Pre-Modern and Islamic Manuscript cataloging

Scope

This document is intended to assist cataloging of manuscripts as defined by Descriptive Cataloging of Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Manuscripts (amremm) in section 0.A Scope.  Specifically, it is intended to assist catalogers with descriptions of unpublished, handwritten manuscripts in the pre-modern period–before 1600–and for Islamic manuscripts of all periods.  

Standards

Content standard: amremm, modified for RDA

Authority control: NAF, SAF (names); RBMS controlled vocabularies, aat, lcgft (form/genre)

Follow the Guidelines on Subject Thesauri for selecting the vocabulary and formulating the heading.

General Decisions

Sammelband/majmuah volumes will be cataloged using a single-record approach.

When foliation is incorrect, cite as: fol. 10a [bis], fol. 10b [bis].  Terms to use are bis for first consecutive mis- or unlabeled folio, ter for second consecutive folio, and quater for a third.

Cite Islamic folios using a and b; cite other folios using r and v.

Guidelines for most commonly used MARC fields

The following guidelines are intended to provide best practice recommendations for those MARC fields that are specifically relevant for the description of manuscripts. The documentation is not meant to be an exhaustive resource, but a source of information about local practices and cataloging standards currently in use at Princeton University Library.

040 Cataloging source (core)

Include ‡e amremm

043 Geographic area code (core)

Include all applicable codes, including "n-us-nj".

245 Title (core)

Take the title from the sources in the order prescribed in amremm. For sammelband/majmuah volumes, use a collective title when present but prefer the option to provide a single, specific title followed by "... [etc.]" rather than using a constructed collective title or listing multiple titles.

Title A ... [etc.] rather than [Two Arabic texts]

When no title is present, supply the title in brackets if there is a known title for the work. If there is not a known title, follow amremm and create a title in English.  For compilations, use the pattern "Collection of [language] [format]" when it seems reasonable to do so.

[Treatise on alchemy]

[15th-century chansonnier]

[Collection of Persian poems]

[Collection containing 19 motets]

246 Variant Titles (core)

Supply as usual.  Use 246 to record bynames.

246 1_ ‡i Byname: ‡a Peck shahnama

264 Place and date of production (core)

Supply a place and date of production where known or reasonable to assume.  The most specific date available should be given.

264 _0 ‡c 9 Rabīʻ al-Thānī 1267 [February 10, 1851]

264 _0 ‡a Lipsiae, ‡c 1873.

264 _0 ‡a [Germany], ‡c [between 1500 and 1600]

300 Physical description (core)

Supply all elements present.  Use modern foliation rather than re-counting the leaves.  Record the number of foliated leaves only.  More detailed collocation following amremm guidelines is recorded in the collation note.  Supply measurements according to amremm.

300 __ ‡a 71 leaves : ‡b paper ;‡c 210 x 180 (170 x 120) mm bound to 210 x 185 mm.

300 __ ‡a 2 volumes (182, 336 leaves) : ‡b paper ; ‡c 198-217 x 129-148 (170-175 x 85-100) mm bound to 197-217 x 138-157 mm.

300 __ ‡a 56, (2) leaves : ‡b parchment, illustrations ; ‡c 154 x 120 (130 x 50) mm.

500 Notes

Notes should follow the order prescribed in amremm for general consistency–see the order below.  Additional notes made should be slotted in according to amremm.  Do not include 524 note for a preferred citation form.   

500s for beginning and end of texts

Incipit and colophon should be provided.  In cases of sammelband/majmuah volumes with many titles, drop the colophon and, if necessary, shorten or drop incipit also.

500 __ Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وبه ثقى الحمد لله مجلي جياد الافهام بعقود مدح الشفيع ومحالي سلامة الاذواق ... تكريما وبعد فهذه قصيدة صادرة عن ذات قناع شاهدة بسلامة الطباع

500 __ Incipit: Initium evangeli Ihesu Christi filii dei sicut scriptum est 

500 __ Colophon: وکان الفراغ من رقم هذا الديوان المبارك يوم الجمعة الانور ثامن ذي القعدة الحرام من سنة ستين ومائة والف على يد ناظمه الفقير عبد الله بن عبدالله المؤذن الادکاوي نزيل القاهرة

500 __ Colophon: 

500 Physical format (core)

Use the appropriate term from amremm.

500 __ Ms. codex.

500 __ Ms. fragments.

500 __ Ms. composite codex.

500 __ Ms. leaf.

520 Summary

Briefly describe the content of the text.  Include the following types of information when useful:

Content: just the title, if it is well-known; text commented upon for commentaries; part of text if partial

Incomplete: incomplete at end; acephalous copy of; defective copy of

Details: autograph copy of; illuminated copy of; ... with tables; ... figure figures

520 __ A collection of poems in the form of letters to and from the author, arranged according to the alphabetical order of the names of the persons who wrote to the author and to whom the author replied.

520 __ Elegant copy of the first volume of the Dīvān of Fatḥ ʻAlī Shāh Qājār.

520 __ Treatise on alchemy with diagrams. Incomplete at end.

