[DCRM-L] Determining bibliographical format

[Mark Seidl]

Dear June,

Worry not--yours is absolutely and appropriate question!

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.

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.

Hope this helps some.

All best,

Mark Seidl

On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 10:36 AM Rutkowski, June <rutkowsk at fas.harvard.edu>
wrote:

> 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.
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> According to my chart a 24mo with horizontal chain lines cannot have 6
> leaves.  I’m thinking it’s a 12mo.
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> 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?
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> June Rutkowski
>
> Cataloger
>
> Harvard Library Information and Technical Services
>
> Cambridge, MA 02139
>
>
>
>
>


-- 

Mark Seidl
Special Collections Librarian/Cataloger
Vassar College Libraries
http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/
Gargoyle Bulletin <http://pages.vassar.edu/library>
http://pages.vassar.edu/library/
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