This page suggests a plain text format with simple HTML markup which is used to edit or add data to the World historical book trade register. It
can also be used to download records from HTML source code direct to a spreadsheet or database for personal use. Records are stored as tab-separated values (TSV) files
in Excel spreadsheets:
There are two main formats:
1. For an individual biographical record:
| FIELDS | DATA with punctuation | NOTES |
| REGION | <!E-EN-SUS> | To allocate to regional files and web pages. This field does not print. |
| PLACE | Brighton. | Normally town, address within town in BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. If placing region here, indent one space. |
| NAME DIVIDER | <B> | To format text for web page. |
| NAME | Bennett. | Personal names inverted and in vernacular e.g. Manuzio, Aldo - not Aldus Manutius. |
| DATE DIVIDER | </B> | To format text for web page. |
| ACTIVE | 1825-1833. - | Dates of activity in that town. |
| TRADE DIVIDER | <I> | To format text for web page. |
| TRADE | Ballad seller. | Book trades only. For main trades prefer order: Printer, publisher, bookseller, stationer. |
| NOTES DIVIDER | </I> | To format text for web page. |
| BIOGRAHICAL NOTES | Edward Street. Probably Edward Bennett, bottle dealer, 22, Edward Street in 1832 directory. Sold publications of J. Catnach of London c. 1825 -33 with other provincial distributors: J. Sharman of Cambridge; R. Harris of Salisbury; J. Pierce of Southborough; Boyes of Brighton; Thomas Batchelar of London; W. Marshall of Bristol; W. Inkpen of Lewes. | Brief details under the following headings are suggested where available: Addresses, Trading as: variant names and partnerships, Born:, Married:, Family:, Died:, Apprenticed:, Free:, Apprentices:, Insurance:, Bankrupt:, Will:, Successors: |
| IMPRINTS | Imprints: 40 items in Bodleian ballads. Broadsides in Madden 10. One item in COPAC: c.1825. | If italicising titles in IMPRINTS or BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES, use <EM> as <I> is used for dividers. |
| SOURCES | Sources: Cambridge UL, Madden Coll. Not in: BBTI. | Separate soures by " ;". |
| END | <hr /> | Prints horizontal line to separate records. |
This example is for a ballad seller about whom little is known and will print out as:
Brighton. Bennett. 1825-1833. Ballad seller. Edward Street. Probably Edward Bennett, bottle dealer, 22, Edward Street in 1832 directory. Sold publications of J. Catnach of London c. 1825-33 with other provincial distributors: J. Sharman of Cambridge; R. Harris of Salisbury; J. Pierce of Southborough; Boyes of Brighton;
Thomas Batchelar of London; W. Marshall of Bristol; W. Inkpen of Lewes. Imprints: 40 items in Bodleian ballads. Broadsides in Madden 10. One item in COPAC: c.1825. Sources: Cambridge UL, Madden Coll. Not in BBTI.
2. For a bibliographical entry,
This may be the first or only evidence of the existence of a firm or individual and a shorter version of selected records can be included in the IMPRINTS field.
