A Librarian's Work. 369 



plement to the printed catalogue. The cum- 

 brousness of consulting a number of alphabets 

 would be reduced to a minimum, for there would 

 be only two to consult : the printed catalogue and 

 its card supplement. Then, instead of issuing 

 numberless printed supplements, there might be 

 published, at stated intervals (say of ten years), 

 a new edition of the main catalogue, with all the 

 added titles inserted in their proper places. On 

 this plan there would never be more than two 

 alphabets to consult ; and of these the more volu- 

 minous one would be contained in easily manage- 

 able printed volumes, while the smaller supple- 

 ment only would remain in card-form. 



It is an obvious objection that the frequent 

 printing of new editions of the catalogue, accord- 

 ing to this plan, would be attended with enor- 

 mous expense. This objection would at first sight 

 seem to be removed if we were to adopt Professor 

 Jewett's suggestion, and stereotype each title on 

 a separate plate. Let there be a separate stereo- 

 type-plate for each card, so that in every new 

 edition new plates may be inserted for the added 

 titles ; and then the ruinous expense of fresh com- 

 position for every new edition would seem to be 

 avoided. It is to be feared, however, that this 

 show of having solved the difficulty is illusory. 



