-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Early map cataloging - maps from atlases and map states
Date:   Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:28:16 -0500
From:   Joel Kovarsky <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>



On 12/17/2012 9:22 AM, Angie Cope, American Geographical Society
Library, UW Milwaukee wrote:
> Defining "state" for non-letterpress material is a bit
> trickier than the traditional understanding of states for letterpress
> material.

This gets downright contentious at times, and even the issue of date can
be difficult to resolve within various well-known references. Going back
and altering conventions and use of the term itself will not likely be
simple or smooth, since you are not dealing with straightforward
applications of AACR2 (or and soon-to-be-available RDA pronouncements, I
think).

See "Description of non-letterpress materials in books" by Tanselle:
<http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-sb?id=sibv035&images=bsuva/sb/images&data=/texts/english/bibliog/SB&tag=public&part=1&division=div>.

  From _Studies in Bibliography_, Volume 35 (1982). I'm not sure we've
evolved that much since, but others can comment. Tanselle criticizes
Verner's older work, often used by collectors and dealers working with
early maps: Coolie Verner,  "Carto-bibliographical description: the
analysis of variants in maps printed from copperplates," in the
inaugural issue (1974) of the American Cartographer (pp. 77-87).

I hope that the release of DCRM(C) will help steady some issues
involved, but given the limited number of people with substantial
backgrounds in early cartographic materials, this could remain less
standardized than other areas.

             Joel Kovarsky