[DCRM-L] License, privilege, and imprimatur statements

[John Lancaster]

I agree with Deborah, and have gone through much the same metamorphosis - originally trained to ignore such statements, then gradually realizing their importance and noting them, now transcribing them.  And to answer the second part of her question, I think they ought to be transcribed (and if similar statements are found elsewhere than on the title page, they should be given in a note).

1.A2.2 reads (in relevant part): "Such information may include pious invocations, quotations, devices, announcements, epigrams, mottoes, prices, etc." But license, privilege, and imprimatur statements don’t seem similar to any of these.

Also, though invocations, quotations, epigrams, and mottoes seem related (and generally peripheral to title/publication information), prices are certainly relevant to publishing; announcements may or may not be, depending on what they announce; and devices seem a strange addition to this group, since they are by definition (at least DCRM(B) definition) "generally symbolic, emblematic, or pictorial rather than textual” though they will often contain text (commonly a motto).

John Lancaster


On Apr 6, 2012, at 3:02 PM, Deborah J. Leslie wrote:

> I regret that we didn't directly address the status of license, privilege, and imprimatur statements that appear on the t.p. in DCRM(B). I was trained to silently omit them as falling under 1A2.2, but have for some years advocated making them a quoted note. I'm increasingly uncomfortable with that stance, since statements that either allow the printing or approve the content seem to me to be as much title (or publication) information as other things we regard as other title information.
>  
> I'm cataloging something now that has a ruled license statement between the statement of responsibility and the imprint, making it more prominent than the usual "auec priuilege du roy" that appears at the foot of many title pages.
>  
> I'm interested in two things from this community: what do you do with these statements, and what do you think ought to be done with such statements?
>  
> Thanks for your thoughts,
> Deborah
>  
> Deborah J. Leslie, M.A., M.L.S. | Head of Cataloging, Folger Shakespeare Library | 201 East Capitol St., S.E. | Washington, D.C. 20003
> djleslie at folger.edu | 202.675-0369 | http://www.folger.edu  
>  

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