Some Aspects of Bibliography Author:John Ferguson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: N OW, if bibliography be such a help to the interde- student, if it be indispensable to the (Jen librarian, who provides books for all students phiesgand (... more »those of bibliography included), and if it be [)it."t"eof ' the young man's guide, and the old man's com- science, and fort, in the choice of a library,' it is obvious that whoever compiles a bibliography is a benefactor to all who buy and read and study, inasmuch as he contributes to the knowledge not only of books, but of the history of literature, art, or science. A bibliography is to a literature or a subject what an index is to a book. It shows the extent of it, and the amount of work that has been bestowed upon it. It brings together the fragments of knowledge, and makes them accessible for every one concerned. Next to having knowledge, is knowing where to go for it, and the only enduring guide is a bibliography.1 In some ways, of course, catalogues, biblio- Evolution. graphics, and histories of science, of literature, and of knowledge in general, run into one another. A catalogue enumerates the contents of an actual library or collection, large or small. A biblio- 1 When speaking on such a topic, it would be ungrateful not to recall the second or subject section of Watt's Biblio- theca Britannica. What is wanted is another Watt to bring that work down to the present day. graphy describes all the books which exist of a certain kind, no matter where they may be, and points out besides the peculiar features of the books themselves. A literary history deals with what has been written on a theme, and considers the authors and their opinions rather than the books which contain them, although some histories give very full lists of the literature discussed.1 There is, of course, nothing to prevent these diverse ele...« less