Guidelines and tips for searching the MEI database can be found here.

Editing in MEI: The creation of records in MEI has to be discussed and agreed with C. Dondi, c.dondi@cerl.org. New libraries will be assigned a “record owner” status, and MEI editors assigned to that record owner will be allowed to create and modify their records. Records pertaining to specific record owners can only be modified by the editors who created them.
Scholars working on a project focused on incunabula from multiple libraries can become MEI editors; their records will present the record owner “wandering scholar”.

Once you are provided with access rights to MEI, you will also receive access codes to the CERL webpage ‘Patterns of Historic Shelfmarks’.

General guidelines

• Language: the user interface of MEI is currently available in English, German, Italian, Greek, French, and Polish. To switch language, click “Language” in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, just above the logos.

• Login: the “Login” button is in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Once logged in, your name will appear in its place.

• Satellite databases: MEI consists of the main database plus satellite databases which support editing, searching and retrieval in MEI. They are: ISTC, Holding Institutions, Owners of Incunabula, and Geonames. These can be accessed by clicking “Datasets” in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, just above the logos. All are searchable.
Within MEI records, the ‘Select’ yellow buttons give access to information stored in the satellite databases, from which MEI derives information. Select buttons must be clicked on to retrieve data for the MEI fields, otherwise live links will not be created.

• Unlocking records: you cannot edit a copy while someone else is working on it. If, for whatever reason, you get locked out of the record you are working on, you can unlock it by yourself by modifying the string in this way:

http://data.cerl.org/_unlock/mei/[recordID]

• Sign your records: please add “Created by ***” in the field Copy History, see below. In this way the individual contributions are acknowledged and traceable.

How to create a new record

BEFORE YOU START CREATING A MEI RECORD, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO FIRST GATHER THE PROVENANCE EVIDENCE IN THE DATABASE OWNERS OF INCUNABULA (=OOI):

Check carefully whether your provenance name is already in OOI. If yes, you will be able to retrieve, in a MEI record, the name and its attributes (dates, place, geolocalisation, etc.) with a yellow button. If not, you have to create the entry in OOI.

HOW TO POPULATE AN ENTRY IN OWNERS OF INCUNABULA (=OOI)

Login in the upper right-hand corner. Select ‘Create a new record’ from the ‘More …’ menu in the upper right-hand side of the screen.
The entry is divided in two parts:  Provenance Name and Activity #1, 2, etc. (repeatable).

PROVENANCE NAME

Includes the following fields:

  • Personal Name: [Surname, Name]. Example: Correr, Theodorus. If a religious, add the Sigla, ex: Cleuen, Franciscus, OSB
  • Corporate Name (religious): [City, Order, Dedication, Sigla]. Example: Venice, Benedictines, S. Zacharia, OSB. This is basically the Bod-inc and IPI model, which allows for best browsing.
  • Corporate Name (lay): [City, Name]. Example: Brescia, Biblioteca Queriniana. Use ‘Anonymous’ when the geographical and/or chronological evidence is offered by manuscript notes / binding / decoration / stamps / historic shelfmark / price, without indication of ownership. For example: Italy, 15th century, anonymous, mss notes (from palaeographical evidence).
  • Type: choose between Corporate body or Person.
  • Gender: please choose.
  • Biographical dates – Period of existence: In the sequence 1234 – 5678; or 1234- (if still active)
  • Note: Add here whatever is relevant for the history of the library of the individual or institution. If a lot of work has been done by the editor, the editor should sign and date this part in the form: “(created by John Lancaster, 2 February 2016)”; if other editors add information it should be equally recorded. Similarly, if we import here information from other catalogues or databases we provide the source, in this form “(source: IPI)”.
  • Other Identifier: [repeatable and soon a live link] relevant bibliographical reference. For example links to Cerl Thesaurus (CT) and in the near future, Database of Provenance images.
  • Variant name: repeatable.

ACTIVITY

#1, ETC.

  • Start (year): use only numbers.
  • End (year): use only numbers.

These fields allow to distinguish separate period in the life of a person or institution, always with special reference to their books. Please follow the separate guidelines provided in DATING BY TIME PERIODS

Note: use this to define the numbers. For example, “floruit”, “approximate dates”, start period approximate” “end period approximate”.

