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Charles Davies Sherborn
and the Indexer’s Club
A passion addiction obsession for list-making
The Indexer’s Club
The Indexer’s Club
The Indexer’s Club
• What is an indexer / list-maker?
– Masochist?
– Socially inept?
– Obsessive / Compulsive?
– Facilitator!
• Giving order to unordered or chaotic sets of items
• Products from work are called “references” and “finding aids”
• We perform an often thankless service to others at little benefit to
ourselves
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.*)
– Kallimachos
*Before Charles [Davies Sherborn]
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.)
– Roget
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.)
– Franklin
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.)
– Agassiz
1842–1846 1848–1854
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.)
– Coues
1878–1880
“Bibliography is a
necessary nuisance and
horrible drudgery that no
mere drudge could perform.
It takes a sort of inspired
idiot to be a good
bibliographer ...”
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.)
– Coues
1878–1880
“ ... and his inspiration is as
dangerous a gift as the
appetite of the gambler or
dipsomaniac—it grows
with what it feeds upon,
and finally possesses its
victim like any other
invincible vice.”
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspirations (B.C.)
– Scudder
1882–1884
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspired (A.D.*)
– Richmond
* After [Charles] Davies [Sherborn]
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspired (A.D.)
– Mathews
1925
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspired (A.D.)
– Schultze
1926–1954
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspired (A.D.)
– Neave
1939–1940
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspired (A.D.)
– Eschmeyer
1990
The Indexer’s Club
• Leaders / Founders / ? Inspired (A.D.)
– Thompson
1999–date
The Indexer’s Club
Sherborn Background
• Early Life
• Early Life
St. Luke’s, Chelsea
Sherborn Background
• Early Life
Sherborn Background
• Mid Life
Age 25 Age 32 Age 34
Sherborn Background
• Later in Life
Age 65 Age 74
Sherborn Background
• Home Life (49 Peterborough Rd.)
Sherborn Background
• Home Life (49 Peterborough Rd.)
Sherborn Background
• Home Life (49 Peterborough Rd.)
Sherborn Background
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1888
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1890
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1893–1896
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1902
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1922–1933
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1891
Sherborn Works
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
1936
Sherborn Works
Sherborn Tidbits
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
“The systematist requires certain tools for his
work, of which not the least important are good
bibliographies and indexes.”–C.D. Sherborn quoted in “Squire”, p. 49
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
Sherborn’s unending quest for books ended up
helping not only “build” the library of the Natural
History Museum, but make it in many cases the
only place or one of only a few places one can
find a copy of a rare book on zoology.
Sherborn Tidbits
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
Timeline for Index Animalium I
- began work in 1890
- published in October 1902
Sherborn Tidbits
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
Timeline for Index Animalium II
- began work in 1902?
- last part published in July 1933
Total time spent indexing animal
names from 1758 to 1850:
43 years
Sherborn Tidbits
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
The rarity of errors in the Index Animalium is a
testament to the thoroughness of the 11 years of
constant proofreading of Sherborn
However, there is one name omission
from a book he did see that is worthy
of note ...
There are some names omitted and
these are virtually all from works he
did not see and also include
subspecies he tended to ignore
Sherborn Tidbits
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
The work: Macquart (1834) “Histoire
Naturelle des Insectes. Diptères.”
The name: Laphria limbata Macquart
Sherborn Tidbits
• Bibliographies
• Catalogues
• Indexes
• Dating
Sherborn Tidbits
Sherborn Tidbits
Sherborn Tidbits
Sherborn Tidbits
Sherborn Tidbits
Sherborn and Our Future
Sherborn and Our Future
• Leaders / Founders / ?Inspirations
– Neave
• Leaders / Founders / ?Inspirations
– Neave
Sherborn and Our Future
• Leaders / Founders / ?Inspirations
– Eschmeyer
Sherborn and Our Future
• Leaders / Founders / ?Inspirations
– Eschmeyer
Sherborn and Our Future
• Leaders / Founders / ?Inspirations
– Thompson
Sherborn and Our Future
• Leaders / Founders / ?Inspirations
– Thompson
Sherborn and Our Future
Sherborn and Our Future
Sherborn and Our Future
Sherborn and Our Future
Thanks!