L585: Descriptive Bibliography
Summer Session I, 2001
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., Ellison Room, Lilly Library

Instructor: Joel Silver (phone 855-2452; e-mail: SILVERJ)

The main purpose of this course is to teach students to understand and to prepare detailed bibliographical descriptions of printed books. In order to prepare an accurate bibliographical description, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the physical components of the printed book (paper, ink, binding materials), as well as an understanding of the processes used to produce the book (typesetting, imposition, presswork, etc.). The course will cover the methods of producing books (especially during the hand-press period), as well as the organization and preparation of bibliographical descriptions.

Texts:

  • Philip Gaskell. A New Introduction to Bibliography. Oxford University Press; first published 1972; corrected and reprinted 1974. Reprinted in paperback in 1995 by Oak Knoll Books.

  • John Carter. ABC for Book Collectors. Seventh edition, with corrections and additions by Nicolas Barker. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Books, 1995.

  • Fredson Bowers. Principles of Bibliographical Description. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949; Reprinted in paperback in 1994 by Oak Knoll Books.

All three of these books, as well as the other assigned readings, are available in the Lilly Library Reading Room. They will also be placed on reserve in the SLIS Library.

Grading:

There are no exams. The course grade will be based on take-home written exercises and on a number of assigned bibliographical descriptions of books from the Lilly Library and Main Library collections.

Course Schedule:

The reading assignments should be completed before the class meeting under which they are listed. In addition to the readings listed below, there will be additional reading assignments from Carter, as well as a few other additional articles from bibliographical journals.

SB = Studies in Bibliography
PBSA = Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America

Tuesday, May 8: Introduction and Overview of the Course.

Thursday, May 10: No class meeting

Tuesday, May 15: Printing Type; Paper; Introduction to Transcription.

Gaskell, pp. 1-77, 322-328.
Allan Stevenson. "Paper as Bibliographical Evidence." The Library, 5th series, vol. 17 (1962), pp. 197-212.
See also Bowers, Chapter 4.
Thursday, May 17: Imposition and Format
Gaskell, pp. 78-117.
Tuesday, May 22: Presswork; Binding.
Gaskell, pp. 118-153.
Joseph Moxon. Mechanick Exercises (1683; edited by Davis and Carter, 1958 or 1962), pp. 252-322.
Graham Pollard. "Changes in the Style of Bookbinding, 1550-1830." The Library, 5th series, vol. 11 (1956), pp. 71-94.
Thursday, May 24: Binding (continued); Illustration; Book Production.
Gaskell, pp. 154-185
Tuesday, May 29: Bibliographical Description and the Collational Formula
Gaskell, pp. 322-335
Paul Needham. The Bradshaw Method (1988). "Appendix: Henry Bradshaw and the Development of the Collational Formula," pp. 24-33.
G. Thomas Tanselle. "Title-Page Transcription and Signature Collation Reconsidered." SB, vol. 38 (1985), pp. 45-81.
Bowers, Chapter 5.
Thursday, May 31: Other Aspects of Bibliographical Identification and Description
Gaskell, pp. 313-320.
Fredson Bowers. "Purposes of Descriptive Bibliography, with some Remarks on Methods." The Library, 5th series, vol. 8 (1953), pp. 1-22.
Fredson Bowers. "Bibliography." Encyclopaedia Britannica (1962 edition), vol. 3, pp. 539-543.
Bowers, Chapters 1, 3, 6-9.
Tuesday, June 5: Ideal Copy; The Organization of Bibliographies
G. Thomas Tanselle. "The Concept of Ideal Copy." SB, vol. 33 (1980), pp. 18-53.
G. Thomas Tanselle. "The Bibliographical Concepts of Issue and State." PBSA, vol. 69 (1975), pp. 17-66. Bowers, Chapter 2.
Thursday, June 7- Tuesday, June 12: Bibliographical Description of Machine-Press Period Books
Gaskell, pp. 189-311.
G. Thomas Tanselle. "A Sample Bibliographical Description with Commentary."
Bowers, Chapters 10-12.
Thursday, June 14: Bibliographical Applications, including Textual Bibliography, Bibliographical Investigation, and Analysis
Gaskell, pp. 336-360.
G. Thomas Tanselle. "Descriptive Bibliography and Library Cataloguing." SB, vol. 30 (1977), pp. 1-56.
David L. Vander Meulen. "The History and Future of Bowers's Principles." PBSA, vol. 79 (1985), pp. 197-219.
G. Thomas Tanselle. "A Description of Descriptive Bibliography." SB, vol. 45 (1992), pp. 1-30.
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