  • MARC area code: [Select yellow button] Note: Comment if necessary.
  • Geonames Id: [Select yellow button]
  • Profession / Type of institution [choose]: please note that professions of people and types of institutions are here together. We use ‘Clergy’ for all members of religious order; we use ‘religious institutions’ for all orders.
  • Characterisation [choose]

Only once saved for the first time and in Display mode this record will present at the top a record ID.

Login in the upper right-hand corner. Select ‘Create a new record’ from the ‘More …’ menu in the upper right-hand side of the screen.
The record is divided into three folders:

  • Copy (it includes imported bibliographical data from ISTC, name of Holding Institution, shelfmark, plus some copy-specific features)
  • Evidence #1 (repeatable, where we record any provenance evidence)
  • About this record (filled in automatically: it indicates the record owner. However, please check that a record owner has been assigned to the record, otherwise you will receive an error message when trying to save the record)

Copy (MEI) ID: automatically generated number which identifies a copy. It is generated when a new record is saved and it is visible only when a record is displayed.

COPY

  • Database Segment: this field allows editors to cluster several libraries together by assigning the copy to an agreed cluster, for example ‘Regione Lombardia’, ‘Regione Veneto’ etc. Please note: this needs to be agreed with C. Dondi.
  • Language of description: automatically set, but can be changed.
  • ISTC No. (= Identification of the edition) YELLOW BUTTON. First of all the editor should check ISTC and find the ISTC number matching the copy in hand, and copy it.In ISTC No., click Select: a new window will open where you can type the ISTC number (or paste it), if you already know it, or search for it by using any available element (Author, Title, Place of imprint, Printer, Date etc.). Click on the resulting record and the ISTC number will fill automatically.

Note: Check that it is the correct edition, and that your copy is among the ones listed in ISTC. If not, tick the ‘This Holding is missing in the ISTC record’.

HOLDING INFORMATION

  • Holding Institution: ID Name of Library that currently holds the described copy. YELLOW BUTTON. The name is retrieved from the ‘Holding Institutions’ database, where all information on the institution or corrections to the complete name of it have to be made. Click Select. If the library is not present in the Holding Institutions’ database, please notify C. Dondi.
  • Collection [optional]: name of collection or sub-group the copy belongs to within the library, for example King’s Library, Grenville Library, Sloane Collection. only if necessary.
  • Shelfmark: current shelfmark of the described copy
  • Holding Note [optional]: insert here information relating to the availability or accessibility of copy (e.g. access restriction), alternative shelfmarks (when a copy is currently known/quoted under more than one shelfmark).

Note: Any information pertaining to the described copy that do not fit in any other place. This entry can be repeated.

ALSO BOUND WITH THIS COPY

Add here info on other copies bound within the same volume. Incunables will be retrieved through the ISTC number (yellow button) and if they are already in MEI you should add the MEI number manually. IMPORTANT: a link between records which describe incunables bound together is generated only when the MEI No. is retrieved through the system. Editors are therefore invited to first create each copy of a sammelband, and then to create the link between them.

COPY HISTORY

“Created by [name+surname]”. If the record is later revised by somebody else, please add “Created by [name+surname]. Revised by [name+surname]”.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

  • Physical description: missing leaves (ex: wants a1r), misbound, etc.
  • Leaf height: in mm.
  • Leaf width: in mm.

COPY FEATURES

This field has been created to allow researchers to identify very quickly important copy features found in incunabula. It offers an immediate view on issues such as incomplete copies, made up copies, etc.. It offers important quantitative options.

  • Copy features: choose all relevant definitions.
  • Copy features note: Free field in case you need to provide further information.
  • Support material note: [NOT MUCH USED] Free field in case you need to provide further information.
  • Support material (book): Material of printed leaves.
  • Support material (plates): Material of illustration, generally full-page, for example a Crucifixion illustration on parchment inserted in a book printed on paper.
  • Watermark: tick if the paper has watermark.
  • Note on watermark: give information on the watermark.
  • Link to Bernestein database: url of the database, where the description of the pattern of the watermark can be read.

ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION (repeatable)
URL: give the url of a digital facsimile of the described copy, if available.

Display text: visible caption, whatever you type here will appear as live link. If you offer a url of a digital image in Bridwell library and type in display text “Copy in Bridwell Library, 06444” this will be a live link; see MEI 02009054. IMPORTANT: Something must be written here, otherwise the url link will not be displayed.
Note: If necessary, more information on the reproduction provided can be given here.

