[DCRM-L] Determining bibliographical format

[Moody, Honor M.]

It’s not uncommon to see a bibliographic format meaning spine height in recon records in OCLC. If the only/primary difference between the OCLC description and the piece in hand is a difference in bibliographic format, and no height is given in cm, I’ve found it worthwhile to check the public catalog of the creating library (in case they updated locally), or to contact the library to confirm.

Honor
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Erin Blake
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2019 12:29 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Determining bibliographical format

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<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__folgerpedia.folger.edu_Bibliographic-5Fformat&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=gfxDZP5m9KyeWhmono1ADELcLUOEQEwGHybTpd5N2Wk&m=u2kCy4rmLlifYSau3mLugGhb4QZPyPoOuPYelFoBCRw&s=D27RVllZjipF8kQnzyyb5LtZi6Fg6J4wpc_oLfyMcjU&e=>

See attached for a photo of my beloved ruler!

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


On Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 10:54 AM Mark Seidl <marseidl at vassar.edu<mailto: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<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=gfxDZP5m9KyeWhmono1ADELcLUOEQEwGHybTpd5N2Wk&m=u2kCy4rmLlifYSau3mLugGhb4QZPyPoOuPYelFoBCRw&s=COXzqK57kq0fL4kYieI6A0FmfDaxHgOkBNQWB_Xzj7o&e=>
Gargoyle Bulletin<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pages.vassar.edu_library&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=gfxDZP5m9KyeWhmono1ADELcLUOEQEwGHybTpd5N2Wk&m=u2kCy4rmLlifYSau3mLugGhb4QZPyPoOuPYelFoBCRw&s=azrk0oLO2EM_LEwBA2MLxwToWdUWB08cFnuz_bGaqZM&e=> http://pages.vassar.edu/library/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pages.vassar.edu_library_&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=gfxDZP5m9KyeWhmono1ADELcLUOEQEwGHybTpd5N2Wk&m=u2kCy4rmLlifYSau3mLugGhb4QZPyPoOuPYelFoBCRw&s=b0RB8EsBJC8LZF3EC_hvPRGNqzFJTDCYIuHHuS9xSpA&e=>
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