uld be noted on the shelf-list and accession book, and
replaced, if important, after the loss is definitely assured.

The reason for writing and printing all catalogue titles in small
letters, without capitals (except for proper names) is two-fold. First,
there can be no standard prescribing what words should or should not be
capitalized, and the cataloguer will be constantly at a loss, or will use
capitals in the most unprincipled way. He will write one day, perhaps,
"The Dangers of great Cities," and the next, "The dangers of Great
cities"--with no controlling reason for either form. Secondly, the
symmetry of a title or a sentence, whether written or printed, is best
attained by the uniform exclusion of capitals. That this should be
applied to all languages, notwithstanding the habit of most German
typographers of printing all nouns with capitals, is borne out by no less
an authority than the new Grimm's _Deutsches Woerterbuch_, which prints
all words in "lower case" type except proper names. Nothing can be more
unsightly than the constant breaking up of the harmony of a line by the
capricious use of capitals.

To discriminate carefully the various editions of each work is part of
the necessary duty of the cataloguer. Many books have passed through
several editions, and as these are by no means always specified on the
title-page, one should establish the sequence, if possible, by other
means. The first edition is one which includes all copies printed from
the plates or the type as first set; the second, one which is reprinted,
with or without changes in the text or the title. First editions often
acquire a greatly enhanced value, in the case of a noted author, by
reason of changes made in the text in later issues of the work. For
though the latest revision may and should be the author's best improved
expression, his earliest furnishes food for the hunters of literary
curiosities. Every catalogue should distinguish first editions thus [1st
ed.] in brackets.

In the arrangement of titles in catalogues, either of the various works
of the same writer, or of many books on the same subject, some compilers
follow the alphabetical order, while others prefer the chronological--or
the order of years of publication of the various works. The latter has
the advantage of showing the reader the earlier as distinguished from the
recent literature, but in a long sequence of authors (in a
subject-catalogue) it is more difficult to fi