25.—A suggestion worthy of consideration has been made that the original dates of publication should be added to the entries of reprints. This would increase the information given, and might prevent persons mistaking an old book for a new one, though librarians are familiar with the fact that old books are read with as much pleasure as the newest, if got up with modern attractive illustrations and pretty bindings.
26.—In the illustrative entry we have marked the book as 8vo.—that is octavo in size. This we learn either by experience in the sizes of books, or by actual measurement, and it may be at once admitted that the question of size notation is a vexed one and no absolute rule can be laid down for guidance. Those who have studied the matter know that there is no satisfactory solution of the difficulty beyond that of measuring the book and giving its size in centimetres or in inches. But this encumbers the catalogue entry too much, and for ordinary every-day purposes the old signs suffice of 8vo. (octavo), 4to. (quarto), and fo. (folio), and they give a rough idea of the size. These may be qualified, if thought necessary, by la. (large), sm. (small), or obl. (oblong), if the books are of a special size. The terms 12ᵒ., 16ᵒ., 32ᵒ., &c. are sometimes used, but they do not convey any very precise information and the additional terms of “demy,” “royal,” “imperial,” and others have varying meaning nowadays, as there is no fixed standard in the sizes of paper or books. [Appendix B] consists of a table taken from the “Report of the Committee on Size Notation of the Library Association of the United Kingdom,” and this may be studied as an introduction to the subject, but is not to be taken as decisive. The full report of the Committee is to be found in the Library Association Monthly Notes, vol. 3, 1882, pp. 130-133. A scale made from this table will be found convenient to cataloguers, as will also the handy and better known book-size scale prepared by Mr. Madeley of the Warrington Museum. The pages of books are to be measured and not their bindings. The sizes of books are not always shown in the printed catalogues of free libraries and if they were it is most likely that the signs would confuse rather than help, as the majority of the public do not understand anything of the matter, besides the proportion of books other than octavos is not large in a lending library. The reference library usually contains a considerable number of quartos and folios and the information upon this point would be more useful in the catalogue of that department.
27.—The immense value of occasional explanatory or descriptive notes to the entries in a catalogue is well known, but they are not as often inserted as they might be. They should be added to author, subject, or title entry, where necessary, desirable, or in any way helpful, as far as possible briefly and to the point, and printed under the entry in a smaller type, to show they are not part of the title. The following are a few examples taken from various catalogues:
Albert, Mary. Holland and her heroes. 1878
Adapted from Motley’s “Dutch Republic.”
Ball (Sir Robert S.) Elements of astronomy. 1886. ill.
Knowledge of mathematics required for the study of this book.
Ball, (William P.) Are the effects of use and disuse inherited? 1890. Nature series.
Note.—The author taken a negative view and attempts to prove that no improvement in mankind can take place without the aid of natural or artificial selection.