<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">Hi June,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">I would check the location of the watermark if I wanted to be certain about whether I had a 12mo or a 24 mo in hand. A 12mo will (normally) have a watermark on the fore-edge. Gatherings of 12 or 8 are certainly more common for 24mos, but a gathering of 6 is not impossible. <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">As to relying on dealer descriptions, like Mark, I take them with a grain of salt. <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">Regards,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">Jessie<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small"><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 7:54 AM Mark Seidl <<a href="mailto:marseidl@vassar.edu">marseidl@vassar.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Dear June,<div><br></div><div>Worry not--yours is absolutely and appropriate question!</div><div><br></div><div>In my experience, dealers' catalogs/descriptions can be useful but also misleading. Some are excellent, others hastily thrown together. In any case, we catalogers need to treat dealer's descriptions with healthy skepticism. I always compare dealers' descriptions with my own collations, going with my own when I'm confident the dealer made a mistake. In short, always verify.</div><div><br></div><div>As for your question about the OCLC record for a copy that resembles yours, I and, I think, others who post here would need to know a bit more about the copy you have.</div><div><br></div><div>Hope this helps some.</div><div><br></div><div>All best,</div><div><br></div><div>Mark Seidl</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 10:36 AM Rutkowski, June <<a href="mailto:rutkowsk@fas.harvard.edu" target="_blank">rutkowsk@fas.harvard.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal">I am fresh off of Deborah J. Leslie’s Rare Book Cataloging course at the Rare Book School, and I have my first rare book sitting in front of me. It’s a French book from 1679.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">One question I have is about determining format. The book dealer says it’s a 24mo. The gatherings have 6 leaves each, the chain lines are horizontal, and the height is 13 cm.
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<p class="MsoNormal">According to my chart a 24mo with horizontal chain lines cannot have 6 leaves. I’m thinking it’s a 12mo.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">There is a dcrmb record in OCLC for a 12mo copy that is very similar to mine (signatures and number of preliminary pages are different). 973455836.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">So, my questions are: how much weight does a cataloger give to a dealer’s description? And, is the information I’ve provided here (gatherings of 6 leaves, horizontal chain lines, height 13 cm) enough evidence to determine that my book
is a 12mo?<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">If this is an inappropriate question please be gentle with me. I’m an old cataloger, but a spanking new rare-book cataloger, eager to participate in this community.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you,<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June Rutkowski<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cataloger<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harvard Library Information and Technical Services<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cambridge, MA 02139<u></u><u></u></p>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail-m_7663770971790292926gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>Mark Seidl<br>Special Collections Librarian/Cataloger<br>Vassar College Libraries<br><a href="http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/" target="_blank">http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/</a><br><a href="http://pages.vassar.edu/library" target="_blank">Gargoyle Bulletin</a> <a href="http://pages.vassar.edu/library/" target="_blank">http://pages.vassar.edu/library/</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><span style="font-family:garamond,serif">Jessie Sherwood, Ph.D., MLIS<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:garamond,serif">Associate Librarian<br></span></div><span style="font-family:garamond,serif">The Robbins Collection<br></span></div><span style="font-family:garamond,serif">UC Berkeley, School of Law<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:garamond,serif">Tel: 510.643.1236<br></span></div></div><span style="font-family:garamond,serif"><a href="mailto:jcsherwood@law.berkeley.edu" target="_blank">jcsherwood@law.berkeley.edu</a></span><br><div><div><div><div><div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>