ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MaSRUM. 



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

 tions, AND Statements of Additions, in the Year 1880. 



Department or Printed Books. 



I. Arrangement. — 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 

 115,834, and of labels to 39,7 60 : 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 51,785. Progress has been made in attaching third press-marks to the 

 books in the New 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 13,236, and the corresponding alterations have been made in the Reading Room 

 Catalogues. 



o 



II. Cataloguing : — (a.) 70,259 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, 

 52,942 were written for the New General and Supplementary Catalogues, and 17,317 for 

 the separate Catalogues of Music and the several Oriental Collections. 



{p.) Printing. — At the commencement of 1880, printing was adopted in place of the 

 system of transcription, or hand-copying of title-slips, previously employed. During the 

 year, 60,363 titles have been prepared for printing, upon the plan announced in the 

 Statement of Progress for 1879, and 46,174 titles have been printed off; 



(c.) Transcription and Incorporation. — It is still found necessary, for various reasons, to 

 transcribe a certain number of the titles. In the first or amalgamated portion of the 

 Catalogue, from A to Spain, and T to Trem, the number of titles thus transcribed amounts 

 to 1,116, and of index-slips preparco and transcribed to facilitate consultation of the 

 volumes, to 365. 34,770 titles and 310 index-slips have been incorporated into each of 

 three copies of this portion of the Catalogue. This incorporation has rendered it neces- 

 sary, in order to maintain the alphabetical arrangement, to remove and re-insert in each 

 cojoy 48,612 title-slips and 353 index-slips, and to add to each copy 496 new leaves to 

 receive new entries. The first copy of 42,111 titles, forming portions of the letters 

 B, C, D, E, F, G, and of S and T (of which 3,072 were new insertions); the second 

 copy of 47,348 titles, forming portions of the same letters (all of which were new) ; and 

 the third copy of 58,930 titles in the same letters (of which 1,308 were new ones), have 

 been laid down to form additional volumes. 



In the second or supplementary portion of the Catalogue, Spaine to Sz, Tren to Z, 

 the number of title-slips transcribed fourfold amounts to 156. 1,650 titles have been 

 incorporated into each of three copies of this portion of the Catalogue. In order to 

 maintain the alphabetical arrangement during the incorporation, 1,515 titles were removed 

 and re-inserted in each copy, and 6 new leaves were added to each copy to receive them. 

 The work of removing the titles from the volumes of the letters V and W, which had 

 become over-crowded, and laying them down to form new volumes, has been continued. 

 The first copy of 13,184 titles; the second copy of 16,622 titles, and the third copy of 

 15,047, having been thus laid down in the past year. 



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

 was 530, and in that of Academies 314. 



(rf.) Music Catalogue. — 14,013 title-slips have been written, and 8,804 title-slips have 

 been transcribed fourfold for this Catalogue. 25,251 transcripts of title-slips have been 

 incorporated into each of the two copies of this Catalogue ; and, in order to maintain 

 the alphabetical arrangement, 20,862 titles have been removed and re-inserted in each 

 copy. 



(e.) Hebrew Catalogue. — 256 title-slips have been written for this Catalogue. 



(/.) Oriental Catalogues. — The number of title-slips written is 720, in addition to 

 which 1,199 short titles have been written for the various Hand-Catalogues of Arabic, 

 Persian, Hindustani, and Bengali Books. 



(</.) Chinese and Japanese Catalogues. — 20 Chinese and 1,807 Japanese titles have been 

 written. 



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



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



0.65. B marks 



