Mechanical Methods of Displaying Catalogues and Indexes. 55 and slotted at top and bottom near the back. The slips are slotted to correspond, and a piece of cord or gut is tied firmly round the volume and through the slots so as to bind the whole. There is no firmness or security about this book, and anyone could easily undo it. Nevertheless, I am disposed to think it is a cheap and convenient method of temporarily binding slips for private or staff use. 10 A very similar plan, but with holes instead of slits, has often been tried in various places ; and I have here a specimen of Mr. George Shaw's catalogue book, which he con- templates introducing at the Athenaeum Library, Liverpool. Of much more importance than either of these is the " Sheaf" cata- logue holder, made by Mr. A. Staderini, of Rome, who invented one of the formsof " Card " catalogue already mentioned. 11 It com- prises a fixed back and boards, to which two iron screw bolts are attached, and the slips when inserted are clamped by means of two brass screw caps turned by a key. These volumes are numbered and kept in pigeon-holes, which bear the volume numbers and letters denoting the section of the alphabet contained in each volume. The pictures now exhibited show the arrangement better than it can be described. A " Sheaf" catalogue book on a principle very similar to this, has been invented by Mr. W. C. Lane, now of the Boston Athenaeum ; and at Harvard University other forms have been tried. The main objection to the Staderini holder, apart from its cost, is that, by reason of the rigid back, it always occupies the maximum space, while the slips are much inclined to sag when the holders are not quite full. Its clumsiness is also a disadvantage. A " Sheaf" holder on exactly the same principle, but with a different fastening arrangement, is that invented some years ago by Mrs. Sacconi, of the Marucellian Library, Florence. 12 It has a rigid back also, but I think the manner of securing the slips, and the superior way in which the volume lies open make it rather better than Staderini's holder. On the other hand, it is open to the same objections as to sagging and space occupied, which I pointed out against Staderini. It is intended to be kept in pigeon-holes, as this picture shows. An invention, almost identical in principle, was recently patented in this country by Messrs. E. and A. 10 See Paper by Du Rieu in Library Journal, 1885, p. 206. 11 See Note 7. 12 Sacconi (Giulia) " Un Nuovo Sistema di segatura meccanica per Cataloglie," Firenze, 1891.
