Fontanus - (E-Journal - McGill University)

Wright, Donald A.

English

Remembering War in Imperial Canada: David Ross McCord and the McCord National Museum

Michel, Robert H.

Floreat Plutoria: Satirical Fiction about McGill

Dolphin, Bruce

Gentlemanly Satisfaction: the Wellington-Winchelsea Duel of 1829

Whitehead, M.A.

A Brief Survey of Science and Scientists at McGill

-, -

Back cover

McNally, Peter F.

Gunn, Kevin

Notes and Comments 
The McGill University Library Catalogue of 1876: 
A Preliminary Statistical Analysis 
By Peter F. McNally 
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies 
and 
Kevin Gunn 
Library, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. 
Determining the early history of the McGill Libraries poses certain difficulties. Only with the appointment of 
Charles H. Gould as University Librarian in 1892 and the opening of Redpath Library the following year were 
detailed administrative records maintained. For the preceding fifty years or so, our knowledge of library 
development is vague and sketchy, due to incomplete documentation.' 
Although vestigial remains can be found of a library dating back to the 1840s, Sir John William Dawson was 
convinced that on his arrival at McGill in 1855 there was no library. One of his first undertakings as principal was 
to serve also as librarian from 1855 to 1857. Indeed, he went so far as to have the library located in his own office 
from 1860 to 1862. Over the succeeding decades, the library improved slowly but steadily: in 1862 it found a 
tranquil home in the newly built west wing of the Arts Building (Molson Hall) where it remained until the opening 
of Redpath Library in 1893; from 1857 to 1882, Charles F. A. Markgraf, a professor of German, provided 
consistent and dedicated service as librarian; largely through the support of benefactors the collection grew 
constantly larger and stronger. 
For this period a primary document, which has been largely overlooked, is the Catalogue of Authors published 
in 1876.* It provides a permanent record of the collection as it was in the mid-1870s and permits its assessment in 
a way that is both unique and convincing. In addition, the catalogue permits the collection to be evaluated in relation 
to the University's teaching and research activities. The fact of the catalogue being only an author listing, plans for 
a subject catalogue having been cancelled through lack of funds, limits its usefulness only somewhat. 
The publication of library catalogues in book form enjoyed great popularity in the nineteenth-century, because 
they permitted simultaneous perusal by many people in a wide variety of locations. Of course, they were also 
unpopular in some quarters because they could become voluminous and expensive for larger collections and because 
they resisted quick and cheap updating, except through supplementary volumes that broke continuity with the 
original volume(s). 
It is ironic that the McGill catalogue should have been published in 1876, just as the popularity of book 
catalogues was beginning to wane. In that year, the American Library Association and Library Journal were 
founded, the first editions of Dewey's classification scheme and Cutter's cataloguing rules were published, and the 
Library Bureau started issuing standardized cataloguing cards.3 As McGill would switch to a card catalogue in 1877, 
students of this period are justifiably grateful that the printed catalogue had already appeared. 
That said, there are both favourable and unfavourable things to say about the 1876 catalogue. On the one hand, 
its lack of subject access is a problem as are such things as the entries being very brief; there are inconsistencies 
on whether continuing publications, like government yearbooks, should be given separate entries for each year or 
one single entry encompassing a range of years. On the other hand, the catalogue was carefully compiled by 
Notes and Comments 
Professor Markgraf in an exact and reasonably coherent manner. A bonus for researchers is the inclusion with the 
entries of classification/shelving numbers which, despite some problems, provide helpful insights into the subject 
orientation of the collection. 
Although it is hoped, in time, to provide a more detailed and comprehensive evaluation of the catalogue, the 
authors of this article are pleased at having an opportunity to present their preliminary results. The number of entries 
in the catalogue is 5,385. If one subtracts the 184 'see' references directing readers from unused to used headings, 
such as 'Canada. Geological Survey of' to 'Geological Survey' one can identify 5,201 titles. The number of 
monographic titles is 5,098; the number of journallserial titles is 103. For an academic library collection to have 
only 1.98% of its collection as journals seems quite low by twentieth-century standards. Whether this proportion 
is equally low by nineteenth-century standards is less clear. With 11,021 volumes in the collection, McGill was 
typical in having significantly more volumes than titles. Of the titles, 3,669 or 70.54% were in single volumes or 
copies. 
Country and language of publication can provide important insights into the nature of a collection. The 1876 
collection reflects the importance of overseas-particularly British-publications, and the relatively weak state of 
Canadian publishing: 
United Kingdom 
United States 
Germany 
France 
Canada 
Italy 
Austria 
Belgium 
Greece 
Sweden 
Other 
Unknown 
TOTAL 
TITLE 
Of the 3,023 titles published in Britain, 194 were Scottish or 6.4% of the British total and 3.73% of the overall 
total. Considering the reputedly Scottish orientation of McGill at this time, the proportion seems rather low. The 
overwhelming presence of American publications in Canadian academic libraries would be a twentieth-century 
