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Guide to bod-inc online

This guide describes the format of the entries in Bod-inc online, in the order in which information is presented. Not all of the field names shown here are displayed on the screen. Fields are described in the order in which the information has been recorded in each entry.

  1. Entry heading Each entry begins with a short heading

    [Bod-inc number] Each edition has a number in the form 'A-001', where the letter is the first letter of the heading. This number should be used to cite bibliographic descriptions in Bod-inc. Where editions have been added to the collection since the catalogue was begun, or where they have had to be relocated, 'A', 'B', 'C' etc. suffixes have been used, in the form 'B-234A'. Numbers have been encased in parentheses (i.e. (A-291)) where the edition concerned is not now considered to be an incunable.

    [Heading] Normally the heading is the name of the main author or a generic title if there is no author.

    [Short title] The title of the work given in the short entry is a standardized uniform title. Editorial information (such as the names of editors, translators, and commentators) is included here in parentheses.

  2. Analysis of content Each text contained in an edition is described.

    [Location] The exact page where each text begins begins is indicated by a reference to the signature, leaf number, and side of the sheet (recto or verso), in the format 'a2r'. When gatherings do not bear printed signatures, 'made-up' signatures have been provided in the collational formula, and these have in turn been used as locations. Signatures which have been supplied in this manner are always placed within square brackets. See : Collation

    [Author name] Standardized form of the author's name. Whenever possible a Latin name form is chosen, if the name of the author in question appears in Latin in works printed during the incunable period. When the work is anonymous in the incunable, but has now been ascribed to an author, this name appears in brackets, for example '[Albertus Magnus]'. When, in the incunable, the work is ascribed to an author, but this is now considered spurious, the name is followed by [pseudo-].When, in the incunable, the work is ascribed to an author, but is now thought to be by another author, the form is: 'Albertus Magnus [pseudo-; Thomas Aquinas]'.

    Text Each text found in the edition is identified by a title. If the title given in the incunable edition differs significantly from a standard title, the name of the work as given in the incunable is shown within single quotation marks. Prologues, prefaces, dedicatory letters, introductory letters, and accompanying verses are given made-up titles in English if there is no usable title in the incunable. Indices and tables of contents are listed as other texts. Colophons are mentioned only in exceptional cases. 'Registra', in the sense of lists of gatherings, are not mentioned, except where they are followed by other texts.

    Incipit These are usually provided only when there is no modern edition of the text to which reference may be made, or when a complicated textual transmission makes it desirable to identify the version of the text found in the incunable.

    Refs. References to modern critical editions.

  3. Edition details and references Further details of the edition are found here

    Imprint The place of printing is given in English, followed by the name of the printer (and publisher, if appropriate) in a standardized form and by the date and year of the imprint, likewise in a standardized form; the format of the item is then given ('Folio','4o', etc.)

    Collation A collation statement has been included to facilitate the location of each text within an edition. A guide to the conventions follows:

    • 'a-z8' means that there are 23 gatherings, each of 8 leaves, and all signed with printed alphabetical signatures; numbers are not repeated when changes of sequence of signature occur, if the following letter or symbolized gatherings have the same number of leaves, so 'a-z & A-D8'; in some cases, printed arabic numbers are used rather than letters of the alphabet, for example, '1-48';
    • '[a-z8]' means that there 23 gatherings, each of 8 leaves, but none of these has a printed signature, so signatures have been assigned by the cataloguer;
    • 'a-z6.8' means a sequence of 23 gatherings with a regular alternation between 6 and 8 leaves per gathering;
    • '<a-d>' means that the gatherings are not signed, but the first half of each gathering is marked with letters in alphabetical order; when the leaves are unsigned but numbered at the foot where signatures are, the gatherings are usually given symbols (for example [*]), and a note is added to that effect.
    • Unsigned gatherings are all put within square brackets, along with the number of leaves. However, in some particularly complex cases (for example V-088) where numbers have been used either for more than just one or two gatherings, or when the numbering of the leaves diverges from the simple pattern noted above, no symbols have been introduced, and the collation has been produced in the following form: '(1 2 3 4 5) (6 7 8 9 10)10, which means that the first five leaves in each gathering have numbers: in the first they are numbered 1-5, in the second 6-10. In a break with the conventional bibliographical approach, uneven numbers do occur from time to time in collational formulae, as in GW and BMC. These have been retained in cases where the books in question are too tightly bound to allow a clear examination of structure; or where no stubs are visible; or in books printed on parchment, and where it has not been possible to check a paper copy. However, where possible, '+' is used to indicate when an extra leaf occurs in a gathering. Single sheets are described as such in the collation.

    Types Type size is usually only given if the edition has not been described adequately elsewhere (for example, in the GW, BMC, or in an edition or monograph on a particular printer); or if there is some need of discussion of the use of an individual type.

    [Watermarks] Details of watermarks have not generally been included.

    [Illustrations] Printers' devices are not mentioned, unless there is a particular reason to do so. Illustrations described elsewhere are mentioned, but only with reference to the relevant reference work. Other woodcuts, which have not been described elsewhere, are, where possible, so described.

    [References to other catalogues] A linked reference to ISTC is given. Reference is made to other catalogues of incunabula (based on ISTC) which have been used in the preparation of this catalogue.

  4. Copy-specific information Each copy of an edition is described separately.

    Bod-inc Copy number The copy number is the Bod-inc entry number followed by a number in parentheses, e.g. A-001(1), A-001(2). This number should be used to cite copy-specific descriptions in Bod-inc.

    Bound with The name of the printer is given in a standardized form, with a brief title of the book. For other incunabula, their catalogue number is given; for later English items, STC or Wing numbers are provided.

    [Imperfections] The form 'wanting' is used:'Wanting the blank leaf x1'. Thereafter, a range of information relating to misbound leaves, variants, etc. is recorded.

    Binding The elements of a binding have been described in the following form: its date, country of origin, and material have been recorded first, then any furniture, rebacking, evidence of chaining, etc. The following forms have been used: front/rear 'endleaf' or 'endleaves', to refer to what elsewhere may be called 'flyleaf', 'endpaper', or 'end-leaf'.

    Size The first measurement indicates the size of the volume's covers. The second indicates the size of the leaves of the text block themselves. For fragments in guard-books, the measurements of the fragment are indicated.

    [Pastedowns] This covers both manuscript and printed pastedowns.

    [Manuscript notes] The presence of manuscript notes has always been recorded. When a note is described as 'unread' rather than 'illegible', it implies that it was not legible to members of the cataloguing team, but may possibly be to others.

    [Decoration] The main decoration is described first, being the illuminated borders and principal initials followed by the secondary decoration, then the rubricated finishing, distinguishing between features supplied (such as initials, paragraph marks, running headings, and line fillers), and features marked (such as capital strokes).

    Provenance Full stops separate the information about one owner from that of the next. Each section of information about a single owner is separated by semicolons: 'Michael Mattaire (1667-1747). Edward Umfreville (d.1786); inscription on a1r: . . .' Further information about owners will be found in the Provenance Index [PDF].

    Former Bodleian shelfmarks Former Bodleian and Radcliffe Library shelfmarks are given, where possible, in chronological order.

    Shelfmark The present shelfmark of the copy in question.

 

November 2014: Categorisation by subject of work will be added to the data, enabling searches for the following subjects:
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