[DCRM-L] Determining bibliographical format

[Rutkowski, June]

This is very helpful, Mark.  Thanks.

I had to put the book aside for now, unfortunately.  When I get back to it I should be able to provide more info about my 2nd question.

Best,
June Rutkowski
Harvard Library ITS

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Mark Seidl
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2019 10:54 AM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Determining bibliographical format

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<mailto: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




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Mark Seidl
Special Collections Librarian/Cataloger
Vassar College Libraries
http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__specialcollections.vassar.edu_&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=nJ394DafGyjujygNJ916V9-e1zKq7zuNoO2h0CFDng8&m=BznbYtJf8H9FAoxMjf0ypfWLyhVGAfSRCqzm6aqvEuI&s=aYv981vm5-qWxuFIHSP9DqDxRjrC0l8CutM7uLesbIk&e=>
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