Finding the Missing Date: The Example of German Imprints Without Dates

Catalogers of monographs are accustomed to finding a publication, copyright or at least a printing date in an imprint on the title page or in a colophon. If no date is found in the prescribed sources of information, rule 1.4F7 of AACR2 instructs catalogers to supply an approximate date of publication. This article examines efficient ways of doing this, using examples from German publishing. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, German publishers often omitted the year of publication from their imprints. Also discussed are standard bibliographic sources where estimated publication dates can often be confirmed. The methods and examples presented are drawn from cataloging experience at Texas A and M University since 1992, when the library purchased several thousand German books of this period. 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Finding the Missing Date: The Example of German Imprints Without Dates Academic Article