CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by SAS-SPACE What, How and Why: Accessing Incunabula at Senate House Library, University of London K.E. ATTAR Karen Attar is the and the six-volume Catalogue of books printed in Rare Books Librarian the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library at Senate House (Coates, 2005, building on work begun by L.A. Library, University Shepard in 1954), testify to long-standing British of London. In 2008 interest in incunabula. So does the conception she catalogued, ex- and development at the British Library of the hibited and lectured newer of the two major international censuses of about its incunabula. incunabula, the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue She is Secretary of (ISTC; available at http://www.bl.uk). the UK Bibliographic Both the Bodley catalogue and the eleventh Standards Committee volume of BMC, on English incunabula, are of the CILIP Rare scholarly milestones, and honoured as such Books and Special Collections Group, and has in bibliographical journals (Edwards, 2007; published articles in bibliographical and pro- Linenthal, 2006; Needham, 2007; Sharpe, fessional journals about collectors and collections 2008; Wagner, 2008). Yet online cataloguing and about cataloguing. in Great Britain does not reflect this interest. Of the most important repositories of incunabula INTRODUCTION in the United Kingdom, in late 2007 only the British Library and the John Rylands University It is a truth universally acknowledged – at least Library of Manchester provided online access to in the bibliographical world – that incunabula their incunabula, via their own respective online have long held a status not enjoyed by post-1500 public access catalogues (http://130.8.109.188/ publications. Witnesses are the numerous printed TalalisPrism/index.jsp?interrface=webpage; hand-lists and catalogues, some extremely http://catalogue.bl.uk) and through COPAC, detailed, of institutional incunabular holdings, the union catalogue of major British university ranging from those at the University Library at and research libraries (http://www.copac.ac.uk). Nijmegen (Laeven, 1986; 108 items) or Milltown The Bodleian Library was in the process of Park, Dublin (Grosjean and O’Connell, 1932; cataloguing its incunabula electronically, and 117 items) to incunabula at the Bayerische Cambridge University Library intended to begin Staatsbibliothek in Munich (Bayerische in the foreseeable future. Staatsbibliothek, 1988–2000; 16,785 editions plus Thus a project in early 2008 to catalogue 2,448 duplicates). The thirteen hefty volumes of in detail online the incunabula at Senate House the Catalogue of books printed in the XVth Century Library, University of London – formerly known now in the British Museum (BMC) (1908–2007) as the University of London Library – in a sense ALEXANDRIA, 20(2), 2008 105 007 - ATTAR - Alexandria 20.2.in105 105 28/01/2009 10:27:19 What, How and WHY: AccessinG IncunaBula at Senate House LIBrarY blazed a trail. At a time when recent major printed other printed books, for example for attribution catalogues have stimulated discussion about of printer and place and date of printing, and describing incunabula, this article examines the for standard titles. Reliance on and detail of the issues considered when cataloguing incunabula major catalogues of incunabula (BMC, ISTC, online. It summarizes scholars’ desires for the the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GW)) content of descriptions, their transferability result in their having a great deal of authority. and relevance to the online environment, and This authority in some ways pulls against the tensions resulting from the clash of library Library of Congress authorities, a standard for conventions with those of scholars of incunabula. Anglo-American libraries. The article then describes the project at Senate Reviews of printed catalogues and House Library as a case study of one major wide consultation about ISTC during its academic library’s resolution of the issues, and implementation (Hellinga and Goldfinch, 1987) assesses the value of a labour-intensive and have led to various published expressions of what hence expensive project for the institution and users want in descriptions of incunabula. While beyond it. some wishes refer specifically to the context of printed catalogues or the union catalogue/ THE NATURE OF THE MATERIAL: THE census environment, others are transferable to ‘DIFFERENCE’ OF INCUNABULA individual library online catalogues. General requirements are for subject indexing (Murphy, Incunabula and later books differ both as 1987, p. 239), detailed contents (Reeve, 1987, material productions and in the way they are p. 200), a record of the form of punctuation treated. The editions stand