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There is a distinction between an index and a concordance. The former, with which we are all familiar, is simply an alphabetical list, placed usually at the end of a book, of names and subjects with the pages on which they occur. For example, all the volumes of the Standard Edition are indexed, and the final volume includes an overall index covering the whole series.
A concordance, according to the 14th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica is 'literally agreement, harmony: hence, derivatively a citation of parallel passages and specifically an alphabetical arrangement of the words contained in a book with citations of the passages in which they occur'.
Obviously, a concordance is a far more comprehensive and useful instrument for the scholar than any index could possibly be.
Concordances in this sense were first made for the bible. St Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) is traditionally given credit for the first concordance. The first authentic work, however, is ascribed to Cardinal Hugh of St Cher, a Dominican monk who required such a research tool to develop a commentary on the scriptures in the thirteenth century. This then became the basis of two other concordances: The first Hebrew concordance was compiled in the mid-fifteenth century by Rabbi Issac Nathan, born Kalonymus of Arles. A corrected edition was published by a Franciscan friar in 1621 in Rome. These were all done by hand, as a labour of love. In 1737, Alexander Cruden published his complete concordance to the Holy Scriptures. Since that time there have been many useful concordances published in many languages. Some noteworthy ones in this century are The Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare (1973), and the Cornell concordances to Byron's Don Juan, poems of Emily Dickinson, Beowulf, poems of Samuel Johnson, to name only a few. These concordances allow any scholar or researcher in the field of literature to find a reference quickly, compare passages and concepts.
The Concordance to the Standard Edition o