CATALOGUE OF THE ST. LOUIS MERCANTILE LIBRARYssociation a SECTION 1. ENGLISH PROSE FICTION. PRICE 50 CENTS. St. Louis: NIXON JONES PRINTING CO. PREFACE. The following list of English Prose Fiction, complete to January 1st, 1892, is one section of an entirely new catalogue of the Mercantile Library, upon which work was begun last summer, simultaneously with a re-classification of the books. It contains the titles of some 14,000 volumes of English novels, and was compiled by Miss Kate E. Sanborn in five months, during which time she also did all the accessioning of books currently received. Each book is entered twice, once under its author's name and again under the first word (not an article) of its title. Tables of contents are printed for all collections of short stories, but no cross-references are made to them from author or title. Books published in series have their proper order indicated. At the end will be found classified lists of Christmas stories, fairy tales, musical novels, and historical novels. One feature of this catalogue is believed to be new in practice, though recommended in the last edition of Cutter's Rules. The author-entries are under the best-known forms of the writers' names, whether real or assumed. Thus George Eliot's novels will be found under Eliot, with cross-references from Lewes and Cross; Oliver Optic's stories are entered under Optic, with a reference from Adams; works by Owen Meredith are under Meredith, notwithstanding that his father's are under Bulwer-Lytton and his mother's under Lytton. Of course there must be arbitrary ruling sometimes to determine which is the best-known form of a name, but in all cases there are crossreferences from one form to another. If the innovation works well in practice, that will be its justification. The number or symbol appended to each title is all that need be given in calling for a hook. It is the Cutter number preceded by the figure 7, which stands in the new classification for English Prose Fiction. These book-numbers are as compact as such things can well be made. They are permanent, yet admit any number of interpolations at any point. They identify each book, indicate its specific subject, and show the whereabouts of that subject among thousands of others; they keep each book in the exact alphabetical order of its author's name, though there be hundreds of other authors in the same class; they even keep each book in its alphabetical order among other books by the same writer in the same class; finally, they keep different editions or translations of the same book in their proper order. The remainder of the library will be catalogued as rapidly as practicable. If the reception given to the present list warrants the outlay for printing, other sections will soon be sent to press, as, for example, a catalogue of the department of Biography (now ready), one of History and Travels, one of Sociology, and so on until the entire catalogue is in type. In all sections save those of Fiction and Biography the titles will be classified under specific topics, with alphabetical indexes of these topics at the end. This plan of issuing catalogues in sections is growing in favor among popular libraries. It permits the prompt issue of such sections as are most in demand, so that a large percentage of readers can be satisfied without waiting for the completion of the whole work. For example the present list contains the titles of 43% of the books used in this library (total issues), and 72% of those drawn out for home use. Again, this method of publication enables each reader to buy for a trifle the catalogue of such department of literature, art, or science as he is most interested in, instead of paying several dollars for what he does not want. Finally, new editions of those sections which grow most rapidly can be brought out as needed, at comparatively slight expense, and thus save the annoyance of supplements. The official card-catalogue, always complete to date, may be consulted at any time. HORACE KEphart. Librarian. Pp. 18, 37, 38, 142, 162. ERRATA. For Crouch, Arthur T. Q., read Couch. P. 33. For Constance of Arcadia read Acadia. |