ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VIII. — PROGRESS made in the Arrangement and Catalogues of Collec- 

 tions, AND Statements of Additions, in the Year 1879. 



Depaktment of Printed Books. 



I. Arrancjement. — The works added to the Collection during the year have, as far as 

 possible, been placed on the shelves of the Library according to the system of classifi- 

 cation adopted in the Museum. The press-marks, indicating their respective localities, 

 have been marked on the inside, and affixed to the back of each volume ; also on the 

 title-slip and entry in the Catalogue, The total number of these press-marks amounts to 

 92,133, and of labels to 33,392 : the work of renewing the labels which had become 

 obliterated on books much in use has been continued. The number of books thus 

 re-labelled is 62,722. Progress has been made in attaching third press-marks to the 

 books in the JSfew Library, so as to show the exact position of each work upon the 

 shelf: the number of books which have received this third mark during the last year 

 is 11,005, and the corresj^onding alterations liave been made in the Reading Room 

 Catalogues. 



II. Cataloguing : — fa.) 61,264 title-slips have been written for the various Catalogues 

 (the term " title-slip " applying equally to a main-title and a cross-reference). Of these, 

 37,513 were written for the New General and Supplementary Catalogues, and 23,751 for 

 the separate Catalogues of Music and the several Oriental Collections. 



ij).) Transcription and Incorporation. — In the first or amalgamated portion of the Cata- 

 logue from A to Sh, and part of T, the number of title-slips transcribed fourfold amounts 

 to 51,249, and of index-slips pre^Dared and transcribed fourfold to facilitate consultation of 

 the volumes, to 798. 64,725 transcripts of title-slips and 797 of index-slips have been 

 incorporated into each of three copies of this portion of the Catalogue. This incot-pora- 

 tion rendered it necessary, in order to maintain the alphabetical arrangement, to remove 

 and re-insert in each copy 104,971 title-slips and 1,200 index-slips, and to add to each 

 copy 1,926 new leaves to receive new entries. The first copy of 79,957 transcripts, 

 forming portions of the letters A, C, D, E, F, also Si-Spah in the letter S, and Teniz-Toz 

 in the letter T (of which 18,301 were new insertions) ; the second copy of 68,471 tran- 

 scripts, forming portions of the same letters (of which 17,801 were new) ; and the third 

 copy of 54,514 transcripts of the same letters (of which 17,810 were new), have been 

 laid down to form additional volumes. 



(c.) In the second or supplementary portion of the Catalogue, Si to Sz, and part of 

 T to Z, the number of title-slips transcribed fourfold amounts to 4,541. 6,056 transcripts 

 of title-slips have been incorporated into each of three copies of this portion of the Cata- 

 logue. In order to maintain the alphabetical arrangement during the incorporation, 

 12,284 titles were removed and reinserted in each copy, and 204 new leaves were added 

 to each copy to receive them. Some of the letters V and W having become over- 

 crowded, the title-slips, amounting to 5,038 were removed from them and laid down to 

 form new volumes, so as to afford space for future entries. 



The number of new entries made in the Hand-Catalogue of the Periodical Publications 

 was 351, and in that of Academies 247. 



((/.) Music Catalogue. — 19,748 title-slips have been written, and 23,970 title-slips have 

 been transcribed fourfold for this Catalogue. 15,749 transcripts of title-slips have been 

 incorporated into each of the two co2)ies of this Catalogue ; and in order to maintain 

 the alphabetical arrangement, 12,403 titles have been removed and re-inserted in each 

 copy. 



(e.) Hebrew Catalogue. — 550 title-slips have been written, and 50 transcribed fourfold 

 for this Catalogue. 



(/.) Oriental Catalogues. — The number of title-slips written is 935, in addition to 

 which 698 short titles have been written for the various Hand-Catalogues of Arabic, 

 Persian, Hindustani, and Bengali Books. 



(^.) Chinese and Japanese Catalogues. — 914 Chinese and 524 Japanese titles have been 

 written. 



(/i.) Carbonic Hand- Catalogue. — Of that copy of the fourfold transcript of the title-slips 

 used to form a Hand-Catalogue, by arranging the title-slips in the order of the press- 

 marks, 61,700 have been mounted on cartridge paper, 59,208 have been arranged,, and 

 168,300 partially arranged, preparatory to incorporation, and 90,520 incorporated, 



(z.) List of Boohs of Reference in the Reading Room. — The number of alterations and 



additions in the interleaved copies of this List, made to record the changes in the books 



207 — Sess. 2. B of 



