THE CATALOGUING OF LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS

Medievalists have such reason to be grateful to the makers of manuscript catalogues in the last half century that any criticism of the products of their labours must inevitably sound ungracious. M. l'Abbé Leroquais may deny that the cataloguer, engaged on work 'so varied and rich in surprises', needs our pity, but he is, after all, speaking of France, where such work is sponsored by the State. The British cataloguer, frequently prompted only by his own urge, defraying often the expenses of his visits to the collections, hampered by shortness of time and lack of funds both for the work and for publication, must be revered as a pioneer. He ploughs a lone furrow, frequently self-taught.