[DCRM-L] RE: concept of chief title

[Deborah J. Leslie]

Thanks, Joe, this is good to have on record. 
 
I would like to dispute slightly, however, the assertion that the chief
title is essentially the title proper minus the alternative title. In
fact, instead of deriving the definition of chief title from title
proper (regardless of its history; I'm speaking now of how best to
understand and apply these concepts), it works better to derive the
definition of title proper from chief title. Viz., title proper is the
chief title plus any title information or anything grammatically
inseparable that precedes it, plus alternative titles. I think the
example I gave on this list several weeks ago illustrates this
perfectly:
 
Here foloweth a notable treatyse and full necessary to an crysten men
for to nowe and it is named the Ordynarye of crystyanyte or of crysten
men
 
This whole phrase is the title proper, but only Ordynarye of crysyanyte
or of crysten men is the chief title. 

________________________

Deborah J. Leslie
Folger Library
djleslie at folger.edu
 

	-----Original Message-----
	From: dcrm-l-admin at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-admin at lib.byu.edu]
On Behalf Of Joe Springer
	Sent: Thursday, 27 January, 2005 14:37
	To: dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu
	Subject: [DCRM-L] RE: concept of chief title
	
	
	At Boston's meeting of the Bibliographic Standards Committee, I
offered to look into and report on the history of the term "chief
title".  Those uninterested in such an arcane topic may delete this
message!
	
	"Chief title. The distinguishing word or sequence of words that
names a publication, as given on the title page (or substitute). This
definition excludes alternative titles, parallel titles, other title
information, and subsidiary title information preceding the chief title
on the title page, such exclusion resulting usually in a short title.
See also Title proper."
	
	The above definition of "chief title" found in the DCRM(B) delta
draft is one that follows verbatim the definition given in the glossary
of LC's 1981 Bibliographic Description of Rare Books.  The cross
reference "See also Title proper." was the only addition made in the
BDRB revision process that led to Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books
(1991).
	
	BDRB is the first place I have located that makes this
distinction between "Title proper" and "Chief title" (essentially being
the title proper minus alternative title).  LC's Ben Tucker and his
staff developed BDRB "in-house" and Tucker did tend to be concerned
about lengthy title transcriptions.  Lest we forget (or never knew) it
was the 1978 appearance of AACR2 that first brought the ISBD term "title
proper" to the desktops of North American catalogers.  Not long before
BDRB, catalogers would have routinely worked with a concept not unlike
our "Chief title."  The 1967 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules ("blue
book" or AACR1) offered a secondary definition of title ("in the narrow
sense"):  "the name of a work, exclusive of any alternative title,
subtitle, or other associated descriptive matter on the title page."
	
	ISBD(A) texts since at least 1978 (pre-BDRB) follow other ISBDs
in using the wording "chief title" in their definition of "Title proper"
("Title proper: The chief title of a publication, i.e. the title of a
publication in the form in which it appears on the title-page of the
title-page substitute.  The title proper includes any alternative title
but excludes parallel titles and other title information.  &.")  I find
the decision by Tucker and his staff to crib that wording and turn it
into a distinct concept really rather clever.  It avoided the necessity
of inventing yet another adjective to qualify "title." Especially back
when the memory of AACR1 was still strong, one could even almost think
that all along ISBDs had envisioned title proper to be chief title +
alternative title! 
	

	Joe A. Springer, Curator
	Mennonite Historical Library
	Goshen College 1700 S. Main St.
	Goshen, IN 46526  (joeas at goshen.edu)
	574-535-7421     FAX 574-535-7438
	

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