Note 64 — STYLE.

Only Full can give the contents of all such works, including the memoirs, transactions, etc., of all the learned societies. And in an analytical catalogue this is much less important. When every separate treatise is entered in its proper places under the names of its author and of its subject, why should it be given again in a long column of fine type which few persons will ever read? Because, if analysis is not complete, contents supplement it; and one who has forgotten author and subject may occasionally recall them by looking over a “contents;” and this list is, so far as it goes, a substitute for a classed catalogue in this respect. Moreover, the “contents” is needed to fully explain the character of the subject-entry (see § 4). In the division Biography under countries we have many such titles as “Memoirs of eminent Englishwomen,” “British senators,” “Political portraits.” It is an advantage to the reader, though perhaps neither a great nor a frequent advantage, to be able to find out from the catalogue what Englishwomen and what British senators he shall find described in the books. No catalogue can be considered complete that omits such information.