10 ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VIII. — PROGKESS made in the Arrangement and Cataloguing of Collec- 

 tions, AND Statements of Additions, in the Year 1883. 



Department of 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 

 74,373; in addition to which 21,169 press-marks have been altered, in consequence of 

 changes and re-arrangements carried out in the Library. 29,732 labels have been affixed, 

 and 71,969 obliterated labels have been renewed. The process of attaching third press- 

 marks to the books in the New Library has been continued; 4,691 books have been 

 thus marked during the year, and the corresponding alterations have been carried out 

 in the Reading Room Catalogues. 



II. Cataloguing: — (a.) 53,018 title-slips have been written (the term "title-slip" ap- 

 plying equally to a main-title and a cross-reference). Of these, 34,318 were written for 

 the New General and Supplementary Catalogues, and 18,700 for the separate Cata- 

 logues of Music and the several Oriental Collections. 



{b.) Printing. — 50,500 titles have been prepared for pi'inting during the year, upon 

 the plan announced in the Statement of Progress for 1879, and 35,420 titles have been 

 printed off'. The system of printing those volumes of the Catalogue which have become 

 filled with entries, and which would otherwise require to be broken up and re-laid, has 

 been continued during the year. 70 MS. volumes have been printed during 1883, forming 

 17 printed volumes, and including the headings: ^schylus, ^sop, Byron, Swedenborg, 

 and Xenophon ; each of which has been issued to the public in a separate form. 



Progress has also been made in the further undertaking of printing the whole Catalogue 

 in its alphabetical sequence from the beginning; the whole of letter A being now in 

 type, with the exception of the headings: Academies and Aristotle. The latter part of 

 the Catalogue from Virgil to Z-z will be entirely in type by the end of the present 

 financial year. 



(c.) Incorporation. — New General Catalogue (A to Vom, X and Y), 41,690 title-slips, 

 and 701 index-slips have been incorporated into each of three copies of this portion of the 

 Catalogue. This incorporation has rendered it necessary, in order to maintain the alpha- 

 betical arrangement, to remove and re-insert in each copy 42,359 title-slips and 1,227 

 index-slips, and to add to each copy 300 new leaves to receive new entries. 

 — Second, or supplementary portion of the Catalogue, Von to Uz, W and X, 3,224 title- 

 slips have been incorporated into each of three copies of this part of the Catalogue. In 

 order to maintain the alphabetical arrangement, 2,568 title-slips were removed and re- 

 inserted in each copy, and 19 new leaves were added to each copy to receive them. 



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

 was 228, and in that of Academies, 145. 



(rf.) Music Catalogue. — 10,590 title-slips have been written for this Catalogue. It 

 having been determined, for the future, to print the titles of accessions to this Catalogue 

 instead of transcribing them, 14,000 titles have been prepared for the printer and sent to 

 press. 6,284 transcripts of title-slips have been incorporated into each of the two copies 

 of this Catalogue ; and, in order to maintain the alphabetical arrangement, 8,569 title- 

 slips have been removed and re-inserted in each copy, and 62 new leaves were added to 

 each copy to receive them. 



(e.) Hebrew Catalogue. — 125 title-slips have been written for this Catalogue. 



(_/.) Oriental Catalogues. — ;The number of titles written is 7,831, of which 1,047 

 were for Sanscrit, Tibetan, and Sinhalese books ; 3,358 for Hindustani; 1,518 for Bengali ; 

 480 for Gujerati ; 467 for Marathi ; and 954 for Arabic and Persian books. 



{g.) Chinese and Japanese Catalogues. — 26 Chinese, and 128 Japanese title-slips have 

 been written for these Catalogues. 



(A.) Carbonic Hand- Catalogue. — For this Catalogue, in which the title-slips are 

 arranged in order of the press-marks, 38,958 have been mounted on cartridge paper, 

 20,500 have been arranged, and 121,700 have been partially arranged, preparatory to 

 incorporation, and 27,000 have been incorporated. 



(z.) Lisf 



