xii.] A Librarian's Work. 257 



in a library would become convinced that without it 

 an alphabetical catalogue would soon prove unman- 

 ageable. " Imagine the heading ' Smith, J.,' in such a 

 catalogue ! " says Professor Abbot. Where a name is 

 very common, we are fain to add whatever distinctive 

 epithet we can lay hold of; as in the case of six 

 entries of " WiLSON, William," which are differenced 

 by the addition of " Scotch Covenanter," " poet, of 

 London," "M.A., of Musselburgh," "of Poughkeep- 

 sie," " Vicar of Walthamstow," " Pres. of the War- 

 rington Nat. Hist. Soc." ^ 



New difficulties arise when the title-page leaves it 

 doubtful whether the name upon it is that of the 

 author, or that of an editor or compiler. The names 

 of editors and translators are often omitted and must 

 be sought in bibliographical dictionaries. Dedicatory 

 epistles, biographical sketches, or introductory notices 

 are often prefixed, signed with exasperating initials, 

 for a clue to which you may perhaps spend an hour or 

 two in fruitless inquiry. In accurate cataloguing, all 

 such adjuncts to a book must be noticed, and often re- 

 quire distinct reference-cards. Curious difficulties are 

 sometimes presented by the phenomena of compound 



^ Sometimes these headings are very odd, — as in the case of a host of 

 "John Jacksons," one of whom is neatly distinguished as "Jackson, 

 John, murderer" — the work thus catalogued being the "confession" 

 of one John Jackson who had murdered his wife. 



S 