OTHER IDENTIFIER

(repeatable) [NOT MUCH USED]

  • Identifier: Record Identifiers not listed in ISTC. At the moment identifiers from GW, HPB, IGI, BSB-Ink and SBN(A) can be recorded (see below).
  • Source: Select the database/catalogue the identifier ID refers to.

OTHER INFORMATION

  • Cataloguer’s Note: working notes, are not displayed publicly.
  • Source: add here more bibliographical references, such as studies and publications involving the copy, that have been consulted in the creation of this record.
  • Completeness: select one of the two options provided. The editor should use ‘incomplete’ if he/she is including info from published catalogues which do not offer a full description; ‘complete’ if he/she believes no more info can be obtained, or the fields have all been covered.
  • Editing History: automatically generated. It records all interventions to the specific record. Now visible only from the editing interface.

Please remember that an important facility of MEI is to locate and date every piece of evidence; that means generating a new "Evidence block" for each different provenance (not for different type of evidence relating to the same person/institution).
Example: John Smith, London 16th-century, with 16th-century binding, his ownership inscription, and 16th-century English decoration will probably all go in 1 Evidence folder. A German decoration of the 15th-century, then a German or English ownership of the 18th century will go in different evidence blocks: one will include 15th-century German decoration, to indicate that the book in the 15th century was first used in Germany, then a new block for the 18th-century German/English owner.

SELECT THE YELLOW BUTTON BY EVIDENCE 1 TO RETRIEVE YOUR FIRST PROVENANCE FROM OOI. You will only fill in an evidence block manually (BLUE BUTTON) IF you do not have an owner, but want to provide information about binding, decoration, manuscript annotations.

Most of the relevant information required by the evidence block will be automatically supplied from OOI, with the exception of: role [you have to select that]. The Time Period may also need adjusting.

  • Each change in ownership is recorded by the evidence found in the book or elsewhere.
  • IMPORTANT: the purpose of the MEI database is to track the movement of the book, from the place it was printed (represented by the bibliographical information), through its first and successive owners or areas, to the library where the book is held at present; THEREFORE THE LAST BLOCK OF PROVENANCE SHOULD ALWAYS BE AN ENTRY FOR THE LIBRARY WHICH HOLDS THE BOOK TODAY, AS 'PRESENT OWNER'.
  • If more than one type of evidence relates to an ownership, please record them in the same block of provenance. For example, 16th century German ownership and 16th century German binding.
  • If possible, provide the evidence in chronological order. It is however possible to change the order of the evidence blocks, by using the arrows that are displayed on the right hand side of the Evidence block in the quick display (see instruction "Changing the order of provenance blocks")
  • To delete a whole Evidence description block, click on the bin on the right hand side of the Evidence folder.
  • SAVE THE RECORD OFTEN, ESPECIALLY AT THE BEGINNING OF USING MEI
  • To delete a Provenance within an Evidence description block, empty all fields and save.

FIELDS CONTAINED IN EACH EVIDENCE BLOCK

  • Evidence sequence [#1, #2 …]: automatically generated number to group together the information of an evidence description.
    PLACE
  • Place – type the place name: if possible, give the place where the ownership described in this evidence can be located.
  • Place GeonamesID: YELLOW BUTTON Select the appropriate number from the list provided (click Select); if more than one number is assigned to a place, select the 'PPL' (populated place), not the 'ADM', nor other numbers. Note: If necessary, add clarifications or specification on the place here.
    AREA
  • MARC Area Code (see also: http://www.loc.gov/marc/geoareas/gacshome.html|MARC Area Code): YELLOW BUTTON Provide here the broader geographic area associated with the ownership described in this provenance section. This is particularly relevant when assigning evidence coming from binding, decoration, manuscript annotations, etc.  Note: If necessary, give any remarks or clarifications on the geographic area here.
  • TIME PERIOD: the period in which the book was in the possession of the owner, in a given evidence block. ARABIC NUMBER ONLY. DO NOT USE ANY LETTER such as c. fl. ex. about, nor '?'.

Precise dates are obviously preferable, including bio dates of owners, ex: John Reed 1820-1870. If his book presents a purchasing date of 1840, you can more precisely define the time the book was in his possession as 1840-1870. Second best is a floruit date, a date expressed in the ownership note for example: James Green 1535, and you do not know the bio dates of this owner, use 1535 in the time period, start and end: it will display "1535-1535". Third best, an approximation based on palaeographical or decorative evidence, for example: 1500-1600 and in the Note field: Approximate dates.