phenomenon. In all, publications from twenty-six countries were identified. 
Publications in 70 languages were noted, a high proportion of these being represented in editions of the Bible. 
The major languages are as follows: 
Notes and Comments 
English 
Latin 
French 
German 
English and French 
Italian 
Greek 
Spanish 
Other 
Unknown 
TOTAL 
TITLES 
3,722 
693 
330 
95 
43 
40 
5 
4 
254 
15 
5,201 
That English language publications should be overwhelmingly predominant seems less surprising than that Latin 
should be the second most represented language, albeit a poor second. This reflects, no doubt, the strongly classical 
nature of the McGill curriculum that would continue into the 1890s; the bulk of these titles was published in 
Germany. Of the 330 French language titles, 282 were published in France, twenty-three in Canada, and thirteen 
in Britain. All of the bilingual English-French titles were published in Canada. 
Date of publication is also of great relevance and provides valuable insight to the collection. As some 
multivolume titles were published over many years, thereby fitting into more than one time period, the number of 
entries for this section rose to 5,254. Date groupings are as follows: 
TITLES % 
TOTAL 5,254 100 
It is clear that with Dawson's arrival as principal in 1855, a concerted effort was made to acquire current 
publications for the library. At the same time, the large number of older books reflects the influence of benefactors, 
such as Peter Redpath, who laid the foundation for the University's outstanding historical rare book collections. 
The last, and possibly most important, topic to be considered is also the most difficult: subject content. As no 
explanation has been found of the classification system used in the catalogue, the description of its six categories 
is based upon an analysis carried out by the authors on the titles in each category. It is clear that more work will 
have to be done on this topic. Although certain inconsistencies appear to have crept into Professor Markgraf's 
application of the classification system, they are probably no worse than the inconsistencies found in the application 
of any system. The real problem with this system is that the categories are much too broad: 
Notes and Comments 
TITLES % 
1,459 28.05 History, Biography, Geography, Travel, and Politics 
118 2.27 Fine and Applied Arts 
560 10.77 Classical Literature, Philosophy, and Culture 
937 18.02 Science, Technology and Medicine 
1,175 22.59 Literature, Philosophy, and Religion 
944 18.15 Encyclopaedias, Dictionaries, Atlases, Directories, 
Bibles, Bibliography, Collections of Essays and 
Sermons, Statutes, Law, and Education 
Unknown 8 .15 
TOTAL 5,201 100 
For the purposes of comparison, the much more detailed subject classification system used in the library 
catalogue (4) of the University of Toronto (published in 1857) along with the number of volumes, not titles, in each 
category is provided below: 
VOLUMES 
Archaeology 
Bibliography & Literary History 
Biography 
Chemistry & Chemical Physics 
Divinity 
Encycl. & Dict. of Science & Art 
English Literature 
Fine & Useful Arts 
French, German & etc. Literature 
Geography, Voyages, & Travel 
Grammar, Lexicons, & etc. 
Greek & Latin Classics 
History, Chronology, Ethnology 
Law, Political Economy & etc. 
Mathematics, Pure & Mixed 
Medicine 
Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic & Rhetoric 
Mineralogy & Geology 
Natural History 
Oriental Literature 
Transactions & Periodicals 
TOTAL 
Although it is difficult to make direct comparisons between the McGill and Toronto collections--given their 
different dates of publication, counting methods, and classification systems--one comparison is possible. Science, 
technology, and medicine in section C of the McGill catalogue and in sections 4, 15, 16, 18, and 19 of the Toronto 
catalogue are roughly comparable in coverage: 
Notes and Comments 
McGill (1 876) 937 Titles 18.02% 
Toronto (1 857) 1761 Volumes 25.40 % 
As McGill had, however, a separate medical library and therefore relatively few medical books in the main 
collection, whereas Toronto housed its medical collection in the main library, somewhat different results occur by 
removing section 16 'Medicine' from the Toronto list: 
McGill (1876) 937 Titles 18.02 % 
Toronto (1857) 1027 Volumes 14.81% 
These results suggest that scientific books may account for approximately 15% of mid-nineteenth- century 
Canadian academic library collections. Otherwise, the collections of both universities were overwhelmingly weighted 
in favour of historical, humanistic, political, and legal studies. 
In conclusion, this preliminary statistical analysis of the 1876 catalogue is meant to contribute to a larger study 
of cultural life, reading, and information habits at McGill in the Victorian era. Links between collections, teaching, 
and research may also be studied. In addition, it is hoped to study further the role played by benefactors in the 
development of the collections. Finally, this analysis may permit comparison with the collections of other 
nineteenth-century Canadian academic libraries. 
Notes 
1. Peter F. McNally, "The McGill University Libraries." Encyclopedia ofLibrary andlnformation Science. N.Y. Dekker, 1976, v. 17, p. 3 11-320. 
2. McGill University. Montreal. Library. Catalogue of Authors. Montreal, Lovell, 1876. 322 p. 
3. Robert E. Kingery, Book Catalogues. N.Y. Scarecrow, 1963. viii, 330 p. James Ranz, The Printed Book Catalogue in American Libraries. 
1723-1900. Chic. ALA, 1964. vii, 144 p. 
4. Robert H. Blackburn, Evolution of the Heart: a History of the University of Toronto Libray up to 1981. Toronto. University of Toronto 
Library, 1989. p. 37-38, 319. 


