Abstract
THE Council of the Society of Arts, probably the most practically useful body in the kingdom, has taken a positive step towards the accomplishment of a task which certainly deserves to be called gigantic. We need not moralise once more on the extent to which the making of books has been carried; many a modern Solomon has no doubt been appalled into silence in the effort even to realise, far less to express, the extent of this manufacture. To attempt to begin ab initio to catalogue the works published during the past century, or even since the beginning of the present century, would be a task which to us would seem to be hopelessly endless. Any one whose business it is to work with books, and even the most thoroughgoing scientific worker must refer to them occasionally, must recognise the immense advantage, however, of having in one properly arranged catalogue, as complete a list as possible of printed books, and the farther back it went, the more valuable it would be. It is, then, certainly a fortunate thing that there exists ready to hand, though unprinted, a catalogue which for all practical purposes may be regarded as a universal catalogue of printed books, and that not only for the past century, but the past four centuries and more; for the British Museum Catalogue begins as far back as 1450. Some time ago the Society of Arts considered the advisability and practicability of constructing a catalogue coming down to the year 1600. The Council addressed a series of questions to them likely to give useful answers, and afterwards met to hear evidence on the subject. Mr. Bullen and other authorities were thus examined, and it seems to have been Mr. Bullen who happily suggested that the best and only sure method of laying a solid foundation for the Universal Catalogue of English printed literature would be to print the Catalogue of the Printed Books in the British Museum, from A.D. 1450 to the present time, say, the end of the year 1878, representing about 1,250,000 vols., and comprising between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 entries, i.e., main titles and cross references. He considered the work might be ready for printing, βin a rough and ready way,β in two years, and in less time if more force were employed, and that it would take five years to print. All the witnesses agreed that the printing of the British Museum Catalogue would be highly desirable, and the Committee are of the same opinion.
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A Universal Catalogue . Nature 19, 585β586 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019585a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019585a0