out from subsequent used by the printer (Saenger, 1997, pp. 496– handpress books through frequent lack of title 497) and a note of leaf size (Needham, 1993, pages, foliation and signatures. An imprint, if p. 97, p. 104; 2001, p. 235). Desires for copy- present, is in the colophon; quite often part or all specific information are to record illumination of the imprint (place and date of printing, name and other decoration which would shed light of printer) is absent. Reliance on manuscript on where an incunabulum was prepared for additions (notably initial capitals) and decorations sale, among other questions (Armstrong, 1997, is another distinguishing feature, such that one p. 476; Needham, 1993, pp. 104–105; Saenger school of thought advocates treating incunabula and Heinlen, 1991, pp. 252–256); all bindings, as manuscripts (Rouse, 1987, p. 202; Saenger contemporary or otherwise (Oyens, 1987, p. and Heinlen, 1991). Early readers, indeed, 223; Needham, 1993; p. 104; Needham, 2001, saw manuscript and print as interchangeable p. 235; to a lesser extent, Rouse, 1987, p. 204), (McKitterick, 2003, pp. 33–52). Textual post- and the manuscript waste in contemporary or publication manuscript amendment possibly near-contemporary bindings (Willison, 1981, p. occurred in printing houses, such as the manual 173). Scholars unite in clamouring for detailed correction of errata (Hulvey, 1998, p. 163; provenance information, ranging from notes McKitterick, 2003, p. 102). of marginalia to information about a library’s The descriptions of incunabula in major immediate acquisition from a bookdealer standard bibliographies or catalogues are (Altmann, 1987, p. 70; Needham, 1993, p. 105; far more detailed than in the standard short- Needham, 2001, pp. 175, 235; Rouse, 1987, pp. title catalogues of various categories of later 203–204; Saenger, 1997, pp. 503–504; Willison, material (e.g. STC, Wing, Adams). Absence of 1981, p. 172). The detail of printed descriptions the identifying features which we now expect to leads to questions about the value of repeating find on title pages renders reliance on external general information (Altmann, 1987, p. 70; descriptions of incunabula heavier than for Baurmeister, 1987, p. 147). 106 007 - ATTAR - Alexandria 20.2.in106 106 28/01/2009 10:27:19 What, How and WHY: AccessinG IncunaBula at Senate House LIBrarY ONLINE CONSIDERATIONS (albeit not leaf size), and copy-specific notes on provenance, bindings, and other copy-specific Standard antiquarian online cataloguing practice information such as imperfections, rubrication in the Anglo-American world is to follow and the binding together of discrete items Descriptive cataloging of rare books (DCRB) after publication. DCRM(B) contains certain (1991) or its 2007 successor, Descriptive instructions specifically or primarily intended cataloging of rare materials (books) (DCRM(B)) for incunabula: routinely to record signatures for descriptive cataloguing and the second edition (‘generally desirable’ 7B9.1); ‘For incunabula, of the more general cataloguing manual Anglo- note color printing and record the number of American cataloguing rules (AACR2) (Joint columns (if more than one), the number of lines, Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, and type measurements if no account is found 1998) for headings to provide access by name in a bibliographical source and the printer is and title. Library of Congress subject headings unidentified or has been identified from this (LCSH) provide subject indexing. Most libraries information’ (7B10.2). also follow Library of Congress authority forms Another transferable concern from the printed for authors’ names and for titles. The American to the online environment is a sense that repeating Library Association has provided a number of general details unquestioningly from catalogue to thesauri which may be used to index elements catalogue is not helpful. Electronically as in print, of provenance, binding and paper among other abstaining from reproducing details perceived as topics (listed in DCRM(B), pp. 206–207), while unnecessary saves time and therefore money. another American initiative, the Bibliographic Space, albeit not the economic consideration in Standards Committee of the Rare Books and the electronic environment that it is in the print Manuscripts Section of the Association of one, remains relevant online: user convenience College and Research Libraries, has supplied a is best served by catalogue records fitting on a generally accepted list of Standard citation forms single screen. for published bibliographies and catalogs used In other ways requirements of the online in rare book cataloging (2nd edn, VanWingen catalogue set it apart from both the printed and Urquiza, 1996). In the United Kingdom, catalogue and the stand-alone