Full Excerpt

jEFORE referring to the most important of the changes in the present edition, it' may be as well to refer to several minor , points as to which I often receive inquiries.

First, as to the “catch-line” names which appear in the book. In the first edition the first entry for each surname was so distinguished for mere purposes of ready reference, or perhaps even—for it was not my own idea—by the desire of the printers to make an “ artistic ” page. Their efforts and labour to that end have been unceasing, beyond even my own desires. But even before the completion of the first edition the fatal objection had become apparent that the addition of an entry for the same surname but with a Christian name earlier in the alphabet involved the displacement of the catch-line from the one paragraph to the other, and the resetting of both. The catch-lines were therefore abandoned ; but I did not consider their importance, in or out, was worth the cost of resetting in order to provide for their deletion. Consequently those which were then standing in the type were allowed to remain until such time as other alterations necessitated a disturbance in ...