If the end period is not terminated yet, leave it blank, for example, a book purchased by the bodleian in 1840 will appear "1840 – ".

To summarise, editors need, as ever, to use their brain, and decide the best possible way to represent numerically the situation. Please consult the separate file named

Multiple names in an Evidence block
You can add another 'Provenance name' section in the same evidence block (eg., when adding the heirs of a given collection, if the collection has not moved nor changed property; or a member of a religious order who is using the book which belongs to the order's library, or else):
Simply click the YELLOW BUTTON "Add another Provenance name field" and select your name. This and previous names will appear within the same Provenance Evidence block.

Changing the order of the Evidence blocks:
If you need to change the order of the blocks of provenance, in case new or more evidence is found and new blocks have to be created or old ones moved, click on the two black arrows on the right-hand side of the "Evidence #1, 2. Etc" block and drag them up or down in the position you want. The system will then ask you to confirm whether you want to change the order. For example, you have a record with 1, 2, 3, 4 blocks of provenance. You want to switch the position of 2 and 3. Click on and drag the arrows of the third block onto the second. You will be asked to confirm the new order 1,3,2,4. By confirming the order will be changed.

When changing the order of the evidence blocks of provenance information make sure the 'copy in general' folder remains always the first one.

PARTS OF THE PROVENANCE EVIDENCE BLOCKS WHICH NEED TO BE FILLED EVERY TIME

  • Role: please choose.
  • PROVENANCE NOTE
  • Provenance Type: select all the relevant options.
  • Link to provenance image
  • Date of evidence: A four-digit number. A space to type a precise date, when present, for example a purchase date, or any date mentioned in an inscription of an otherwise unknown person which helps us placing the owner in a period around that date. Example. "1489", and in the following Note: "On a1r in an Italian hand: '…quod emit Venetiae 1489….'. "1545". And in the following Note: "On a1r an inscription in English in brown ink: 'my brother died in 1545 etc…'." Also, any precise date of acquisition from documentary evidence. In this case the editor needs to explain the date in the Note, as any element provided should be self-evident. Example: Date of Evidence: "1834" Note: "Douce books were bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834".
  • Note: Free text to transcribe an ownership inscription, or to provide further provenance information which is not expressed in the book itself such as 'Cicogna bequeathed his collection to the city of Venice', etc.
  • Method of acquisition: Controlled language. Please choose.

– BINDING

  • Binding Note: free text to describe a binding. Note: The name of the binder has to be placed in a block of provenance, the same as a former owner.
  • Binding Date: controlled language. Please Choose century.
  • Binding Type: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Binding height; depth; width: in mm.
  • Binding description in EBDB: provide a reference to the EBDB or other binding databases.
  • Board Material: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Cover Material: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Binding Status: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Furniture: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Titling: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Tooling: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Edges: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Writing on edges: controlled language. Please choose.
  • Gauffered: controlled language. Please choose.

– DECORATION

  • Decoration Note: Free text to describe decoration.
  • Decoration Elements: Controlled language. Tick as many as needed.

– RUBRICATION

  • Rubrication note: Free text to transcribe the note.
  • Rubrication date: Insert the year in the form 1234.

– MANUSCRIPT NOTES

Please tick as many as needed.

  • Manuscript notes: Free text to describe the notes.
  • Ms notes (frequency): Controlled language. Please choose.
  • Location in the book: Controlled language. Please choose.

– STAMPS

  • Stamps (note on stamps): Free text to describe a stamp.

HISTORIC SHELFMARK

On the CERL website there is a "Pattern of Historic Shelfmarks" table, which MEI editors use to gather data on historic shelfmarks found in incunabula. Every pattern has a number. This table sits within the CERL's website, that is outside MEI. Eventually, live links will be provided in both directions.

  • Shelfmark pattern No.: add here a number corresponding to the pattern, NOT a transcription of the shelfmark.
  • Shelfmark Description: free text to describe the hist. shelfmark.

ACCESS TO THE PAGE OF "PATTERN OF HISTORIC SHELFMARKS" IN THE CERL WEBPAGES

If a historic shelfmark pattern corresponds to the one you are describing, simply provide in the "pattern of historic shelfmark" field in MEI the number which corresponds to that pattern. If you have a new pattern, then you have to add it to the list. Further information will be provided, once CERL's new website is in place.

