Cataloging the Decorative Elements of 19th-Century Imprints

Abstract

“Anything written on rare-book cataloging just now is bound to be controversial.” These were Paul Dunkin’s opening words to his influential How to Catalog a Rare Book, written over forty years ago. In the 1973 second edition of his work he asked the fundamental question, “How much is enough?” and responded astutely, “Probably no two catalogers will agree.” His opinions and counsel might have been different had he written his work in 1992, but the question remains the same. Once we have determined that a book is to be cataloged and have given it basic AACR2 treatment, how do we . . .