Here are some entries you might want to look at as examples of successfully completed first assignments:
For this assignment, you have to present the physical aspects of the bestseller you are working on, using the categories identified by the assignment form. An itemized list of all the sources consulted, with indication of their usefulness for your assignment, needs to be submitted to -unsworth, at uiuc.edu- no later than midnight on the day the assignment is due. The special instructions for each of the items follows:
1. First edition publication information (publisher, place, date, etc.):
You will provide a description for the first edition of the novel you are describing (the one in hand), formatting the citation as follows:
Additional information to include here:
In addition to resources listed on the Library Resources page, first editions can be identified using:
2.First edition published in cloth, paper, or both? If both, simultaneous or staggered?
In the likely case that your first edition is published in cloth, without a simultaneous or staggered paperback edition, then here you just state that the first American edition is published in trade cloth binding; the description of the binding itself is included in Question 11. You may also choose to say the first edition is published in hardcover, rather than cloth, if your first edition is not cloth-covered, but is hard-back (for example, if it is bound in a hard cardboard cover).
3.JPEG image of cover art from first edition, if available (and general image-related instructions): The inclusion of images in your entry is optional, but it does increase the usefulness of your entry. To provide an image of cover art, you will either need the cooperation of Special Collections or you will have to scan the cover art yourself: the same goes for sample illustration, sample chapter page, and title page of your novel (cf. Question 7,9, and 13). Once you (or Special Collections) have created the digital image, save (or download) to a diskette, for use when you are online completing the assignment form. The image should be saved as JPEG file, at 300 dpi, millions of colors, and saved at 75% quality.
The method of inclusion of the image into the database follows:
You can add additional illustrations with legends and commentaries in Add Supplementary Materials section, which allows you to add up to 5 additional images, with descriptions. Note that you need not limit yourself to illustrations, but can include documents (such as correspondence with Special Collections curator that aided you to find the original manuscript, etc.)
4.Pagination:
The statement of pagination and should identify the total number of leaves, followed by a listing of all pagination sequences:
The bracketed numbers are those that are not listed on the pages, but can be inferred because they are part of a pagination sequence. Pages that are unnumbered and are not implicitly part of a numbering sequence (for example, 8 unnumbered pages before the page that is explicitly or implicitly numbered i or 1) can be indicated as a total number in brackets (e.g., [8]), at the point they occur in the sequence of pages. Unnumbered plates facing particular pages are also listed in the statement of pagination (represented as [2] parts of the sequences above). They will be included in the pagination statement in the order in which they appear. Question 6 calls for identifying the authors, and the position of each plate in the item. Looseleaf endpapers (usually of a different paper stock, often of a different color, identifiable because they are identical to the paper glued to the inside of the front and back cover, if any) are properly part of the binding, not part of the printed matter in the book, and therefore they are not included in the leaf-count or in pagination. They should be noted in the section on binding, instead.
5.Edited or Introduced? If so, by whom?
Just note whether there is introductory material, describe the nature of the material briefly, and state its connection to the work. You may also indicate the presence of publishers advertisements bound with the work (at end), note what is advertised (series, etc.). Dedications, author's notes, etc. should be described here.
6.Illustrated? If so, by whom?
Your illustrations may be plates inserted on glossy paper stock, reproduced from drawings or as illustrations inserted in the novel. Describe them in terms of the type (plate, vignettes, illustrated end papers), indicate where they are found (e.g., on p. vi, facing p. 304), the type of illustration (drawing, photographic, etc.), the chromatic features (black and white, sepia, color). You may also include any information about the nature of illustrations. You should list captions found with the plates and any other textual information found with the plates. For example:
7.JPEG image of sample illustration, if available:
see instructions for Question 3
8.General physical appearance of book (Is the physical presentation of the text attractive? Is the typography readable? Is the book well printed?):
Note the following: size of the page and size of the text (measure the height and width of the text to convey the sense of the margins). You may add your subjective response to the readability features which objectively depends on size of margin, type wear, cracking, spacing between the lines, type size). Also indicate the position of the illustration and legend on the plates.
