Transcribing dates in roman

[Deborah J. Leslie]

Transcribing Roman Dates


This was an issue that I'd hoped to put forward first in the draft of
the basic principles of rare book cataloging that a subcommittee is
working on, but Jane & Juliet are understandably pressing for the
resolution of several DCRB issues that keep them from finishing the
serials rules. Therefore, I will open for discussion the issue of
transcribing roman dates as arabic. 

Here are the pertinent parts of 4D2 that covers the transcription of
dates in roman :

		4D2. Roman numerals:

		When roman numerals appear as Gregorian or Julian years,
change them to arabic numerals unless they are erroneous or misprinted.

		Transcribe years other than Gregorian or Julian as they
appear. 

		Optionally, if it is considered important to retain in
the catalog record the exact expression of the date, transcribe the date
as it appears in roman numerals and add the date in arabic numerals in
square brackets

What are we trying to do when we transcribe t.p. from an item? I put
forth that we are trying to represent the t.p. content as it expresses
itself, and some--although not necessarily all--of the form.
 
A transcription style that tries to represent both the content and the
form would be quasi-facsimile transcription. Standard AACR2
transcription is a compromise between representing certain pertinent
bits of content, but also requires fairly liberal abbreviation and
omission. Exact representation of self-expressed data is not nearly so
important.

The justification of more precision and detail in DCRB is to allow users
of the catalog to make finer distinctions of identification in terms of
the artifact as well as the text. While someone may not be able to
reconstruct the t.p. from a DCRB description the way one might from a
quasi-fax description, more faithfulness to representing the content as
it appears aids in the endeavor of identification.

This principle is largely assumed throughout the rules for t.p.
transcription in DCRB, until it comes to transcribing the date, that is.
Typos and archaic spellings are preserved, transpositions are noted, but
the date may be silently altered from roman to arabic in transcription
with no one (except the cataloger) the wiser. I'm sure I don't need my
assurance that sometimes the key to differences in settings of type are
titles and imprints that transcribe the same, but dates which are
variously in arabic and roman. 

Nearly everything else about the DCRB transcription rules are geared
toward showing up such differences, but the failure to treat the date
with the same faithfulness is a failure of the principle, and an
obscuring of useful information.

For these reasons, I propose that the rule be changed in principle to:

		Transcribe the date as it appears.  If the date appears
in any form other than the Gregorian calendar in arabic numerals, add
the Gregorian date in arabic numerals in square brackets.

Please note that I am not at all discussing this in terms of serials
rules, and indeed think this issue should be resolved in terms of
DCRM(B) only. Once we've resolved it, Jane & Juliet can take that
principle and apply it as appropriate to rare serials cataloging.

Let the discussion begin.

__________________
Deborah J. Leslie
Head of Cataloging
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol St., S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
202.675-0369 (p)
202.675-0328 (f)
djleslie at folger.edu