Alphabetico-specific indexing
Alan James Walker · The Indexer · 2018
In the late 19th century, a number of writers codified a set of principles for alphabetico-specific indexing, notably C. A. Cutter in the United States and H. B. Wheatley in Britain. In Cutter’s case, these principles were intended for library catalogues, but Wheatley and others quickly recognized that they were applicable to back-of-the-book indexing. These principles are now generally accepted as the basis of many types of English-language indexing, ranging from library dictionary catalogues to book indexes, and including periodical indexing, and the rules for thesaurus construction.