Search

This catalog was implemented sometime in the fall of 1858 as an "amendment" to the catalog of 1856 and was likely expanded on an ongoing basis up to the Civil War. Since the 1856 catalog was presumably still in use by subscribers, the two contain largely the same information apart from three key differences. Firstly, the 1858 added accretions to the book collection, extending the book numbers from 4,473 to 5,063. The second difference is that it lists the books by number, to assist the librarians in managing the books, rather than by author and title, which in the 1856 catalog assisted subscribers in finding them. Lastly, it should be noted that titles in both catalogs are abbreviated in different ways.

The initial form of this catalog was compiled by Doctor Theo West and put into use on 10 July 1874, although there may have been additions by the time it was copied by the directors of the library company into its current form. It was intended for publication, but was later advertised as merely being available at the librarian's desk. It was therefore organized with the aim of finding books by title, like a printed catalog, rather than by number like the manuscript catalogs from before the Civil War. It remained in use until the company shut down after 1880.