– PRICE

  • Price (amount): Insert numbers here such as 345 or 6.6.0.
  • Price (currency): Specify currency here such as French Francs, this will soon become a controlled list of currencies, like for the patterns of hist. shelfmarks.
  • Note: Free text to comment on the price.

[Editing Status] Certainty: please note whether the information provided is certain or uncertain. For example, if transferring data from a printed catalogue which may offer a dubious transcription of an ownership note, please choose 'uncertain'. If you are offering an educated guess, but think that there is space for improvement, please choose 'uncertain'. The editing status should be set when a new evidence is created or when substantial changes are made to an evidence description. Clicking here will set a new status, which is displayed publicly in the record's full display. Indicate the reliability of your evidence description.

[Editing Status] Source: give the type of source your evidence description is based on.
Multiple sources can be ticked.

  • Book in hand: if you are working…book in hand, mostly recording copy specific information relating to the book in hand for the first time.
  • Bibliography: If you are transcribing from secondary sources (ex. Catalogue of incunabula of Sir Thomas Smith; the copy census of an edition, etc.).
  • Library catalogue: if you are transcribing from a library catalogue, whether in print or electronic.
  • Auction/sales catalogues: if the information provided comes from auction or booksellers catalogues.
  • Historical Library Catalogue / Accession Journal: if your information comes from these type of documentary sources. Unknown/other, for the rest.

ADDITIONS OF "HISTORICAL COPIES"

Historical copies are records extracted from historical library catalogues or archival lists of collections now dispersed. Of these copies we know the exact edition they belong to, we know that at a certain point in the past they belonged to a certain private or institutional owner, but we do not know their present location. For example, books once belonging to Venice, S. Giorgio Maggiore: https://data.cerl.org/mei/02006706

Holding Institution: YELLOW BUTTON, select "Historical Copy".
Shelfmark: "Venice", that is the last place in which the book was seen.
Select in "Evidence 1" (or 2, 3 etc), "Source": "Hist. Library Catalogue"
Fill in the fields relating to the owner as usual, indicating in the field "Provenance Note" the source of the provenance information, for example "Morelli's survey (1789), p. 3". Select in "Type of Provenance": "Bibliographic reference" or "Documentary evidence".

In the future, if/when the physical copy of this record is identified, we just have to replace "Historical copy" from the entry "Holding Institution" with the name of the Library now holding the copy that once belonged to the Venice S. Giorgio Maggiore, and add the shelfmark in the apposite field. A note in Copy History should remember that the book was originally entered as historical copy, for example:

ADDITIONS OF "TRADE COPIES"

Exactly the same process can be applied to copies in the trade. See record MEI https://data.cerl.org/mei/00200404:

Holding Institution:  YELLOW BUTTON, select "Trade Copy".
Shelfmark: "Sotheby, London, 2013, lot 209", that is the last place/time the book was seen.

We then create the record with as many blocks of provenance as are witnessed by the book. The last block of provenance will be Sotheby, with, in the Note field of the Provenance Note, a full record of the sale catalogue: "Music and Continental Books and Manuscripts, London 5-6 June 2013, lot 209 (£30,000-40,000)".

If the book will resurface in a public library or in private hands which want to share the information, all we have to do is change Holding Institution and Shelfmark to the current one, and add a new block of provenance to reflect current ownership. The Sotheby's block of provenance evidence will be just another step in the life and movements of the book.

UPLOADING IMAGES OF PROVENANCE TO CERL'S PROVENANCE DIGITAL ARCHIVE (PDA)

The PDA, freely accessible by anybody, can be used to upload images of provenance and link out to these from MEI, see for example this record, with links in place:

Information on how to upload images can be found here.

HOW TO UPLOAD IMAGES TO THE PDA AND LINK THEM TO MEI

Register/login in https://pda.cerl.org/

Upload new item. The fields are compulsory. Upload image: upload. Source URI: add here the MEI full address of the record, for example https://data.cerl.org/mei/02001010

Click return: bibliographical information from MEI will populate the PDA

  • Institution Name: select the Holding Institution
  • Provenance Details: description: surname, name, date of person / place, name of institution / marginal annotation in a 16
  • Provenance Details: transcription: provide the transcription of a note
  • Kind of provenance: select; for example 'manuscript annotations'
  • ICONCLASS: select

Save. A link will be created. Copy it and go to your MEI record. Insert the link in your provenance block, Link to provenance image

  • URL: paste the URL of the PDA record
  • Text: whatever you write here it will show as live link
  • Note: whatever you write here it will show as note

CONTROLLED LANGUAGE

Provenance type: Inscription

When an inscription cannot be read, please provide further information, by using consistently one of the following expressions:

  • Erased inscription: when in the book can be found an ownership inscription later erased and not legible.
  • Deleted inscription: when in the book can be found an ownership inscription later crossed out and not legible.
  • Unread inscription: when in the book can be found an ownership inscription which the cataloguer is not able to read (but maybe somebody else will).

