TABLE OF CONTENTS.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT.

Meaning of the word ‘Index,’ 7.—Early use of ‘Tables,’ 7.—Use of the word ‘Index’ by the Romans, 8.—Its introduction into modern languages, 8.—Naturalisation in English, 10.—Little used in other languages, 11.—The word ‘pye,’ 11.—Opinions on Indexes, 12.—Of Joseph Glanville, 11.—Of Thomas Fuller, 12.—Of S. Speed, 13.—Good Index work, 13.—Prynne a sufferer in the cause of indexing, 13.—Extracts from the index to his Histrio-mastix, 14.—Power in the indexer’s hands, 15.—Dr. William King’s malicious indexes, 16.—Index to Bromley’s Travels made by a political enemy, 17.—Index to the Biglow Papers, 18.—The author to make his own index, 19.—Monthly Review on indexes, 19.—Opinion of William Oldys, 19.—Scaliger, an eminent indexer, 20.—Antonio’s indexes, 20.—Baillet’s general index, 21.—Opinion of Bayle, 21.—Of Leigh Hunt, 22.—Specimens of indexes, 22.—Shenstone’s Schoolmistress, 22.—Richardson’s Novels, 23.—Tatler, 24.—Indexes by Maittaire, 24.—By Bowyer, 25.—By John Nichols, 25.—By Maty, 25.—By Ayscough, 25.—By E. H. Barker, 25.—Macaulay an indexer, 25.—Contempt in which the calling has been held, 26.—Index-advocates: Mr. Thoms and Dr. Allibone, 27.—Baynes’s curse, 27.—Lord Campbell’s theory and practice not in accord, 28.—Early compilation of concordances, 28.—Sir Henry Thring’s Instructions for an Index to Statute Law, 29.—Opinion of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 30.—Money voted by Parliament for indexes, 31.—Scientific bibliography, 31.—Annual records of progress, 32.—Bibliography in scientific periodicals, 33.—Poole’s Index, 35.—Indexes to catalogues, 36.—Revived interest in index work, 36.—Various proposals for the formation of an Index Society, 36.—What can an Index Society do? 38.

PRACTICE OF INDEX-MAKING.

I.—Compilation.

Sir H. Thring’s Instructions, 41.—How the work should be set about, 42.—Specimens of bad headings, 42.—Justice Best’s ‘great mind,’ 44.—Value of conciseness in the headings of an index, 45.—Need for specification of the cause of reference, 45.—Uselessness of the general Index to the Gentleman’s Magazine, 46.—Correctness of reference an essential point, 47.—Is an incomplete index better than none at all? 47.—Added information in an index, 48.—Blunders, 49.—Two men rolled into one, 50.—Names of men who never lived, 50.—French translations of names, 52.—Filling up of contractions, 53.—Use and abuse of cross references, 54.

II.—Arrangement.

Advantages of alphabetical order, 56.—One alphabet, not many, 56.—Disadvantages of classification, 57.—Statistics, 58.—Arrangement by the English alphabet, 58.—What is a surname? 59.—Prepositions and articles as prefixes, 59.—Compound names, 60.—Mistaken names, 60.—Latinised names, 61.—Christian names v. surnames, 61.—Noblemen arranged under their titles, 62.—Bishops under their family names, 63.—Abuse of initials, 63.—Use of the title Mr., 64.—Oddities of names, 64.—Lists of errata, 65.

III.—Printing.

The indexed word to the front, 66.—Marks of repetition, 67.—Absurd use of the dash, 67.—Confusion between men of the same name, 68.

Rules for obtaining uniformity in the indexes of books, 71.

Preliminary List of English Indexes, 74.

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