One of the issues we constantly run into, whether as we look for new books to add, or in cataloging the books we already have, is how to know when the book was published if there isn't a publication date, or if there is only a copyright date.
We'd like our library to reflect accurately the years that the editions we have were published, and we'd like to have a strong sense of the age of the books we want to acquire when we are out searching.
I took this question to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library's main branch in Charlottesville, hoping a library professional could provide some useful info to help us figure out publication dates where there are not any.
I approached the front desk, explained my question, and was told by the attendant: "Let me get someone from downstairs on the phone." When she reached this next person, she handed me the phone, and I explained my question to person No. 2. At the end of the explanation, I was told: "I'm going to transfer you to Ann, hold on."
When Ann got on the phone, I explained to her what my question was. Third time's a charm, right?
Ann was as helpful as she could be, and very nice, and at the very least, the answer I got made us feel like we weren't banging our heads against the wall about this for nothing. It's apparently a very inexact science, especially with the kinds of books we are mostly dealing with.
It seems to primarily be complicated by the following factors (and likely more): copyright laws and copyright dates having limitations, which we knew; pirated copies of books being somewhat common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which we are learning; even after both of those, it seems many legitimate publishers of classic literature in the 19th and 20th centuries just didn't put publication dates in their editions, which we find it hard to understand. Why not?
So an edition of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises that is clearly not older than 20 years might only include the copyright renewal date of 1954, but nothing else. And though we know it is published by Hemingway's publisher, Scribner's, or rather the company that uses the Scribner's imprint today, Simon & Schuster, they don't tell us when they published this particular edition.
And we've found similar issues across the decades/centuries, so it's not only an issue of modern times.
The most helpful advice Ann gave us was to use the Library of Congress' online catalog to search for our editions. While not a guarantee of 100-percent success, it has proven a useful tool, and has helped fill in some of our blanks.
Our next stop in search of more info on this subject is to visit the UVa library to talk to some more library professionals, including checking in at the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Earlier than we thought we'd be going, but we need answers.
Showing posts with label jefferson-madison regional library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jefferson-madison regional library. Show all posts
Friday, May 4, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Bookseller Review: Gordon Ave. Library Sale
Jefferson-Madison Regional Library Book Sale
1500 Gordon Ave.
Charlottesville, VA
434.977.8467
Twice annually (spring and fall), the Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library hold a book sale as a fundraiser for library programs. All books in the sale are donated by the community. The sale lasts for one week and on the last weekend all of the books are half-priced.
What we like: Everything about it. Enormous selection of everything, great (great) prices, good cause, nice people working it, lasts nine days (in the spring, at least), a "valuable and attractive" list of rare and antique books, letters, etc. ... we could go on and on.
What we like: Everything about it. Enormous selection of everything, great (great) prices, good cause, nice people working it, lasts nine days (in the spring, at least), a "valuable and attractive" list of rare and antique books, letters, etc. ... we could go on and on.
What we don't like: We can't think of a single thing. Maybe that it's so popular?
Would we go again? We will organize our schedules around it.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Do we have to leave? -- Part II
So I made it through Thursday -- barely -- without heading back over to the Gordon Ave. Library Sale to make sure I could still snap up the G.P. Putnam's Mohawk Edition James Fenimore Cooper set, but I had to at least check on them today.
As we entered and headed directly toward the back to the section of sets, Deborah thought it'd be hilarious to play with my emotions by saying, "Oh, honey, I think they're gone..." Thankfully, they were not gone, and after the momentary fright, I was determined to take them home that day.
I did a little asking around to see who was in charge, and once I learned that I had to look for "Bill," that's exactly what I did. I found Bill in a makeshift office near the back exits, and approached him like so (paraphrasing somewhat):
"Hi. I am very interested in the set of Cooper novels you have back there, and was trying to wait until tomorrow when they are half price, but am worried they'll be gone. Since the set is not actually complete and is missing the two most popular works, would you consider selling them to me today for somewhere between the $50 price tag and what they'd be tomorrow?"
Bill: "Sure, how about $35."
"Deal."
So that was that. I loaded up one of the sale's empty plastic boxes with my new -- incomplete -- set of works by an author whom I admire and feel a connection to. Somewhere out there I will come across The Last of the Mohicans and The Prairie to complete this part of our collection.
The fun didn't end there, though, as they had one bookcase dedicated to "small" fiction, meaning physically short books. Which we like, because two of the shelves on the cases we bought from the former Massachusetts congressional candidate do not allow for anything but short books.
Cue the Random House Modern Library hardcovers of the early-to-mid part of the 20th century. We had a couple prior to today, and we like their look. Classic, colorful when gathered together, and many different titles and opportunities to put together a unique collection of those editions.
We added a handful, and decided to sit tight on anything more until half-price weekend begins tomorrow.
Books added: The Republic, Plato (1941); Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev (1950); Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (1947); The Old Wives' Tale, Arnold Bennett (1931); I, Claudius, Robert Graves (1937)
Publisher: Random House, Modern Library
Year: Various
Where obtained: Gordon Ave. Library Sale, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $2.00 each
Books added: The Works of James Fenimore Cooper, (30/32 vols.), James Fenimore Cooper
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Year: c.1896
Where obtained: Gordon Ave. Library Sale, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $35.00 for 30 vols.