Holding Institutions database (HI)

This is only accessible to C. Dondi and ISTC. If the library you want to include in MEI in son in the HI database, please write to C. Dondi.

DATING BY TIME PERIODS

PURPOSE OF DATING BY TIME PERIODS:
1) To assign a chronological descriptor, necessarily approximate, to material evidence such as binding, decoration, manuscript annotations assigned on palaeographical competence
2) Use these data, that is a combination of precise dating and approximative dating, to search and visualise wide-ranging queries. In this way, a former owner with biographical dates 1489-1530, a binding datable to 1501-1600, a marginal annotation mentioning the year “1523”, will all be retrievable when querying the database for books used in a certain place between 1501 and 1550.

Here below you can find out how to continue expressing an approximate or generic dating, whilst conforming to new requirements:

This manner of presenting time periods allows the editors to be more precise, by using any available date, for example, the imprint date as a term after which, necessarily, the volume has been used in the 15th century. Therefore, all time periods assigned to the 15th century will have to be converted taking into consideration the imprint date, that is:

Similarly, the editor should use any given date to limit the dating by time periods, for example, purchase dates, or dates mentioned in manuscript annotations:

DATING IN THE INDEX OF OWNERS

There are two types of dating in the Index, biographical dates, and dates of activity.

Example:
Rossi, Paolo, 1856-1938
Venezia, Benedettini, S. Georgius Maior, OSB 982-1806
If full dates are not known, the editor will use floruit or approximate dates as outlines above, for time periods.

– PURPOSE OF ACTIVITIES:
The Activity allows to single out meaningful changes in the life of books and their owners.

  • Example 1: the German student Christoph Scheurl, purchased books while a student in Bologna between 1500 and 1503; back in Nuremberg, he continued to enrich the library. The objective here is to be able to capture the fact that the book, by being purchased in Italy, was first distributed in Italy, not in Germany where it was later taken; see MEI 02000451, Laetus Venice 1499 owned by Scheurl.Example: biographical dates: 1481-1542
    Activity 1: 1500-1503 Bologna, student
    Activity 2: 1504-1542 Nuremberg, scholar
  • Example 2: Count Boutourlin with his two collections, the first in Moscow, the second in Florence.
  • Example 3: A monastery first secularised, then opened again with a new book collection.

HOWEVER, THE ABSOLUTE MAJORITY OF OWNERS’ ENTRIES WILL PRESENT ONLY ONE PERIOD OF ACTIVITY, WHICH WILL COINCIDE WITH THEIR BIOGRAPHICAL DATES, OR WITH THE CHRONOLOGICAL BARRIER SET BY THE SUBSEQUENT PROVENANCE.

ATTENTION: PLEASE BE SENSIBLE WHEN CREATING ACTIVITIES. THE OBJECTIVE IS NOT TO BREAK DOWN THE LIFE OF THE OWNER, BUT TO CAPTURE MEANINGFUL STEPS IN THE LIFE OF THEIR BOOKS, AS EXEMPLIFIED ABOVE.

INDEX OF OWNERS – PERSONAL VS. CORPORATE ENTRIES FOR BOOKSELLERS

This came about as the result of looking at the case of Bernard Quaritch, and the firm that continued after his death, eventually becoming Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (as it is to this day).  Bernard Quaritch the man began his career in 1847, but the firm as a corporate body began only in 1899, after Bernard’s death.  Of course, as is the case for most individual booksellers, Bernard had a business, with employees, etc. – but he was the principal and clearly had full responsibility.  After his death, the responsibility was more diffuse, even though the firm was not converted to a limited company until 1917.

This will surely come up repeatedly with individual booksellers – they will almost always have a company structure, whether incorporated or limited, or not, and often with employees, but when the principal responsibility lies with a single person, it is appropriate to enter the provenance under that individual (e.g. H. P. Kraus).  When that person no longer bears the responsibility, whether by reorganization, retirement, incapacity, or death, and the company continues under the same name, then that’s when a record for the corporate body should start.