his own devices. The editors accordingly accompanied the assignment of articles with directions more or less detailed for their preparation. Certain classes of subjects, e.g. biographies, states, dioceses, were carefully outlined so that the writer might furnish the requisite information on all essential points. For the treatment of other subjects suggestions were offered with a view to having the articles include whatever might be of actual and practical interest at the present time. In some instances the contributors themselves requested more explicit instruction or indicated possible modifications. The exchange of views on all important matters was extremely helpful both in furthering the aims of the editors and in making each writer an active collaborator. Indeed so cordial, and, in many instances, so intimate were the relations of contributors and editors, that there was no need of establishing special editorial committees in certain countries as the editors had originally contemplated. It also facilitated, to a considerable extent, the editors' principal task.
In the allotment of space for each article, the editors, who gave to this point their joint attention, were guided in every instance by the rule "quod requiritur et sufficit." The length of an article is not necessarily, therefore, an indication of its importance. This is true particularly of biographies, in which a line often predicates greater celebrity than a paragraph. The encyclopedic style admits no waste word, and though frequently our writers exceeded the space allotted to them, they rarely, if ever, objected to the condensation of their articles, regarding it commonly as an improvement.
Every article was submitted to each of the editors for criticism, acceptance, or rejection. In case of acceptance—and this fortunately was the usual verdict—the article was handed over to the editor in charge of the department to which it belonged, for revision so far as this might be needed in order to meet the requirements of the Encyclopedia regarding space, content, and literary form. Whenever serious changes were found necessary, these were referred to the author. All articles of a doctrinal character were submitted to the censors appointed by ecclesiastical authority. In the case of an article written in a language other than English, it was translated by an expert, and the translation was then carefully compared by the editor with the original manuscript. Frequently brief paragraphs were added, with the writer's authorization, in order to bring out some phase or detail of the subject that possessed special importance for the English-speaking countries. Additions were also made to the bibliography of works that were more easily accessible to the readers of the Encyclopedia or that were published after the article had been received.
Besides providing for the text of the Encyclopedia, the editors undertook the selection and arrangement of the illustrations, plates, and maps, which are a prominent feature in each volume. The wide range of subjects calling for illustration included personages of note, historic scenes and events, famous edifices, ecclesiastical or secular, monuments of Christian antiquity, codices, manuscripts, and the masterpieces of art in painting, sculpture, and architecture. The maps had to be specially prepared for the Encyclopedia, as they were designed to show not only the political or territorial divisions, but also the ecclesiastical conditions, such as the location of each episcopal or archiepiscopal see.
The editors were aided by a well-trained corps of assistants numbering in the course of the work 151, through whose hands the edited article passed on its way to the press. The office staff rendered efficient service not only by the routine work of preparing copy, but also by keeping accurate records of assignments, transmissions of manuscripts, and reports from contributors. It was thus possible at any moment to ascertain precisely the stage which a given article had reached and the progress that had been made toward the completion of each volume. The staff was also charged with numerous matters of detail, such as the verification of dates and references, comparison of statements in different articles, and preparation of lists of subjects by way of suggestion to the Editorial Board.
The Company which was organized to publish The Catholic Encyclopedia was originally known as the Robert Appleton Company. In 1912 its title was changed to The
