Unsurprisingly perhaps, there's a great example of a well-organised index in this book. It's hardly groundbreaking stuff, but it does everything it needs to do and throws in a couple of extras. At the beginning of the left column is a note explaining that typeface names are written in italics, which clarifies the distinction between roman and italic type in the index. There is a system of indenting for sub-topics under a main listing. Readers are referred to other relevant listings by way of a 'see also' note. One little addition that I think is rather useful and which I haven't see elsewhere is the marker in the outside margin (effectively a running header) that tells the reader the alphabetical parameters of the listings on the page. A common feature in dictionaries and the like, but not often seen in indexes in general books.Flavours of Morocco: delicious recipes from North Africa – Ghillie Basan (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2008)
An index is a very useful feature in a cookery book. In fact it is probably in recipe books that I would most frequently consult an index. This example shows a standard format whereby both recipe headings and general category headings are used. The recipes are labelled both in English and in Moroccan and the Moroccan name is set in italics in the index. Specific recipes are indented under general category headings, but are also listed on their own and not indented. Some items are listed more than once according to alphabetical order, such as 'aged butter, 11' and 'butter, aged, 11'. I expect that I would easily be able to find what I wanted using this index.
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