Enumerative, Analytical, Descriptive, Historical, and Textual Bibliography
LIS 590 EB
Dr. Berger
This course looks at the five branches of Bibliography (Enumerative [systematic, distributive],
Analytical [critical], Descriptive, Historical, and Textual) with the aim of showing how all five
contribute to a thorough knowledge of books.
With the proliferation of digital media, hardware, and software in the library world, there is a
tendency among some scholars to believe that it is satisfactory to relegate books—the physical
artifacts—to some place in the past and to abandon some of the traditional materials that have
been staples of library education for more than a century. This view is clearly misdirected and
narrow-minded. When we think of librarianship—or indeed, Information Studies—we are still
considering the most basic act in the world of information: linking patrons with information.
Even the most ardent adherent to Information Technology and digital research admits that not
everything exists in digital form. The world is still full of books—hundreds of millions of
them—which contain texts that are not now, and probably will never be, in digital form.
The new technologies will not drive out the old (as was the case with the calculator and the slide
rule). Since analog and digital information will coexist for the foreseeable future, it is essential
that we not forget to concentrate on the former as we have done for hundreds of years.
Furthermore, the design of systems, the shape of information in the digital age, has been
powerfully influenced by that which it tries to (but will never) replace. Even the terminology of
the digital world reflects the importance of the world of books: home page; leading; to read a
text cover to cover; we still acquire texts, publish texts, and print texts on computers, and so forth.
Those designing web pages know that their users will have embedded in their brains the
presentation of information in book form, so the designers know that the effectiveness of their
work depends on a knowledge of the physical artifact.
For this reason, the study of Bibliography is essential in a digital world.
Bibliography, the generic term for the study of books, however, can be approached from several
angles. In the simplest meaning, an Enumerative (or Systematic) bibliography is a listing of
sources: books, magazines, broadsides, journals, newsletters, almanacs, and so forth. The class
looks at how to produce them, design them, and get them published. We look at the different
kinds of bibliographies, what they should contain, how to focus them, and their uses.
Analytical (or Critical) Bibliography is concerned with a detailed analysis of books as physical
objects. The analytical bibliographer tries to determine how the books was put together; the
materials it is made of; its author; publisher, and date; its distribution. Such an analysis can lead
to an understanding of the book as an individual object, different from others that look like it.
Other issues in this branch of bibliography are, is the book complete or perfect, and if not, what is
wrong? How has the book changed over the years? That is, how has it evolved from what it was
when it was first issued into the world? Where does it come from and who has owned it? What
can one learn from its binding, annotations, bookplates, or other features?
This branch of the discipline leads naturally to Descriptive Bibliography, in which one records
what has emerged from an analysis of the object at hand. How does one describe a book?
especially one from the hand press period (up through, say, 1800) that purports to be the same as
other like copies? A good bibliographical description will reveal the elements and nature of an
individual copy. The value of such a description to librarians, archivists, book collectors,
scholars, and booksellers can be immense.
Historical Bibliography looks at the whole history of the book as an artifact from its emergence
to the present day. This branch of bibliography is vast, for it covers the whole sociology of
books: their authorship, publishing, and dissemination; readership; the evolution of the artifact;
reception theory; the economics of the trade; the book’s social, cultural, and artistic impact; what
influenced the creation of books and what books have influenced in the world around them; and
much more. Hence, historical bibliography looks at such things as the history and evolution of
the papermaking industry, bookbinding, ink making, typecasting, typography, the evolution of
printing presses, authorship, bookselling, government control, censorship, copyright issues,
reading tastes, and so forth.
Finally, Textual Bibliography is the branch of the field that seeks to establish rules or “laws” or
standard practices by means of which authoritative and reliable texts are produced. The Textual
Bibliographer—that is, the Editor—tries to create the best text possible for readers, having the
fewest typographical and substantive errors. The aim is to produce a scholarly text that even the
author would sanction. The Center for the Edition of American Authors, superseded by the
Center for Scholarly Studies, is an organization devoted to the creation of authorial and
authoritative texts. What do they espouse? Why? And why is this important in the world of
libraries and scholarship?
Regardless of one’s LIS focus, this course is essential for librarians and archivists, and will be
useful also to booksellers, collectors, scholars, and others in the rare book world.
Aims of the course:
To introduce the world of bibliography in its main branches.
To present information about the usefulness of this discipline to librarians and archivists,
collectors and scholars, booksellers and others.
To show how bibliographies are compiled
Grades will be determined on the basis of:
1. An essay based on one of the classical writings in the field, recounting the theoretical
and historical materials presented in the original, and commenting on them with respect
to modern publishing
(50 points)
2. An edition of a short piece of fiction (to be given to the students)
(25 points)
3. A brief annotated bibliography (20 points)
4. Attendance and participation (5 points)
Grades will be based on one comprehensive essay (10-15 pages) on a bibliographical topic (to be
discussed in class) (80%), one oral report based on the subject of the essay (15%) and attendance
and class participation (5%).