546 Language and script

Supply a language note when needed to indicate multiple languages, or to describe the script. 

546 __ Greek; ‡b upright liturgical miniscule.

546 __ Arabic; ‡b Fārisī.

500 Source of title

Prefer a title from a source contemporary with the text when available.  Common sources are: title page, headpiece, colophon, heading, or simply a folio number.  Cite the folio where the information was found.

500 __ Title from title page (fol. 1a).

500 __ Title supplied by cataloger.

500 __ Title from heading (fol. 3b).

500 Informal contents (core)

Note: contents information is a core element for manuscripts.  Depending on the circumstances and depth of cataloging, it may be expressed through the 520 summary note, an informal 500 note, or a formal 505 contents listing, or a combination of these.

Mentioned glosses and annotations and other information as desired.  Ownership signatures belong in 561 field.  Seal impressions may be mentioned here or in 561 field depending on whether they seem to be an ownership mark or not.

500 __ Marginal notes and glosses. On the title page are four lines of poetry by Ramaḍān al-ʻAṭīfī.  Kabīkaj (invocation against bookworms) on fol. 270b.

500 __ A few marginal notes. Inscriptions and geometric figures on title page and the folio preceding. Calligraphy practice on fol. 76b.

505 Formal contents

Can be used for composite and non-composite volumes.  Provide separate 505 fields for each title.  Contents can be either all-inclusive, or, if skipping very short or unidentified texts, note this in an informal contents note.  When the 520 is not detailed, you can include the equivalent of short 520 data in each 505.

500 Collation

Describe the support, number of folios following amremm, provide any specific information about folios or quires, mention catchwords and any pagination or foliation that isn't recent.

500 __ Collation: Parchment ; fol. 268 ; 1⁶, 2-10⁸, 11⁴, 12-34⁸, 35² ; catchwords ; modern foliation in pencil.

500 __ Collation: Paper ; fol. 140 ; 1-35⁴; quiremarks on the first folio of each quire ; modern foliation in pencil.

500 __ Collation: Paper ; 1-20⁸, 21⁸⁻¹ ; the eighth leaf of the twenty-first quire (fols. 161r-167v) has been removed without any loss of text.

500 Layout

Include the number of lines per page and mention if the text is in more than one column.  Note the presence of fram-ruling, ruling lines, verse separators, and layout of glosses.

500 __ Layout: 15 lines per page.

500 __ Layout: 15-17 lines per page in two columns ; frame-ruled in red.

500 __ Layout: 12 lines per page with separation between hemistitches ; ruled ; ruling marks for glosses present.

500 __ Layout: Number of lines per page varies ; written on a slight slant ; text runs parallel with back of cover.

500 Description

Start with script when information beyond the 546 is needed, inks and rubrication. Then mention other elements of the manuscript, illuminations, watermarks, etc.  Finish with comment on the condition of the manuscript. 

500 __ Description: Written in insular phase II half-uncial, with interlinear Old English gloss in AngloSaxon pointed miniscule.

500 __ Description: Written in black ink in various hands ; a few folios are missing.

500 __ Description: Headings and initials of each section in red ink ; watermarks (similar to Briquet, Les filigranes, no. 9447 (Lettres assemblées, IBC, surmounted by a three-leaf clover), which was used around 1597 in Reggio Emilia) ; MS in poor condition. 

500 __ Description: Rubricated ; overlining and other use of red ; MS in good condition with a few repairs.

500 __ Description: Text in red and commentary in black ; watermarks (three crescents) ; MS in fair condition with light staining and some folios are worm-eaten.

500 Decoration

Only provide this field when there are significant decorative elements to mention.

500 __ Decoration: Illuminated headpiece in gold with red and blue embellishments.  Fol. 1a and 2b have gilt frame-ruling.

500 __ Decoration: Full-page miniatures. 10 canon tables with decorative frames, figures and ornament.

500 __ Decoration: Contains drawings colored in blue, green, yellow, brown, blue-grey, and tan.

500 __ Decoration:  Illuminated figures of rulers with armorial shields, windroses, and cities with banners.

500 __ Decoration: There are large red ink initials O on fols. 9r and 13r, with the letter expanded top and bottom by waving plumes. The latter initial is partially painted over with carmine. There are other more discreet initials on fols. 16v and 21v.

563 Binding

Date and place the binding when possible.  Attempt to categorize it as contemporaneous, later or modern where a more specific dating isn't possible. When binders are known, make an added entry.

563 __ Later binding. Alum-tawed sheepskin ?, partly worn and repaired, covering oak boards (13 mm thick).

563 __ Germany, 15th century. Probably bound in 1444 (or shortly afterwards) when Sinram donated the present manuscript along with 60 others to the Franciscan monastery (Franziskaner-Minoriten) of Würzburg.

563 __ Original binding, discreetly restored, green morocco, spine ribbed decorated with a dolphin and a lily between nerves, framing on the dishes with lily flowers at the corners, golden arms in the center, red morocco with guards framing lace dolphin gilt edges.

563 __ Eighteenth-century mottled calf, gilt decoration to spine and board edges.

