Oh, No, It’s a Serial! or, Cataloging 19th-Century Serials

Abstract

Volumes have been written on the literary, historical, and cultural significance of 19th-century serials. Special collections are regularly offered materials by booksellers which, upon closer examination, bear the marks, however carefully hidden, of being a serial. These materials may be literary works included in issues of periodicals, U.S. government documents, or periodicals reissued by the publisher with a new title page. We are regularly presented with challenges to identify citations without a clue that what is cited is not a monograph but actually in an uncited serial.

Two examples typify the kinds of situations we encounter when dealing with serials. . . .