| Spiritualism: | |
| Dangers, The, of spiritualism, by a Member | |
| of the Society for Psychical Research. | |
| 1901 | 133.9 |
and is the sole entry for this book.
Attention may here be directed to two points arising in connection with some of the above entries. It will be noticed that in the Hannay entry a "repetition dash" (—) has been given in lieu of the name for the second entry, as it would be for all subsequent entries under the same name. To make use of this dash for any other purpose is dangerous, and should be avoided. The old-fashioned custom of using it to save repeating words in the title-entries, led to the well-known catalogue jokes:—
Mill on Liberty.
— — the Floss.
Lead, kindly Light.
— Silver and.
and others equally ridiculous. Every word omitted was indicated by a separate dash, after this manner
Three Men in a Boat.
— — on the Bummel.
Toilers of the Field.
— — — Sea.
Told by the Colonel.
— — — Death's Head.
It is hardly necessary to say that in all the above cases no dashes were required; every word should have been given, both for the sake of understanding and appearance.
The second point relates to the recommendation, already referred to, that the word following the article in titles whereby the entries are alphabetized should have a capital letter, and also that one should be given to the first word of an alternative title. Nothing can be said against these proposals unless it is that they give certain words an undue prominence. The books of J. E. P. Muddock serve admirably as illustrations:—
Muddock, J. E. P. The Dead man's secret; or,
The valley of gold.
— The Great white hand; or, The Tiger of
Cawnpore.
— The Lost laird.
— The Man from Manchester.
This, however, resolves itself more into a question of taste than of expediency.