Express the size of type by measuring 20 lines of text in millimetres (20 lines is an arbitrary unit taken by bibliographers), and classify the type faces as roman. You will get a measurement followed by R (for roman typeface), e.g. (78R which means that the book is printed in roman type, 20 lines of which measure 78 millimetres in depth). NB: "roman" here does not refer to a particular typeface, but rather to a whole family of fonts--the alternative family is Gothic. Almost all printed books produced after the 16th century use a roman typeface.
You may go on to further describe typography. You will note any description of type in the book itself (verso of t.p., colophon). If that information is not available, using Gaskell, A New Introduction to Bibliography (1972, 9), you can identify whether you have serif or sans serif type and whether there are differences in the typographic presentation of the text, chapter headings, title pages, legends for plates. You may use (but are not required to use) Mundie (listed on the Library Resources page) to identify typefaces.
9.JPEG image of sample chapter page, if available:
see instructions for Question 3
10.Paper (Assess the original quality of the paper used for the book. Is the paper in the copy or copies you examined holding up physically over time?):
The simplest description of paper will indicate color (white, almost always), smooth or glossy (smooth, almost always), straight or deckle edge (and the edge may not be the same on the top/bottom vs. the side).
More particularly, your books may be on wove paper (with even, granulated texture), which does not have chainlines and wiremarks. You need not indicate the paper size which was used for folding the gatherings, but if your book is made of paper with imitation chain lines to make it look like laid paper, please note that.
Note the texture of the paper, coloring (and discoloration, if you can compare two copies in different state of preservation). Please note if book consists of different paper stocks. So, if your plates are on glossy stock, which differs from the paper used in the rest of the book, note this here. Also note the preservation state of the paper of the examined copy here (foxing, stains, tears).
The most comprehensive reference book on paper is: E.J. Labarre's Dictionary and Encyclopaedia of Paper and Paper-Making. 2nd ed. 1959. Supplement 1969.
11.Description of binding(s):
For the description of the binding, please note the features of the binding, and note if you have a dust jacket, if anything is laid in (publishers' notice, errata leaf, etc.) which is integral to this edition. All the notes that are copy-specific should be given in Question 15).
Describe the binding in terms of the material, color, ornamentation, addressing
12.Transcription of title page:
Transcribe both the recto (front) and the verso (back) of title page, in two sections. Follow the rules of transcription set out in Gaskell's A New Introduction to Bibliography.
13.JPEG image of title page, if available:
see instructions for Question 3
14.Manuscript Holdings
You will be rewarded for finding this information but not penalized if you have not found where the manuscript holdings are (because they might not exist). Suggestions on how to proceed: check RLIN, check Google, post a note on listserves (esp. archives, those that are read by special collections librarians). Also consult the National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections (an online resource at the Library of Congress), linked from the Online Resources page.
15.Other (typograpical information from title page, etc.)
Add here the transcription of the colophon (if applicable), any copy-specific information, and other notes on the physical description of the item that you cannot fit elsewhere. You may use this space to provide a more detailed description of the dust-jacket, including text (blurbs, etc.) on the flyleaf, front or back.
Copy-specific information refers to any inscriptions or items added to this copy. Note if the copy is inscribed copy, dedication copy. Transcribe the inscription as found, with dates and where found (on free front end paper, flyleaf, title page), etc. You may include the call number for the copy you are consulting, if it is in UVa's Special Collections.
You may include your own comments as to the significance of the inscription, or copy specific features. These features may indicate the patterns of reading, link the book to previous owners, or indicate the transaction in which this book is involved (e.g. presented for Christmas), which is also informative as to the physical interaction of the reader with the book. You may also note library stamps or processing information, if applicable. This information is known in bibliographic description as information on provenance.
NOTE:
The first time you enter information into the form (your user ID must be entered without dashes), you will need to access it through the Assignment 1: Bibliographic Description link from the course homepage at ./. After you have submitted any part of your entry, you will not be able to change the form using a blank assignment 1 entry form: instead, you will need to access your assignment from the "Update an Assignment" link.