[DCRM-L] Publishers Personal Name/Corporate Body

[Noble, Richard]

In my new (and thankfully temporary) role as NACO Coordinator, I'm
confronted with a cataloger's new record for "George Virtue (Firm)". Virtue
was a publisher, for whom there is a personal heading that has served for
use in records for his publications:

MARC nr 91022431
MARC MWA eng rda MWA DLC
NAME AUTHR Virtue, George, 1793?-1868
NAME S FRM Virtue, G. (George), 1793?-1868
NOTE Fletcher, A. Scripture natural history, 1838: t.p. (George Virtue;
London publisher)
NOTE Concise DNB (Virtue, George, 1793?-1868; published books with fine
copper and steel engravings)

Relatively late in his career Virtue did use a corporate imprint "Virtue &
Co." or "George Virtue & Co.", for which one might wish to establish a
corporate heading. But in view of the fact that we usually treat printers
and publishers who use a personal name as persons rather than corporate
bodies, is the following record at all useful or, as I think it may be,
actually counter-productive, since it proposes an alternate corporate AAP
for an established and much used personal name:

1102 George Virtue (Firm)
370  ǂe London (England) ǂ2 naf
372  Publishers and publishing ǂ2 lcsh
4102 George Virtue and Co.
4102 George Virtue and Company
4102 George Virtue & Co.
4102 George Virtue & Company
4102 G. Virtue (Firm)
4102 Virtue (Firm)
670  Walks about the city and environs of Jerusalem, 1844: ǂb title page
(London, George Virtue)
670  Coyne, J. Stirling. The scenery and antiquities of Ireland, 1843?: ǂb
engravings throughout text (London, Geo. Virtue, 26 Ivy Lane)
670  OCLC, May 20, 2016 ǂb (access point: George Virtue (Firm) ; usage:
George Virtue, George Virtue and Co., George Virtue & Co., Geo. Virtue, G.
Virtue)

Obviously the treatment of the personal name as preferred name even for
publications with a corporate-style imprint won't wash; nor the inclusion
of "Virtue (Firm)" as a reference, since that involves us with the
successor firm operated by James Sprent Virtue. And in any case the Virtue
father and son were probably whimsical in the forms of their imprints.

Note that there are also AAPs for J.S. Virtue and Co., James S. Virtue
(Firm), Virtue and Company [which is James S. Virtue]--three authority
records that don't "talk" to each other, and Virtue & Company, Ltd. (an
unrelated[?] c20 firm). I'd rather we didn't contribute further to this
proliferation of AAPs, and I'm certainly disinclined to try rationalizing
the rather messy situation that already exists, having many other things to
do.

Of course, another question is: does one want treat a person as a corporate
body solely because the relationship with the resource is one that a
corporate body might have?



RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY
BROWN UNIVERSITY  ::  PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912  ::  401-863-1187
<Richard_Noble at Br <RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU>own.edu>
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