Incunabula

Reporting to the ISTC

The bibliographic descriptions and call numbers of newly cataloged incunabula are sent to the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue project at the British Library (incunabula@bl.uk).

Example:

Call Numbers

Year/Number call numbers are assigned to incunabula as for other printed materials in the General Collection unless there are instructions to class with a discrete collection (as was the case for Rosenthal).

Catalog Records

Descriptive cataloging for new incunabula is full level according to the latest edition of Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books). All required notes are made.

Copy specific notes

Separate 590 notes are made for each of the following categories in the order given below.

Bibliographical variants (590 or 500)

590     ‡a BEIN 1999 +13: Variant with the incipit on leaf 1a printed in black, and reading "iohannis bocatij" and "hierusale."

Hand illumination (590)

This is described briefly.

590     ‡a BEIN 1999 +13: Rubricated throughout, including large initials in gold and colors, with floral marginal decoration, at the beginning of each book. Manuscript quiring, mostly cut away. Copious manuscript marginal and interlinear annotations.

Imperfections (590)

These should be given in detail, so long as they affect the absence of entire leaves or damage to letterpress.

590     ‡a BEIN 1999 +13: Imperfect: leaves 1-8, 202-210 (1,2,209, 210 blank) wanting; leaves 3-8 supplied in manuscript, 202-208 in photostat. Wormed with slight damage to text. Damp stained and frayed at beginning and end. Some leaves seem to have been supplied from another, smaller, copy.

Provenance (590)

This should be recorded and traced as completely as possible from the book itself, and should preferably be given in the original wording.

590     ‡a BEIN 1999 +13: Provenance: "C[o]nv[en]t[us] M[o]n[aste]rij ord. Praed. Bamberge" (manuscript on 2a); "Johannis Fabri, in usu[m] amicorum, 1667" (manuscript on fly-leaf); Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (armorial book-plate); Sir John Henry Thorold, 12th Bart. (bookplates: Syston Hall, and monogram JHT).

Binding (590)

Binding is touched upon only if it is either contemporary (or nearly contemporary), an extra fine modern one by a well known artistic binder, displays characteristics for which 655 binding tracings are required, or if specifically requested by the curator.

590     ‡a BEIN 1999 +13: Binding: old stamped pigskin over wooden boards, with bosses and clamps; corner bosses and clasp hooks wanting; traces of chain-catch. Rebacked with modern pigskin. Lined with leaves from a manuscript vellum antiphonary. Binding: inlaid crimson morocco, olive morocco doublures, inside dentelles, gilt edges, by Chambolle-Duru. In black morocco case.

Bound-with notes (590)

General Beinecke Bound-with procedures are followed.

References to bibligraphies (510)

Cite the following references in this order:

  1. The best and latest bibliography (Gesamtkatalog, British Museum, Polain, in this order of preference)
  2. Goff
  3. ISTC
510 4   ‡a Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century now in the British Museum, ‡c V, page 225
510 4   ‡a Goff, F.R. Incunabula in American libraries, ‡c P-755
510 4   ‡a Incunabula short title catalogue, ‡c ip00755000

In most cases these references should be sufficient, and multiplication of references should be avoided. Additional citations may be given when warranted, in cases where a variation in type-assignment or imprint date is involved.

Additional general notes

Additional general notes, over and above those discussed above, should be used sparingly and only when essential for identification of the book or for justification of an added entry.

Subjects and added entries

Always use the following genre term:

655   7 ‡a Incunabula. ‡2 rbgenr

Additionally, two local subject entries are made for each incunable:

690   4 ‡a Incunabula in Yale Library.

or

690   4 ‡a Incunabula in Yale Library ‡x Single leaves.

and

691   4 ‡a [Country]. [City]. [Printer: (surname, forename)]. [Date].

The forms of printers' names should be kept uniform, as far as possible. Follow the forms used in tracings already in the catalog. If this is not possible the form found in the Gesamtkatalog, the British Museum XV Century Catalogue, and Goff (in this order of preference) should be chosen. The bibliographies, and even the Gesamtkatalog, are not consistent in this respect, especially as to the choice between a printer's native (German, Italian, etc.) and Latinized names. The Country is the country where the city now resides (corresponding to the place of publication code in the fixed fields). The form of the city is the current authorized form of the city. Leave out brackets. Record dates following style in Goff. Omit brackets and question marks and include the phrases: not before, not after, before, after. Dates recorded in 260/264 as "between" two dates are given as a span of dates. When including day and month, give in form: year month day.

691   4 ‡a France. Strasbourg. Flach, Martin. 1487.

 

691   4 ‡a Italy. Venice. Speyer, Wendelin von. Not after 1473.

 

 

691   4 ‡a France. Paris. Kerver, Thielmann and Georges Wolf for Hanse de Coblencz and Jean Petit. 1499 Oct. 15.

 

Provide added entries for all printers, publishers and/or booksellers as instructed in the Imprints Tracings page.

Always provide a 752 Hierarchical Place Name added entry for the place of publication (usually subfields a and d [country and city]). Use a standardized form based on the 781 field of the place name authority record. For more information see the Hierarchical Place Names section of the Imprints Tracings page.

Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) Project

For material entered into the Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) database project, always provide the following link in the holdings record for the specific copy:

856 4   ‡z Detailed provenance description available in Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) database ‡u https://data.cerl.org/mei/[MEI Copy Id]

Specimen Leaves

Specimen leaves of incunabula were formerly classed in Zzi.01--Zzi.05, Zi.+06 and Zzi.07. Henceforth when cataloging single leaves or books with single leaves of incunabula, assign the local subject, with subdivision Single leaves, as instructed above.

Hitherto Undescribed Incunabula

The cataloging of hitherto undescribed incunabula acquired by the Library is subject to the same rules, as set forth above, with the following exceptions:

The bibliographical references note is replaced by a statement:

500     ‡a A hitherto undescribed edition.

A statement of signatures is given; if the quires are not signed, they are given in brackets, for example [A-Z]8. If the imprint is not given in the item itself, it is supplied by the cataloger and a short note describing the type should be added.

500     ‡a Stephan Plannck's types 70G (text) and 132G (headings). See: Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century now in the British Museum, IV, plate IX.

If there is internal evidence which fixes the imprint date more narrowly than type assignment alone, that too should be mentioned, for example, the reference to a dated historical event, the accession to the throne of a king or pope, etc. Any type-assignment should be checked by the cataloger by referring, in the first place, to the reproductions and descriptions of types in the BM catalog, and, if necessary, to other helps.

Return to top