A Librarian's Work. 363 



titles of books are by no means a safe index to 

 their subject-matter. To treat one properly you 

 must first peer into its contents ; and then, no 

 matter how excellent your memory, you will often 

 have to run to the catalogue for precedents. 



As a rule, comparatively few cards are written 

 by the librarian or the principal assistant. Only 

 the most difficult books, which no one else can 

 catalogue, are brought to the superintendent's 

 desk. Under this class come old manuscripts, 

 early printed books without title-pages, books 

 with Greek titles, and books in Slavonic, or Ori- 

 ental, or barbarous languages. Early printed 

 books require special and varying kinds of treat- 

 ment, and need to be carefully described with the 

 aid of such dictionaries as those of Hain, Panzer, 

 and Graesse. One such book may afford work 

 for a whole day. An old manuscript is likely to 

 give even more trouble. There is nothing espe- 

 cially difficult in Greek titles, save for the fact 

 that our assistants are all women, who for the 

 most part know little or nothing of the language. 1 

 In general these assistants are acquainted with 

 French, and with practice can make their way 

 through titles in Latin and German. There are 



1 We have since, I am glad to say, found an exception to this rule, 

 and Greek titles are now disposed of in regular course. 



