Oh quem fôra a Portugal
Terra que Deus bemdizia!
Romance.
LONDON: John Lane, The Bodley Head.
NEW YORK: John Lane Company. MCMXII.
The surname of the author then is Bell, and we either enclose his further names in parentheses, as
Bell (Aubrey F. G.)
or with a comma and full stop, as
Bell, Aubrey F. G.
There is no reason for advocating the adoption of one of these styles more than the other, especially in these days of type-setting machines. Where hand composition is still in use, and particularly in small printing offices, the use of a large number of parentheses ( ) causes "a run on sorts," that is, the supply wanted is greater than is ordinarily found with a fount of jobbing type. Nowadays, it being merely a question of taste, and not one of expediency, it matters less, and as my personal preference is for the use of the comma and point, that style is used in the examples given throughout this book. The form decided upon must be adhered to if only to ensure uniform appearance—certainly both forms should not be found in one catalogue. Attention to details of this kind is the essence of good work, and after a time cataloguers, becoming accustomed to a particular style, fall, as a matter of course, into its use quite readily.
The surname is followed, as shown, by the Christian or forenames, but we are often confronted with the necessity for deciding how much of these forenames shall go in—shall they be given as on the title-page, or shall we find out the full names covered by the initials, or will initials alone suffice? In some catalogues the full names are given, in others only the initials, and in a few rare instances of "index-entry" catalogues the surname alone. For an average catalogue to give the name in its fullest possible form is more than is required, and is wasteful of space, while the bare initials do not enable us to discern whether the author is a man or a woman. It is more helpful to give the first or other important forename, and to do so does not lengthen the catalogue to any appreciable extent. The danger of this omission is exemplified at the end of this chapter.