How to Make an Index

ad In

Church history-you may also speak to the gentleman who lies by him in the flock bed, my index maker."-Sw

n black and white. One of the commonest is to place the references under unimportant words, for which no one would think of looking, such as A and The. The worst indexes of this class are often added to journals and newspap

ng of the Skelm

on delive

of the Queen

r Mason

de

's Masonic

de

of the Fello

Ladies'

de

ct from an 'Old Ma

de

s' Ban

es' N

Summer

Sir B. W. R

de

and Off

or Keighley

asonic

de

rtrait

de

t Fest

de

off di

r Fest

er Ou

de

Ladies'

de

de Mas

oked for, but of giving similar entries all over the index under whatever heading came first to the mind of the indexer. For instance, there is one Afternoo

is not chosen, but the very worst is. Thus, choosing at random, we find

of the Britis

Iodide o

s Barry, a

Professo

hawk La

l sometimes be found even i

ctively to (1) Life; (2) Apology; (3) Notes to Life; (4) Notes to Apology; and this complicated machinery is attached to a book of only 286 pages. I think it is scarc

f a Resur

rmers proceede

ics let the Papists prove

Church of Rome, Protestants have not

g Jo

umes Regal po

employs

n in one of those daintily printed books of essays which are now so common. In mercy I will not mention th

ook,

lic tas

ding ol

vantage

essedne

k-stall

Girl,

ng Life

servativ

osperit

ses of Li

ted with one another should be found to do the same ridiculous work, and suppose that by any possibility it could be of use to a single huma

ut. Nothing is so maddening to consult as an index in which the different divisions of the periodical are kept distinct, with a separate alphabet under each. It is hopeless to consult these, and it is often e

his helpers, who had an extensive experience of periodical literature, made the follo

index which is usually printed with the volume, or of any other index. Those indexes were made by unskilful persons, and are fu

y severe, but it cannot

rkable series of instances of absurd entries. Some of these are due to the vicious habit of trying to save trouble by cutting up the lists of contents, and repeating the entries under different headings. Miss Hetherington's examples are well worth repeating; b

n Africa,

Monkey's

Academy in

Renaissance in

n its Broader

His Last,

Campaign,

, The Triumph

e Variety Ente

tainment, The

s, The Irish, A

Tenants, The, A

lution, Scen

Scenes from

the French

ts of contents for his purpose, but he has not always dared to use more than two, and so "The Irish Evicted Tenants" do not figure under t

a similar system, are the followi

ert on Foot,

gh an Easter

Eastern Dese

e Rev. J.

Finds, Th

on! What

omplexion

retty Com

are from a very p

n Demera

a, Up a

eek in D

he Russi

s at Hom

ssians

ne, by chance, may be correct; but in the fo

rbot, The Me

the Baron de

ing unde

ing authors under their Christian n

Bourke M

rd Kip

Whit

tries ar

t, On Putt

g One's Fo

ontinues, and publishers are not ashamed to print such rubbish as that just instanced. We may add a quite recent instance-viz. Longman's Magazine for October, 1901, which c

the Code" (n

of Plants" (not

on through French Eye-gl

ite" (not u

ider Haggard" (no

Children's Books" (not

Examination" (not

s of the badness of

original c

e bad ar

e indexer, shown by his use of trivial references, his neglect of what should be indexed

y prepare his materials well, and keep clear of all the faults noticed a

nder this second d

omplete alph

ation within

ty of al

f cross r

faults, and will therefor

ter, and this naturally gives great trouble to the consulter. In order to save himself, the compiler has given others a considerably greater amount of trouble. In arranging entries in alphabetical order it is necessary to sort them to the most minute difference of spelling. The alphabetical arrangement, however, has its diffi

inct from the consonant J, and

rom any other cause. These letters are identical in early manuscripts, and consequent

aster of the Rolls' Series in 1858. Here is a simple misprint caused by the misreading of I for J and n for u; but this can easily be se

by Judas Maccabeus an

ght be given, some of them causing permanent confusion of names

e called to account by a reviewer who supposed I had made a mistake in referring to London instead of Loudon. The reverse mistake was once made by the great Duke of Wellington. C. J. Loudon (who wrote a very bad hand) requested the Duke to let him see the Waterloo beeche

athered together under their headings with great skill-in fact, it could not well have been more perfect; but it had one flaw which spoiled it. The nature of the index necessitated a large number of subdivisions under the various chief headings; these were arranged on a system clear to the compiler, and probably a logical one to him. But the user of the index had not the clue to this arrangement, and he could not find his way through the complicated

