1699, Richard Bentley, “The Preface”, in A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris. With an Answer to the Objections of the Honourable Charles Boyle, Esquire, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for Henry Mortlock[…], and John Hartley[…], →OCLC, page lxxix:
As for the General Character, that Mr. B. endeavours to fix upon me, That I have no Learning, no Judgment, no Reaſoning, no Knowledge in Books, except Index’s and Vocabularies, with many other Expreſſions of the utmoſt Contempt, that make up the greateſt part of his Book, I do not think my ſelf concern’d to anſwer them.
1699, Richard Bentley, “A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris”, in A Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris. With an Answer to the Objections of the Honourable Charles Boyle, Esquire, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for Henry Mortlock[…], and John Hartley[…], →OCLC, section XIII, page 421:
For Quintilian does not ſpeak of ſuch Index’s as Books have now-a-days: but after he had nam’d ſeveral of the Greek Poets, Homer, Antimachus, Euphorion, &c. […]
Index’s is no longer a legitimate plural form of index; nowadays, the form would be criticised for its use of the greengrocer’s apostrophe. In correct modern usage, index’s is the possessive form of index.
