Chapter VII: How to Set About the Index

"And thus by God's assistance we have finished our Table.
Miraculous almost was the execution done by David on the
Amalekites who saved neither man nor woman alive to bring
tidings to Gath. I cannot promise such exactness in our Index,
that no name hath escaped our enquiry: some few, perchance,
hardly slipping by, may tell tales against us. This I profess, I
have not, in the language of some modern quartermaster, wilfully
burnt towns, and purposely omitted them; and hope that such as
have escaped our discovering, will only upon examination appear
either not generally agreed on, by authors, for proper names, or
else by proportion falling without the bounds of Palestine, Soli
Deo gloria."--THOMAS FULLER.

ules are needed for index making in order to obtain uniformity, but the mode of working must to a large extent be left to the indexer. Most of us have our own favourite ways of doing things, and it is therefore absurd to dictate to others how to set to work. If we employ any one to do a certain work, we are entitled to expect it to be well done; but we ought to allow the worker to adopt his own mode of work. Some men will insist not only on the work being well done, but also upon their way of doing it. This takes the spirit out of the worker, and is therefore most unwise.

Still, I have found that those who are unaccustomed to index work are anxious to be informed how to proceed. The following notes are therefore only intended as hints for the use of those who wish for them, and need not be acted upon if the reader has a plan that he finds better suited for his purpose. Two essentially different kinds of index must be considered first: (1) There is the index which is always growing; and (2) there is the index that is made at one time, and is printed immediately it is ready for the press. The same course of procedure will not be suitable for both these classes.

1. Indexes to commonplace books belong to this category. It has been usual here to leave a few pages blank for the index, and to arrange the entries in strict alphabetical order under the first letters and then under the first vowel following a consonant, or the second, when the initial is a vowel. This is highly inconvenient and confusing, especially when words without a second vowel, as _Ash_ and _Epps_, are placed at the head of each letter, _Ash_ coming before _Adam_ and _Abel_, and _Epps_ before _Ebenezer_. It is better to spare a few more pages for the index, and plan the alphabet out so that the entries may come in their correct alphabetical order. Unfortunately the blank index is usually set out according to this absurd vowel system. Commonplace books are now, however, very much out of fashion. A better system of note-keeping is to use paper of a uniform size, to write each distinct note on a separate sheet of paper, and to fasten the slips of paper together by means of clips. If this plan is adopted, the notes are much more easily consulted, and they can be rearranged as often as is necessary. Now the index can be made on cards, or a special alphabeticised[19] book can be set aside for the purpose. Cards of a uniform size, kept in trays or boxes, are very convenient for the purpose of making an ever-growing index. You can make a general index in one alphabet, and when you have any special subject on hand, you can choose out the particular cards connected with that subject, and arrange them in a distinct alphabet. When the distinct alphabet is no longer required, the cards can be rearranged in the general alphabet. Cards are unquestionably the most convenient for an index that is ever changing in volume and in form. Rearrangement can be made without the trouble of re-writing the entries.

[19] Some may consider this a monstrous word; but it conveys a
convenient description of blank books with the alphabet
marked on the leaves of the book either cut in or with
tablets projecting from the margin.

2. For an index which is made straight off at one time, and sent to the printer when finished, foolscap paper is probably the most convenient to use. The pages as written upon can be numbered, and this will relieve the mind of the indexer of fear that any of these should be lost. The numbering will serve till the time comes for the index to be cut up and arranged.

Some indexers use separate slips of a uniform size, or cards, with a single entry on each slip. Although this plan has the advantage that you can keep your index in alphabetical order as you go along, which is sometimes convenient for reference, it is, on the whole, a cumbersome one for an index, although it is almost essential for a catalogue.

In the present day when paper is so cheap, it is well to use fresh sheets all of the same size--either quarto post or foolscap. Some persons are so absurdly economical as to use the blank sides of used paper, such as envelopes, etc., so that their manuscript is of all sizes and will never range. It is necessary to warn such persons that they lose more time by the inconvenient form of their paper than they gain by not buying new material.

In general practice the most convenient plan is to make your index straight on, using the paper you have chosen. Another plan is to use a portfolio of parchment with an alphabet cut on the leaves, and with guards to receive several leaves of foolscap under each letter. Thus every entry can be written at once in first letters. Where there are many large headings this is very convenient, and time is saved by entering the various references on the same folio without the constant repetition of the same heading. Possibly the most convenient method is to unite the two plans. Those references which we know to belong to large headings can be entered on the folios in the alphabetical guard-book, and the rest can be written straight through on the separate leaves.

Before commencing his work, the indexer must think out the plan and the kind of index he is to produce; he will then consider how he is to draw out the references.

Whatever system is adopted, it is well to bear in mind that the indexer should obtain some knowledge of the book he is about to index before he sets to work. The following remarks by Lord Thring may be applied to other subjects than law:

"A complete knowledge of the whole _law_ is required before he
begins to make the index, for until he can look down on the
entire field of law before him, he cannot possibly judge of the
proper arrangement of the headings or of the relative importance
of the various provisions."

During his work the indexer must constantly ask himself what it is for which the consulter is likely to seek. The author frequently uses periphrases to escape from the repetition of the same fact in the same form, but these periphrases will give little information when inserted as headings in an index; and it is in this point of selecting the best catchword that the good indexer will show his superiority over the commonplace worker.

This paramount characteristic of the good indexer is by no means an easy one to acquire. When the indexer is absorbed in the work upon which he is working, he takes for granted much with which the consulter coming fresh to the subject is not familiar. The want of this characteristic is most marked in the case of the bad indexer.

