institute Library and Mr. W. E. Doubleday's Hampstead Public Library catalogues.

When annotations are given, they should be pithy, to the point, and, as far as possible, free from criticism. A bookseller may have some strong religious leanings or political opinions which he can afford to publish by means of notes in his catalogues without anybody being more than amused thereby, but the wise public official, as the servant of all creeds and parties, will respect all alike, and take care, if only for his own sake, that he does not hurt the susceptibilities of any. He will keep his personal opinions to himself in a "water-tight" compartment, where they cannot affect or influence his public work, whether it be in cataloguing or in book-selection. It is greatly to the credit of public librarians that they pursue this policy as a mere matter of course, their training enabling them to view all literature broadly, without prejudice or any reference to the bias of the contents of books. To say this, does not mean that a cataloguer may not attach a note to a controversial book of any kind indicating the point of view taken by the author, but he should do so without expressing his own opinion.

Some annotations are nothing more than a repetition or paraphrase of the title-page, and so add nothing to the information contained in the catalogue entry. They appear to be given upon the supposition that every book in an annotated catalogue must have an annotation, but this is a mistake, as the majority of title-pages admirably summarize the contents of books, for which purpose they exist. It is when they fail to do this, or do it indefinitely, or when the book has some especial feature not noticed in the title to which it is worth while directing attention, that the annotation is required and proves of value.

Other features enter into the composition of an annotation. Brevity is not only the soul of it, but is absolutely essential if a catalogue is to be kept within bounds. A note based upon a review should avoid any appearance of partiality, as reviewers are not invariably impartial. It is helpful to readers to get some rough idea of the amount of knowledge needed to understand a book—for example, a book dealing with astronomy mathematically would be above the heads of most people, and when a work is of this nature it should be so stated. The qualifications of an author for writing upon a subject are often noted—he may be a professor of the subject at a university, or have some other position or some experience that marks him as an authority. This, perhaps, is not of first-rate importance, as it may be presumed that no one would write a book upon a subject of which he knows nothing, or who is not qualified in some way to deal with it; a kindly, if not always correct, view to take. Summed up, the whole object of an annotation is to assist in the choice of a book, and to elucidate the treatment of its subject, though it may be said that the purpose is defeated in these days when so many opportunities for examining the book itself exist. The subject is exhaustively dealt with in Mr. E. A. Savage's Manual of Descriptive Annotations for Library Catalogues. The following are typical examples of annotations selected from various sources:—

McCarthy, Justin. Story of Gladstone's life.
N.Y. and London Macmillan 1897. 12+436 p. illus.
portraits, plates, O.

A Home-ruler's memoir of Gladstone; based upon personal acquaintance; of permanent value as a memoir; written in an entertaining style and well illustrated, but partisan-eulogistic, gossipy and inaccurate. See for best biography G. B. Smith, for best short one G. W. E. Russell. Careful Gladstone bibliography, Notes and queries, Dec. 10, 24, 1892; Jan. 7, 21, 1893.

Ath. 1898. 1:182; Sat. R. 85:178; Spec. 80:342; Acad. 53:199.

This is taken from a catalogue of American origin, and appeared before the publication of Morley's authoritative Life of Gladstone. The note is a somewhat elaborate one, valuable in its references to other books, but questionable in its criticism. The entry was meant for a card-catalogue, and not prepared for any particular library.

Street, G. S. Trials of the Bantocks.
A satire. The trials of the Bantocks come in
their endeavour to be fashionable.
Richter, Eugene. Pictures of the socialistic
future; freely adapted from Bebel. 1907
A satire against socialism. It tells the experiences
of an ardent socialist workman and his
family in Berlin and the dire results of the
"coming revolution."
Unwin, P. W. Practical solid geometry. (Camb.
mathematical ser.) 1909
An elementary course, complete in itself, covering
Stage 1 of the Board of Education examination.
Jacoby, Geo. W. Suggestion and psychotherapy.
1912
The influence of the mind in the causation and
in the cure of disease.
Ruffini, Francesco. Religious liberty; with a
preface by J. B. Bury. (Theol. transl. lib.)
1912
The author is Prof. of Ecclesiastical Law at
Turin. The history of religious liberty and toleration
in a wide sense.

Whether a catalogue makes any pretence of being annotated or not, every library contains books with some features that render them unique or almost so, when it is worth while showing this by means of a note attached to the entries as a matter of course. The books may be in manuscript, be works of the early printers, be extra illustrated, or be first editions of some value, and these facts are usually stated. The two following are taken from a catalogue containing no annotations except such as may be characterised as inevitable:—