500 Origin (core) 

500 __ Origin: Written and rubricated in Italy in the early 17th century.

500 __ Origin: Written at the monastery of Tathev (old form Statheus) in the northeastern part of greater Armenia.

500 __ Origin: Written in Spain in the 15th century.

561 Ownership and custodial history

561 __ Early provenance unknown. It was the property of the monk Leontios in the 10th-11th century, who wrote a 4-line invocation in the form of a cross in the middle of fol. 174v. This invocation is followed by another in a later 16th-century hand. The manuscript was possibly in the Monastery of St. John Prodromos (shelfmark [alpha] 20) ‡5 NjP

561 __ Formerly in the collection of Constantine Simonides. ‡5 NjP

561 __ Bookplate of W.T. Scheide. ‡5 NjP

561 __ Sold by Robert L. Stevenson (Messenger at Arms) of Duns, Scotland, at auction at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, where it was purchased by Maggs Bros.; obtained by John H. Scheide from Maggs Bros. (Cat. 565, 1931, no. 858). ‡5 NjP

561 __ The name Aḥmad ibn Quṭb al-Dīn al-ʻUmrī is written on fol. 1a. Several reading statements and ownership statements, some hardly legible, on fol. 2a. Waqf statement in the name of al-Ḥājj ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-ʻUmrī Ibn Muḥammad Efendi Quṭb al-Dīn for the seekers of science, dated 1179 H. on the upper margin of fol. 3a. Acquired from Abraham Shalom Yahuda, 1942. ‡5 NjP

561 __Ownership signatures on fol. 1a: al-Sayyid Muḥammad Saʻīd, teacher, with his seal impression; obscured signature and seal impression. Acquired from Brill, Leyden, A.D. 1900. ‡5 NjP

541 Immediate source of acquisition

541 __ Purchase by John H. Scheide from antiquarian Joseph Baer in 1922. ‡5 NjP

Follow establishing wording for specific collections.

541 __ ‡c Gift ; ‡a Robert Garrett, Class of 1897 ; ‡d 1942. ‡5 NjP

541 __  ‡c Gift ; ‡a William H. Scheide, Princeton Class of 1936. ‡5 NjP

510 Citation/reference

510 4_ E.G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex. (1977) ‡c xvii.

510 4_ De Ricci, ‡c p. 2125, no. 29.

510 4_ Hitti, P. Garrett coll., ‡c 3142.

655 Form/genre terms for special elements

Bring out elements of the MS with use of 655 terms following Princeton practice for selection of vocabularies.  Some applicable terms are listed here.

Illustration / Decoration
655 _7 illuminations (paintings) ‡2 aat
655 _7 illuminated manuscripts ‡2 aat
655 _7 diagrams ‡2 aat
655 _7 tables (documents) ‡2 aat
655 _7 scientific illustrations (images) ‡2 aat
655 _7 Illustrated works ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 headpieces (layout features) ‡2 aat
655 _7 tailpieces (layout features) ‡2 aat
655 _7 Anthropomorphic letters ‡2 rbmscv (human figures only)
655 _7 figure initials ‡2 aat (animal and hybrid figures)
655 _7 historiated initials ‡2 aat
655 _7 decorated initials ‡2 aat
655 _7 Manicules ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Decorated edges ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 cut-paper work ‡2 aat

Binding
655 _7  Blind tooled bindings ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7  Gold tooled bindings ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7  Silver tooled bindings ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7  Cloth bindings ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7  Headbands ‡2rbmscv
655 _7  Doublures ‡2rbmscv
655 _7  Leather doublures ‡2rbmscv
655 _7  Vellum doublures ‡2rbmscv
655 _7 Centerpiece and cornerpiece bindings ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Velvet bindings ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Wooden boards ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Bosses (Bindings) ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Clasps ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Ties ‡2 rbmscv

Paper
655 _7 Embossed papers ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Watermarks ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Parchment (Paper) ‡2 rbpap  – DO NOT USE THIS, LOOK FOR NEW TERM
655 _7 Colored papers ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Sprinkled papers ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 impressed watermarks ‡2 aat

Special features
655 _7 holographs (autographs) ‡2 aat
655 _7 Stamps ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 tuǧras ‡2 aat
655 _7 Certificates ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 magic squares ‡2 aat 
655 _7 Autographs ‡2 rbmscv
655 _7 Genealogies ‡2 rbmscv (for family trees and listings of members only)
655 _7 chronograms ‡2 aat

6xx/7xx Subject headings and added entries (core)

Supply subjects and added entries according to general cataloging practice. Routinely make added entries for these entities (when information is readily available) using the appropriate relationship designator.  Do not make entries for scribes and former owners unless sufficient information is available to make a useful entry point.

• scribe
• former owners
• donor
• institution where the MS was created
• binders

Make a 710 repository designation entry.

710 2_ Princeton University. ‡b Library. ‡k Manuscript. ‡n Garrett MS. 32.

710 2_ Princeton University. ‡b Library. ‡k Manuscript. ‡n Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 108H.

752