| COLUMN/FIELD | DATA with punctuation | NOTES | DB | RIS | JISC | ISBD | RDA | AA CR2 |
| FILE | To allocate to web pages. | 0.1 | 6.9 | |||||
| CREATOR | Brockett, Allan A. | Personal names inverted. | AU | AU | AU | - | 19.2 | 100 |
| TITLE | The Devon union list (D. U. L.) : | TI | TI | TI | 1.1 | 2.3.2 | 245$a | |
| SUBTITLE | a collection of written material relating to the county of Devon / | Rarely used, part titles. | TI | TI | 1.3 | 2.3.4 | 245$b | |
| RESPONSIBILITY | Allan A. Brockett. - | As given in book. | TI | TI | TI | 1.4 | 2.4.2 | 245$c |
| EDITION | [First edition]. - | 1st ed. not normally noted. | ED | ET | ED | 2.1 / 2.3 | 2.5.2 | 250 |
| PUBLICATION _PLACE | Exeter : | CY | CY | PU | 4.1 / 4.4 | 2.8.2 | 264$a | |
| PUBLISHER | Exeter University Library, | PU | PB | PU | 4.2 / 4.5 | 2.8.4 | 264$b | |
| PUBLICATION _DATE | 1977. - | PY | PY | PY | 4.3 / 4.6 | 2.8.6 | 264$c | |
| FORMAT | [2],iv,571 pages ; 22 cm. - | Also used for map scale. | PD | ? | PD | 5.1 / 5.2.2 / 5.2.3 /3.1 | 3.4.5/7.2.5 | 300/221 |
| CONTROL_NO | ISBN 0902746065. - | As in book, without separators. | SN | SN | IS | 8.1.2 / 8.1.5 | 1.8 | 020 |
| LINKS | <a href="http://devon-bibliography.blogspot.com">Accessed June 2020</a>. - | URL for on-live versions. | UR | UR | UL | 7.0.5 | 4.6 | 856$u |
| SERIES | (Not in a series). - | If not in series leave blank. | SE | T2? | SE | 6.1 / 6.5 / 6.6 | 2.12.9 | 490 |
| ITEM_NOTES | Gives locations of Devon books in six major libraries in the county. - | NT | U2? | NT | 7 | 7 / 25 / 26 | 5xx | |
| COPIES | <br />Held by: | Formatting for web page. | ||||||
| LIBRARY | WSL: 061/DEV/BRO ; EXU ; DEI. - | HL | ? | HL | 7.11 | 3.21 | 852 | |
| SUBJECTS | <br />Subjects: [for bibliographies] | <br />Subjects: [for imprint lists] | ||||||
| REGION | Devon. | Devon. | KW | KW | KW | 6xx | ||
| PLACE | Exeter. | Exeter. | KW | KW | KW | 6xx | ||
| SUBJECT | Publications | Publishers. | KW | KW | KW | 23.4 | 6xx | |
| NAME | Exeter University Library, | KW | KW | KW | 6xx | |||
| ASPECT | Bibliographies | Publications: Bibliographies. | KW | KW | KW | 6xx | ||
| DATE_SPAN | 1500-1975. - | 1977. - | KW | KW | KW | 6xx | ||
| END | <hr /> | Prints horizontal line. | ER | ER |
The columns to the right of the table indicate how this format relates to the main standards of bibliographical description and data exchange. The book described will produce the following printout on a web page:
Brockett, Allan A. The Devon union list (D. U. L.) : a collection of written material relating to the county of Devon / Allan A. Brockett. - Exeter : 1977. - [2],iv,571
pages ; 22 cm. - ISBN 0902746065. - Accessed June 2020. - (Not in a series). - Gives locations of Devon books in six major libraries in the county. -
Held by: WSL: 061/DEV/BRO ; EXU ; DEI. -
Subjects: Devon. Exeter. Publications. Bibliographies. 1500-1975.
Held by: WSL: 061/DEV/BRO ; EXU ; DEI. -
Subjects: Devon. Exeter. Publications. Bibliographies. 1500-1975.
The above subject string is appropriate for contributions to the Devon bibliography and similar bibliographical listings. For imprints for the book trade register the
alternative use of the fields would produce:
Devon. Exeter. Publisher. Exeter University Library. Publications: Bibliographies. 1977. -
The bibliographical record produced for inclusion on the IMPRINTS field would be much shorter and be contained in a single field thus:
Exeter. Exeter Univerity Library. 1977. Publisher. Imprints: The Devon union list (D. U. L.) : a collection of written material relating to the county
of Devon / Allan A. Brockett, 1977. Sources: Devon bibliography.
The aim of these formats is to provide a structure for data that can be used on databases or spreadsheets and as plain text files, regardless of the software platforms.
Wherever possible I work through basic text editors such as Notepad or directly on Excel spreadsheets, as other software delights in introducing a wealth of unnecessary
coding. As for the structure I have arrived at the blatantly obvious after much trial and error and blind alleys. My inspiration is Rudyard Kipling's poem:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
This gives a record structure of six fields:
| 1. Where | Place | Town, grouped by a hidden field coded for continent, country and region. |
| 2. Who | Name | Surname first. Also partnerships and institutions. |
| 3. When | Dates of activity | Rather than biographical dates, which are not always known. |
| 4. Why | Book trades | Include non-book trades in biographical section. |
| 5. What | Biographical details | Unstructured, with separate field for imprints. |
| 6. How | Sources. | To be standardized with links to listing. |
Copyright © Ian Maxted 2013
This page last revised 1 July 2020
