De indicibus librorum and the art of indicialization in Conrad Gesner: context and principles (part i)

Abstract

Introduction: This is the first part of the study on De indicibus librorum - an integral part of Conrad Gesner(1516-1565)'s Pandectae (1548) - which deals with the constitution, function and use of indices. Objective: To identify the context and principles that guide De indicibus librorum. Methodology: Under a historical-bibliographic approach, the study has as its course: 1) brief historical-informational and documentary contextualization of De indicibus librorum; 2) mapping, reading and full translation of the Latin text (for Part I of the study, specifically the translation of folio 19v (d) to folio 21r (d3); 3) discussion and combination of the Latin source with literature review on the subject, especially from Wellisch (1981), Cochetti (1984a, 1984b) and Serrai (1990). Results: Based on the established cut and the range of folios analyzed, the Gesnerian text presents the motivations, procedures and techniques for composing indexes of books by means of paper strips and, as stated by Gesner, in a "short time" and in the "best order". Gesner recalls indexes of philosophers, theologians, grammarians, philologists and writers, as well as indices of typographers and booksellers. It also shows the indexes as an instrument of patrimonial and bibliographic planning and control. For the Swiss polymath, the indexes are of great use to scholars, as they help to remember things read or present new things, in addition to saving the reader's time. Conclusions: Conrad Gesner, presenting a technical and cultural landscape on the constitution, function and use of indices, criticizes the indicialization of indexes, such as the construction of indexes without the previous reading of the text, which today would represent an opposite perspective of the one postulated by the documentary reading for indexation purposes. At the same time, Gesner stresses the importance of semantic indexes, a question that is also relevant to the field of contemporary indexing. In this sense, Gesner was effectively an “indexer” of his time. His position, whether as a publisher of works and / or as a reader, that is, both the one who constructs and the one who uses the indexes, allowed him to formulate a multidimensional vision about the process of indicialization and, subliminally, the processes of information mediation and knowledge organization in the 16th century.