Bibliogj'aphy 787 



has always been to foster bibliographical researches, both by 

 the labors of the staff of the Smithsonian, as well as by 

 scholars and specialists to whom the pages of its publications 

 have been freely opened. 



The " Smithsonian Deposit," in the Library of Congress, 

 is especially rich in the publications of learned societies ; the 

 Smithsonian "Annual Report," "Miscellaneous Collections," 

 and "Contributions to Knowledge" are replete with indexes, 

 catalogues, bibliographies, and check-lists to every branch of 

 knowledge, supplying to some extent the tools for the use 

 of bibliographers. 



JEWETT'S PLAN FOR A GENERAL CATALOGUE 



Professor Charles C. Jewett, Assistant Secretary of the 

 Institution and Librarian, in 1850, proposed an elaborate 

 plan for compiling a general catalogue of all the books in 

 the United States with reference to the libraries where each 

 might be found. To accomplish this Professor Jewett de- 

 vised a method of elcctrotyping titles separately, one on a 

 block, and he drew up a set of " Rules " for cataloguing to 

 secure uniformity on the part of the different librarians. 

 Professor Jewett seems to have anticipated some of the feat- 

 ures of the modern linotype method of printing catalogues, 

 as the process is stated to be " peculiarly adapted to the 

 stereotyping of separate titles or even of single lines." His 

 plan contemplated cooperation between the libraries in the 

 United States and the Smithsonian Institution on this basis: 

 the titles of books received were to be transcribed on a uni- 

 form system, and then to be stereotyped by the Smithsonian, 

 the latter Institution to pay the extra expense of stereotyp- 

 ing or such part as might be agreed upon ; the stereotyped 

 titles to remain the property of the Smithsonian Institution; 



