Excerpt from Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome

Tms Volume was designed by the late Mr. George Smith, the proprietor and publisher of the Dictionary of National Biography, ' in consultation with the present Editor, when the great work was nearing completion. It is intended to form a summary guide to the vast and varied contents of the Dictionary and its Supplement. Every name, about which substantive biographic information is given in the sixty-three volumes of the Dictionary or in the three Supple mentary Volumes, finds mention here in due alphabetical order. An Epitome is given of the leading facts and dates that have been already recorded at length in the pages of the original work, and there is added a precise reference to the volume and page where the full article appears.

Generally speaking, each entry in the Index and Epitome consists of one-fourteenth of the number of words that appear in the text of the original memoir. At times this proportion varies to a small extent. Condensation of a very brief article on the estimated scale became hardly possible if any intelligible fragment of it were to be preserved. In such instances the Epitome bears to the original article a higher proportion than one-fourteenth. On the other hand, in the case of the longer articles, it has often been found possible to reduce them to a smaller space than the stipulated proportion required. But the aggregate divergence from the projected ratio of one-fourteenth proves to be very slight.

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