Page images
PDF
EPUB

CONCERNING INDEXES:

TO BE AFFIXED TO ALL EDITIONS OF THIS DICTIONARY.

DURING the last fifteen years I have laboured assidu- | tory. One may recollect generally that certain thoughts
ously to impress upon authors and publishers the im-
portance of INDEXES; and I have satisfactory evidence
that my labours-zealously furthered by the pen of my
friend R. Shelton Mackenzie, D.C.L., one of the "fullest
men" in literary matters I have ever known-have not
been in vain.

My views respecting their best arrangement are so
fully illustrated in the Index to the Orations and
Speeches of Edward Everett, volume iii., 1858, the
Index to the Life and Letters of Washington Irving,
volume iv., 1863, and An Alphabetical Index to the
New Testament, 1868, 18mo, that an exposition in this
place is needless.

"In construendis ædibus, operarius bajalusque, non
minus architecto, prodest."-MATTAIRE: Epist. ad D. P.
Des Maizeaux. See Bibliothèque Raisonnée, tom. vi., or
Nichols's Lit. Anec., iv. 561.

"Commoditas homines studiosos invitavit librorum
indices comparare, quibus minimo labore ad id quod
quisque quæreret, tanquam manu duceretur."-CICERO:
ad Atticum.

The reader will find in vol. i. p. 85 of this Dictionary
(AYSCOUGHI, SAML.) many testimonies to the value of
INDEXES; and I am glad to be able to fortify these by
some extracts from letters since addressed to me by an
honoured friend, (IIon. Horace Binney, LL.D., the head
of the American bar, b. in Philadelphia, Jan. 4, 1780,)
now in the full possession of his vigorous and well-cul-
tivated intellect, within six days of his ninety-second

year:

or facts are to be found in a certain book; but without
a good Index such a recollection may hardly be more
available than that of the cabin-boy, who knew where
the ship's tea-kettlo was, because ho saw it fall over-
board. In truth, a very large part of every man's read-
ing falls overboard; and unless he has good Indexes he
will never find it again.

"I have three books in my library which I value more
than any other three, except the very books of which they
are a verbal Index: Cruden's Concordance of the Bible,
Mrs. Cowden Clarke's Concordance of Shakespeare, and
Prendergast's Concordance of Milton. We may not
want such frequent soundings on the charts of most
books; but the fuller they are, the more time they save,
and the more accurately they enable the reader to explore
and retain in memory the depths of the best authors for
his present occasions."-20th February, 1866.

would owe the most to a good Index, and the worst book,
"I certainly think that the best book in the world
if it had but a single good thought in it, might be kept
alive by it."-Sth April, 1868. See BINNEY, HORACE,
LL.D.; WHARTON, GEORGE M.

As it is pleasant, and often useful, to know the first, or
the best, of every class, (e.g., that the first complete
printed book from metal types was the Mazarine Bible,
circa A.D. 1455; that the first printed book with a date
was the Codex Psalmorum, A.D. 1457,) it is proper here
to instance Nichols's Literary Anecdotes as possessing
one of the most complete of Indexes.

The Index-maker, however, must not carry his laud-
able desire to be exhaustive and literal to the extent
which caused an avaricious and vigilant compiler to base
the entry,-

"I must say, in references to Indexes generally, that
I have come to regard a good book as curtailed of half
its value if it has not a pretty full Index. It is almost
impossible, without such a guide, to reproduce on de-
mand the most striking thoughts or facts the book may
contain, whether for citation or further consideration.
If I had my own way in the modification of the Copy-thors on the last day of 1870.
right Law, I think I would make the duration of the
privilege depend materially on its having such a direc-i

"BEST, MR. JUSTICE, his great mind,❞—
upon a statement in the text that "Mr. Justice Best
said he had a great mind to commit the witness."

3140

I read this last proof-sheet of the Dictionary of Au

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 31, 1870.

S AUSTIN ALLIBONE.

[graphic]
« PreviousContinue »