As we entered and headed directly toward the back to the section of sets, Deborah thought it'd be hilarious to play with my emotions by saying, "Oh, honey, I think they're gone..." Thankfully, they were not gone, and after the momentary fright, I was determined to take them home that day.
I did a little asking around to see who was in charge, and once I learned that I had to look for "Bill," that's exactly what I did. I found Bill in a makeshift office near the back exits, and approached him like so (paraphrasing somewhat):
"Hi. I am very interested in the set of Cooper novels you have back there, and was trying to wait until tomorrow when they are half price, but am worried they'll be gone. Since the set is not actually complete and is missing the two most popular works, would you consider selling them to me today for somewhere between the $50 price tag and what they'd be tomorrow?"
Bill: "Sure, how about $35."
"Deal."
So that was that. I loaded up one of the sale's empty plastic boxes with my new -- incomplete -- set of works by an author whom I admire and feel a connection to. Somewhere out there I will come across The Last of the Mohicans and The Prairie to complete this part of our collection.
The fun didn't end there, though, as they had one bookcase dedicated to "small" fiction, meaning physically short books. Which we like, because two of the shelves on the cases we bought from the former Massachusetts congressional candidate do not allow for anything but short books.
Cue the Random House Modern Library hardcovers of the early-to-mid part of the 20th century. We had a couple prior to today, and we like their look. Classic, colorful when gathered together, and many different titles and opportunities to put together a unique collection of those editions.
We added a handful, and decided to sit tight on anything more until half-price weekend begins tomorrow.
Books added: The Republic, Plato (1941); Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev (1950); Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (1947); The Old Wives' Tale, Arnold Bennett (1931); I, Claudius, Robert Graves (1937)
Publisher: Random House, Modern Library
Year: Various
Where obtained: Gordon Ave. Library Sale, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $2.00 each
Books added: The Works of James Fenimore Cooper, (30/32 vols.), James Fenimore Cooper
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Year: c.1896
Where obtained: Gordon Ave. Library Sale, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $35.00 for 30 vols.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Do we have to leave? -- Part I
We walk by the main branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library on Market Street in Charlottesville fairly often. It's on our way to or from a lot of places we go.
Recently, we'd been seeing signs posted on the building for the "Gordon Ave. Library Sale." I'd say our interest was piqued, but having only lived in Charlottesville for nine months, we had no sense of what the Gordon Ave. Library Sale was.
The sale kicked off on March 31, and is slated to run through April 8. Deborah's parents were in town for the first weekend of the sale, so we waited until today to find out what it was all about.
Ten minutes in, we never wanted to leave.
An entire basement of a library, at least four large rooms, filled with bookcases, piled with books, all for roughly the cost of a cup of coffee or less. It was too good to be true, yet it happens twice every year.
On this visit, we scouted the place out, learned what was what and where to find it, and learned that if we could keep ourselves from going overboard all week, our patience would be rewarded with half-price days on the final two days of the sale.
The most exciting find, for me, is one I am trying my best to hold out on until half-price weekend: A Mohawk Edition set of James Fenimore Cooper's novels (32-volume set), published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, circa 1896. Price on Wednesday, $50.
There were, however, two things about this set that gave me pause. First, it was missing the two (likely) most popular Cooper books, The Last of the Mohicans and The Prairie. With two of the five "Leatherstocking Tales" missing, in addition to $50 feeling like too much on its own merit, it certainly felt like too much for an incomplete set. Second, the set said it had 31 volumes, which it did -- one volume was in there twice.
Choosing judgment over desire, I decided to wait it out, hoping that if no one had claimed them by the fifth day of the sale, that they would still be there three days later.
But that's not to say we left empty-handed. Aside from taking home a mountain of children's books for our daughter's burgeoning collection, we also rounded up various reference items of interest (Wildlife of North America, for example).
We're definitely going back.
Recently, we'd been seeing signs posted on the building for the "Gordon Ave. Library Sale." I'd say our interest was piqued, but having only lived in Charlottesville for nine months, we had no sense of what the Gordon Ave. Library Sale was.
The sale kicked off on March 31, and is slated to run through April 8. Deborah's parents were in town for the first weekend of the sale, so we waited until today to find out what it was all about.
Ten minutes in, we never wanted to leave.
An entire basement of a library, at least four large rooms, filled with bookcases, piled with books, all for roughly the cost of a cup of coffee or less. It was too good to be true, yet it happens twice every year.
On this visit, we scouted the place out, learned what was what and where to find it, and learned that if we could keep ourselves from going overboard all week, our patience would be rewarded with half-price days on the final two days of the sale.
The most exciting find, for me, is one I am trying my best to hold out on until half-price weekend: A Mohawk Edition set of James Fenimore Cooper's novels (32-volume set), published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, circa 1896. Price on Wednesday, $50.
There were, however, two things about this set that gave me pause. First, it was missing the two (likely) most popular Cooper books, The Last of the Mohicans and The Prairie. With two of the five "Leatherstocking Tales" missing, in addition to $50 feeling like too much on its own merit, it certainly felt like too much for an incomplete set. Second, the set said it had 31 volumes, which it did -- one volume was in there twice.
Choosing judgment over desire, I decided to wait it out, hoping that if no one had claimed them by the fifth day of the sale, that they would still be there three days later.
But that's not to say we left empty-handed. Aside from taking home a mountain of children's books for our daughter's burgeoning collection, we also rounded up various reference items of interest (Wildlife of North America, for example).
We're definitely going back.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)