Preliminary Observations on the Plan and Arrangement pursued in drawing up this Catalogue.
It is obvious, that whoever undertakes to draw up a catalogue of books on any particular subject, must proceed on one or other of these two plans,--either to give a complete catalogue of all the works published on that subject, or a select catalogue of what seems to him the best works. It is scarcely necessary to point out the objection to the first plan, arising from the impracticability of making any catalogue absolutely complete; but it may be said, though not absolutely complete, it may, by sufficient information and diligence, be rendered nearly so. Let us suppose, then, that by unwearied assiduity and research, aided and guided by the requisite knowledge, a catalogue is rendered as perfect as it practically can be made,--is the utility of such a catalogue enhanced in a proportion any thing approaching to the labour, research, and time expended upon it; or, rather, would not such a catalogue be much less useful than one within smaller compass, drawn up on the plan of selection?
On all subjects there are more bad or indifferent works published than good ones. This remark applies with peculiar justice and force to modern works of voyages and travels. A very extensive catalogue, therefore, must contain a large portion of bad or indifferent books, which are not worth the purchasing, the consulting, nor the perusing; consequently, if such works appear in a catalogue drawn up for the purpose of guiding those who purpose to travel in particular countries, to write on the subject of them, or merely to read respecting them for the sake of information, it is plain that such a catalogue cannot be trusted as a safe and judicious guide; as if the persons consulting it select for themselves, there is an equal chance of selecting useless books as good ones; and if they attempt to peruse all, they must waste a great deal of time.
It may be said, however, that this objection can easily be obviated, by distinguishing such works as are bad or indifferent from such as are good, either by a short notice, or by a particular mark. The first plan necessarily must increase the size of the catalogue; and it really appears a piece of superfluous labour to introduce works not worthy to be perused, and then, either by a notice or mark, to warn the reader from the perusal of them. Is it not much more direct to omit such works altogether?
As the object in view in the present catalogue is to render it useful to the generality of readers, and not valuable to the bibliographer, those works are omitted which have no other recommendation but their extreme scarcity. For such works are of course accessible only to very few, and when obtained, convey little interest or information.
A select catalogue then appears to be the most useful, and of course must occupy less room. But to this objections start up, which it will be proper to consider.
In the first place, What is the criterion of good works of voyages and travels? The antiquarian will not allow merit to such as pass over, or do not enter, con amore, and at great length, into the details of the antiquities of a country: the natural historian is decidedly of opinion, that no man ought to travel who is not minutely and accurately acquainted with every branch of his favourite science, and complains that scarcely a single work of travels is worthy of purchase or perusal, because natural history is altogether omitted in them, or treated in a popular and superficial manner. Even those who regard man as the object to which travellers ought especially to direct their attention, differ in opinion regarding the points of view in which he ought to be studied in foreign countries. To many the travels of Johnson and Moore seem of the highest merit and interest, because these authors place before their readers an animated, philosophical, and vivid picture of the human character; whereas other readers consider such works as trifling, and contend that those travels alone, which enter into the statistics of a country, convey substantial information, and are worthy of perusal.
Whoever draws up a catalogue, therefore, must, in some measure, consult the judgment, taste, and peculiar studies of all these classes of readers, and endeavour to select the best works of travels in all these branches.
But there is a second objection to a select catalogue to be considered. The information and research of the person who draws it up may be inadequate to the task, or his judgment may be erroneous. This observation, however, applies to a complete catalogue--indeed the first part of it,--the information and research requisite, in a greater degree to a complete than to a select catalogue; and with respect to the judgment required, it will be equally required in a complete catalogue, if the bad and indifferent works are distinguished from the good ones; and if they are not, such a catalogue, we have already shewn, can only lead astray into unnecessary or prejudicial reading.
Whoever draws up a catalogue, or gives to the public a work on any particular subject, is bound to make it as good as he can; but, after all, he must not expect that there will be no difference of opinion about his labours. Some will think (to confine ourselves to the catalogue) that he has admitted books that ought not to have found a place in it; whereas others will impeach his diligence, his information, or his judgment, because he has omitted books which they think ought to have entered into it. All, therefore, that a person who engages to draw up a catalogue can do, is to exercise and apply as much research and judgment as possible, and to request his readers, if they find general proofs of such research and judgment, to attribute the omission of what they think ought to have been inserted, or the insertion of what they think ought to have been omitted, to difference of opinion, rather than to a deficiency in research or judgment.