McGill University Library Catalogue of 1876: A Preliminary Statistical Analysis

In Memoriam 
Donations to FONT A US publications 
were offered in memory of 
Professor Roger Bennett 
Annetta Bum 
Helgard Heldt (nee Gapman) 
Elisabeth Langer (nee Jepsen) 
Professor John Macnamara 
Reilly Madsen 
153 


In Memoriam

Chronicle

Complete Vol 9 (1996)

Editors, The

Fontanus IX 1996 
James McGill 
An Album 
James McGill: An Album 
c
Reproduction of watercolour and gouache with gum arabic on ivory. 6.1 cm. x 5.3 cm. 
(McCord Museum of Canadian History) 
James McGill: An Album 
I I 
- - - - - -. -. -- - 
Figure 2. James McGill 
(Canadian Illustrated News, May 29, 1875) 
Figure 3 .  A charter in 1821 allowed for the establishment of McGill College on the Burnside estate. 
Burnside Place, 1852, by W.B. Lambe. (McCord Museum of Canadian History) 
Figure 4 .  The monument/tomb of James McGill which had been 
moved from the Old Protestant Cemetery, Dorchester Street in 1875 
and placed on campus in front of the Arts Building. It was repaired 
and refurbished in 197 1 . 
Figure 5. James McGill striding across his Burnside estate. Bronze 
sculpture by David Roper Curzon unveiled June 6, 1996, in celebration 
of McGill University's 175th anniversary. 


James McGill: an Album

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