In the catalogues of large libraries it is often necessary to take the trouble to get all names as fully and correctly as possible, otherwise, owing to the likelihood of numerous entries under persons with the same surnames, errors may result if the authors are not distinguished from one another in this way. This does not imply that the cataloguer of a collection of books up to 100,000 volumes need go to the trouble of giving every name in full as if he were compiling a biographical dictionary; nor need he add the dates of the author's birth and death to the name, as is sometimes done, because the labour will be unappreciated, and be wasted. Such dates, however, have at times to be given to distinguish between authors whose names are alike.
It is a wise plan, in any case, to limit the forenames or initials to those used by an author on his books at any time during his career. For all reasonable purposes, or any purpose, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, for example, is sufficient, though his name was properly Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, Charles Dickens, instead of Charles John Huffam Dickens, will not be mistaken for any other of the name, and Joaquin Miller will serve better than Cincinnatus Heine Miller.
A few instances taken from recent books by well-known authors will show how difficulties may arise in this connection. George Bernard Shaw's "Man and Superman" according to the title-page is "by Bernard Shaw," whereas his "The quintessence of Ibsenism" is "by G. Bernard Shaw." Martin Hume's work on "The love affairs of Mary, Queen of Scots" is given as "by Martin Hume," but his "Spain: its greatness and decay" is "by Martin A. S. Hume." There is the "Life of Gladstone" "by Herbert Woodfield Paul," a book "Men and letters" "by Herbert Paul," and "Matthew Arnold" (in the "English Men of Letters" series), "by Herbert W. Paul." Then we have the case of the well-known writer on animal life who changed his name recently on his books from Ernest Seton Thompson to Ernest Thompson Seton. This leads the unwary cataloguer into the mistake of getting books by the same author under different names. It must be confessed that the risk is not great where such well-known writers are concerned, but if they should be unknown authors of a past age or another country, the cataloguer would probably not be so well-informed, and fall into error. To cite an instance of this, the French author, Louis Jacques Napoleon Bertrand, we are told, took the name of Ludovic Bertrand, and later substituted Aloysius for Ludovic, the wonder being that he did not change the Bertrand also. There is need to be constantly on the alert for those who have no fixity of name. The only little satisfaction the cataloguer has if he finds he has tripped is that few will have sufficient knowledge to discover his fault.
Besides the catalogues of important libraries, the following may be named as among the more useful works of reference for working out the names of authors and other personages:—
Phillips, Lawrence B. The dictionary of biographical
reference. 1871 and later reprints.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sir Sidney Lee (Eds.)
The dictionary of national biography; with
the supplements. 1885-1912.
Allibone, S. A. Critical dictionary of English
literature and British and American authors;
with supplement of J. F. Kirk. 1885-91.
Smith, B. E. (Ed.) The Century cyclopedia of
names. 1894.
Auge, Claude (Ed.) Nouveau Larousse illustré;
avec supplement.
Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne. 1811-28.
Nouvelle biographie générale. 1852-66.
Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. 1875-1908.
Appleton's Cyclopædia of American biography.
1888-89.
The New York State University Library Bulletin, Bibliography, No. 5, issued in 1898 at the price of 3d., consists of "A selection of Reference Books for the use of Cataloguers in finding Full Names."
To revert to the book we are dealing with. As the author gives his first Christian name in full and two initials for the others we may regard it as quite full enough for any style of catalogue, and adding the title of the book, the entry becomes
Bell, Aubrey F. G.
In Portugal.
The quotation on the title-page, with its translation, is ignored altogether, as would be anything of a similar nature, such as a motto; these are merely adornments of the title-page, and have no bearing whatever upon the book from the cataloguer's standpoint. If it were intended to be very exact the omission could be indicated by three dots (...) but the need for doing this only applies in the case of rare or special editions.
We have now got the first two parts of our catalogue entry, and in the order from which there can be no deviation. Our next step is to decide how much further information is to be given. A catalogue of a library has been defined as a list of the titles of books which it contains, and that it (the catalogue) must not be expected to give any further description of a book than the author gives, or ought to give, on the title-page, and the publisher in the imprint, or colophon.