persons from subjects. Sometimes, however, the division is not very carefully made, for in the Autoren Register to Carus' and Engelmann's Bibliography of Zoology may be found the following entries: Schreiben, Schriften, Zu Humboldt's Cosmos, Z

omas Fillingham, was published in 1804, uniform with the work in quarto. The general index to the Annual Register has as many as fourteen a

uped under Political Economy, because each of these subjects is distinct and more conveniently found under the separate heading than under a grouped heading. On the other hand, entries relating to Tuberculosis must not be scattered over the index under such headings as Consumption, Decline, and Phthisis, but be gathered together under the heading cho

ly in a large index. At the same time, if judiciously inserted, such references are a great help. Mr. Poole says, in an article on his own index in the Library Journal: "If every subject shall have cross references to its allies, th

ot always attended to this. In Eadie's Dictionary of the Bible (1850) there is

d specimen of backwards and forwards

from the seed.... I then looked into the great book of knowledge, t

See Betula (B

a with great eagerne

-See Bee

nd this was pret

ages, but one difficult expression-viz. "The bung of a thrub chandler"-was left unexplained. In the index under Bung there was a reference to Thrub chandler, and under Thrub chandler anot

ading which is without subdivision should be

eferences are mere expedients, particularly in the case of a cyclop?dia published in volumes or parts. Thus a writer agrees to contribute an article early in the alphabet, but it is not ready in time for the publication of the part, so a cross reference is inserted which sends the reader to a synonym later on in the alphabet. In certain cases this has been done two or three times. An instance occurs in the life of the distinguished bibliographer, the lat

n Serjeant William Hawkins's Pleas of the Crown (1716; 5th ed., 1771; 7th ed., 4 vols., 1795), of which it was said in the Monthly Magazine for June

some of the most

s see

e see

y see Ho

e see

e High T

ts see

see A

on see

gs see H

see Ro

y see N

see Co

ity see

see Tr

s see

rs see

see Ou

see Bu

ess se

ts see

Hall see Cont

g see T

nd in their proper places do not strike one in the same way as when they are set out by themselves. One of the instances given by the critic

lio editions have two indexes, one to each part; the

ndbook of Spain contai

gton, s

lts in indexing, there are many other pitfall

ary to refer to these more generally here, as they

e I.'s reign, is probably an invention, but some translations quite as amusing are genuine. G. Brunet of Bordeaux, having occasion in his La France Littéraire au XV^e siècle to mention "White Knights," at one time the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, translates it into Le Chevalier Blanc. When Dr. Buckland, the geologist, died, a certain French pa

have been made in this way. In the Historie of Edward IV. (1471), edited by that careful and trustworthy antiquary John Bruce for the Camden Societ

publishes her new and complete edition of the Letters, she will add a really satisfactory index. The present index is very bad and most irritating to the person who uses it. Examples of most of the careless and foolish blunders in indexing are to be found here; for instance, there are long lists of references without indication of the reason for any of them. The same person is entered in two places if he is spoken of under slig

, edit

tist L

untes

wager

Duk

Ear

ohn,

L

y Eliz

Mary L

L

hard L

if we look up the reference (iv. 39) we find that it r

t in Notes and Queries, that in the index to Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott (1894) there are three references under Lady Charlotte Campbell, one of which is to a Lady C--, really intended for the notorious Lady Conyngham, mistress to George IV. In another index Mary Be

ng a private diary such as this. The diarist knew to whom he was referring when he mentioned Mr. or Mrs.--; but where there are two or more persons of the same name, it

ial should be an indictable offence." Carlyle denounces the publishers of books unprovided with this necessary appendage; and Baynes, the author of the Arch?ological Epistle to Dean Mills (usually attributed to Mason), concocted a terrible curse against such evil-do

ace Binney, LL.D., a distinguished American lawyer, held the same views, and would have condemned the culprit to the same punishment. Those, howe

Queries, 5th Se

to every book, that I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an author who publishes a book without an Index of the privilege of copyright; and moreover to subject him for his offence to a pecuniary penalty. Yet from difficulties started by my printers, my own books have hi

no index, nor even a table of contents." [11] George Selwyn and his Contemporaries, a most interesting but badly arranged book, by John Heneage Jesse, was published without an index, and a new edition was issued (1882) also without this necessary addit

and Queries, 8th