[DCRM-L] Determining bibliographical format

[Erin Blake]

Something else to keep in mind is that the words used for bibliographic
format can also be used for spine height. One of my prized possessions is
an "old style" librarian's ruler that shows centimeters on the left edge
and spine high terms on the right. See the "Same words, different meanings"
section of the Folgerpedia article "Bibliographic format" for my attempted
explanation:  https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Bibliographic_format

See attached for a photo of my beloved ruler!

Erin.

----------------
Erin Blake, PhD (she/her) |  Senior Cataloger  |  Folger Shakespeare
Library  |  201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003  |
eblake at folger.edu  |  www.folger.edu



On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 10:54 AM Mark Seidl <marseidl at vassar.edu> wrote:

> 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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