In printing references to the entries in an index it is important to make a distinction between the volume and the page; this is done best by printing the number of the volumes in Roman letters and the page in Arabic numerals. When, however, the volumes are numerous, the Roman letters become cumbersome, and mistakes are apt to occur, so that one is forced to use Arabic numerals; and in order to distinguish between volume and page, the numbers of the volumes must be printed in solid black type.

When a book is often reprinted in different forms it would be well to refer to chapters and paragraphs, so that the same index would do for all editions. The paragraphs in Dr. Jessopp's edition of North's _Lives of the Norths_ are numbered, but they are not numbered throughout. The references are very confusing and require a key. Thus, P stands for Preface; F for Life of the Lord Keeper; D, Life of Dudley; J, Life of Dr. John; R, Autobiography of Roger, and also Notes; R L, Letters from Lady North; R I, Letters from Roger North; and S, Supplementary. In the Letters the references are to pages and not to paragraphs. With such a complicated system, one is tempted to leave the index severely alone. This is the more annoying in that the index is not a long one, and the pages might have been inserted without any great trouble.

Much confusion has been caused by reprinting an index for one edition in a later one without alteration. An instance may be given by citing the reprint of Whitelock's _Memorials_, published at the University Press, Oxford, in 1853. The original edition is in one volume folio (1682, reprinted 1732), and the new edition is in four volumes octavo. But to save expense the old index was printed to the new book. The difficulty was in part got over by giving the pages of the 1732 edition in the margin; but as may be imagined, it is a most troublesome business to find anything by this means. Moreover, the old index is not a good one, but thoroughly bad, with all the old misprints retained in the new edition. As a specimen of the extreme inaccuracy of the compilation, it may be mentioned that under one heading of thirty-four entries Mr. Edward Peacock detected seven blunders. Although Mr. Peacock had no statistics of the other entries, his experience led him to believe that if any heading were taken at random, about one in four of the entries would be found to be misprinted.

In the case of a large index it is necessary to take into consideration the greatly increased work connected with arrangement. The amount of this may be said to increase in geometrical rather than in arithmetical progression. When the indexer comes to the last page of a great book he rejoices to have finished his work; but he will find by experience, when he calculates the arrangement of his materials, that he has scarcely done more than half of what is before him.

If cards or separate slips are used, these will only need to be arranged for the press; but if sheets of paper have been, written upon, these will have to be cut up. There is little to be said about this, but it is worth giving the hint that much time is saved if shears or large scissors are used, so that the whole width of paper may be severed in two cuts.

In the case of a small index there is little difficulty with material, for it can be arranged at once into first letters, and when the table is cleared of the slips these can be placed in the pages of an ordinary book to keep them distinct, and can then be sorted in perfect alphabet and pasted down. In the case of a large index it will be necessary to place the slips in a safer place. Large envelopes are useful receptacles for first letters; and when the slips are placed in them, the indexer will feel at ease and sure that none will be lost.

It is well to go through the whole of the envelopes of first letters and sort the slips into second and third letters before the pasting is commenced, so that you may know that the order is correct, or make such alterations as are necessary before it is too late. The final perfect alphabetical arrangement can be made when the slips are placed on the table ready to be pasted.

The sorting of slips into alphabetical order seems a simple matter which scarcely needs any particular directions; still such have been made.

The late Mr. Charles F. Blackburn, who had had a considerable experience, gave some instruction for sorting slips in his _Hints on Catalogue Titles_ (1884). He wrote:

"Having never seen in print any directions for putting titles
into alphabetical order, I venture to describe the system I have
been accustomed to use. First sort the entire heap into six
heaps, which will lie before you thus:

A--D E--H I--M
N--R S T--Z.

Then take the heap A--D and sort it into its component letters,
after which each letter can be brought into shape by use of the
plan first applied to the whole alphabet. It is best to go on
with the second process until you have the whole alphabet in
separate letters, because if you brought A, for example, into
its component parts and put them into alphabetical order, you
might not impossibly find some A's among the later letters--one
of the inevitable accidents of sorting quickly. With this hint
or two the young cataloguer will easily find his way; and
various devices for doing this or that more handily are sure to
suggest themselves in the course of practice. The great thing is
to be started."

The latter part of this extract is good advice, but I think it is a mistake to make two operations of the sorting in first letters, for it can be done quite easily in one.

The following suggestion made by Mr. Blackburn is a good one, and is likely to save the very possible mixture of some of the heaps:

"In my own practice I have got into a way of letting the slips
fall on the table at an angle of forty-five degrees. Then, if
the accumulation of titles should cause the heaps to slide, they
will run into one another distinct, so that they can be
separated instantly without sorting afresh."

I have never myself found any difficulty in sorting out into first letters at one time, and it soon becomes easy to place the slips in their proper heaps without any thought. Mr. F. B. Perkins, of the Boston Public Library, however, in his paper on "Book Indexes" gives some good directions which are worth quoting here:

"Next alphabet them by initial letters. This process is usually
best done by using a diagram or imaginary frame of five rows of
five letters each, on which to put the titles at this first
handling. The following arrangement of printers' dashes will
show what I mean. (The letters placed at the left hand of the
first row and right hand of the last indicate well enough where
the rest belong.)

A ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- U
B ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- V
C ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- W
D ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- X
E ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- YZ."[20]

[20] _Public Libraries in the United States._ Special Report.