If anyone uses my bibliography regularly, I would welcome some comments on the following (off-list if Adam would prefer it). Beavering away on my own means that groups like this are the only way I can get some informed feedback.
The bibliography is getting very large now (nearly 14,000 entries) and I am thinking of changing the current arrangement of the main groupings to the following:
A. Original texts and commentaries on them (arranged then by country–name or title) (currently 1A)
C. General books and articles on authors of texts and adepts (arranged then by country-name) (currently 1E)
E. General books (author) (currently 1J(000))
G. General articles (author) (currently 1J(005)
J. General other formats, e.g. periodicals, web sites, web pages (currently other bits of 1J)
L. Specific material by country and viewpoint (e.g. Jungian viewpoints or general history of alchemy written as part of a book on chemistry or an encyclopedia of the occult) (currently part of 1E)
N. Unique special topics in alchemy, e.g. alchemical processes and stages and viewpoints on them, types of alchemy (new, would draw mainly from 1N)
P. Symbolism (currently 1P)
R. General special topics in alchemy, e.g. bibliographies, biographies, women in alchemy (currently 1N)
T. Closely related topics (currently 3)
V. Background topics (currently 5).
X. Alchemical influences & interpretations. Everything from Philosophy to (especially) art and literature (currently 7)
X-Fic. Fiction.
I've worked out a system for linking Texts and other entries with Review, Reprints & Books/articles that discuss specific texts.
Some of the questions that I would like some feedback on are:
(a) is the arrangement for texts etc (by country) the best one?
(b) would the very general material (Groups E & G) be better arranged chronologically with most recent material first or is an author arrangement still the best. A chronological arrangement would mean that anyone looking for all general material, say, by Adam McLean would need to use the Index, rather than seeing it directly, but could reflect current thinking.
Any views on these or any other topics would be welcomed
