The catalogue can be made to give, besides the titles of books, such descriptions, more or less extended, drawn from all available sources of information, as may be necessary to furnish means of identifying each work, of distinguishing its different editions, of ascertaining the requisites of a perfect copy, of learning all facts of interest respecting its authorship, publication, typography, subsequent causalities, alterations, etc., its market value, and the estimation in which it is held.
For our entry we shall adopt the happy mean between these two and add to this entry, because it is the principal one, the information contained in the "imprint" at the foot of the title-page, giving the place of publication, the publisher's (or printer's) name, and the date of publication. In the early days of printing this information was given at the end of a book, and termed the "colophon." We shall also give the information spoken of as "the collation," consisting of a statement of the number of pages in the book, whether it is illustrated, and how, by maps, portraits, or otherwise, and even if the illustrations are in colour.
The first-named place of publication on the title-page of the book is London. In the catalogues of British libraries it is a recognised custom to omit naming the place of publication when a book is unmistakably published in London, this being taken as understood, all other places being given. Except in booksellers' lists and similar catalogues, the name of the publisher may also be left out, though it is often given in the full form of library catalogues. In the case of this book, the name of the second place, New York, is merely supplemental, the book being printed as well as published in this country. The date of publication must always be given, and in every entry (with the single exception of works of fiction, referred to later), not in Roman numerals, however, but in Arabic.
When books are in a number of volumes, the earliest and latest dates are given. These dates are not necessarily those of the first and last volumes, as the volumes may not have appeared in regular sequence, or a set may be made up from editions of varying dates.
For "the collation" we carefully examine the book and find that it has eight pages of prefatory matter marked with Roman numerals (i.—viii.), and the body of the work contains 227, paged in Arabic. This is shown as pp. viii. + 227, or as pp. viii., 227. The book has no map or illustrations. The enumeration of the pages in this way, it may be said, conveys no very exact idea of the extent of the work, as, of course, large type requires many more pages than small. Even the thickness of the book is not indicated by stating the number of pages, as an India-paper edition will contain just the same number of pages as one on thick paper. For these and other reasons, such information can be omitted if economy of space is of any consequence. If a book is in more than one volume it is unusual to give the number of pages, though it is sometimes done in publishers' lists. A "book" is invariably understood to mean a complete work, whether in one or many volumes.
The size of the book may also be given, and will occasionally prove useful, while completing the entry. The book we are dealing with is octavo in size, coming between the sizes known as "crown" and "demy," but as these terms convey no special idea to the uninformed in book sizes, and, indeed, no very definite idea to those who are, it will suffice for most purposes to call the book 8o (octavo) unless the height is given instead in inches or in centimetres, as 8¼in. or 21cm. For most catalogues it will be found sufficient to give the sizes when they exceed octavo, it being understood that all books are of that size, or less, unless the contrary is indicated by the signs 4o(quarto) or fo (folio).
The entry completed upon these lines becomes
Bell, Aubrey F. G.
In Portugal. London and New York, John
Lane, 1912. pp. viii., 227. 8o
The information to be given, when tabulated, falls into this order
- —Author's surname.
- —The author's forenames.
- —The title of the book.
- —The name of editor or translator.
- —The edition if stated.
- —The name of series or publication society (if any).
- —Place of publication.
- —Publisher's (or printer's) name.
- —The date of publication.
- —The collation (or the number of volumes if more than one).
- —The size.
- —The shelf, press, or other finding mark.
- —Any descriptive note or contents.