The world’s oldest profession: indexing?

an article by Nancy K Humphreys published in The Indexer Volume 29 Number 4 (December 2011)

Abstract

A closer look at the 3,000-year-old I Ching, or Book of changes, from China, yields some surprising conclusions about the origins of indexing. This ancient book of hexagrams contains the world’s oldest table of contents and index.

If you can get hold of the print copy, or if your institution provides online access, then do read this. It’s absolutely fascinating.

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