Contents:

9.41.1 Element information

9.41.1.1 Link to RDA Toolkit

9.41.1.2 Sources of information

9.41.2 RDA definition and scope

9.41.2.1 A modification that is specific to an item and is assumed not to apply to other items exemplifying the same manifestation.

9.41.25.1 See Note on carrier for information that applies to all copies or to particular groups of copies within an edition or issue (see 6.355.3.1).

9.41.3 General rule

9.41.3.1 For general rules on constructing item-specific notes, see Note on item (9.4.3.1).

9.41.3.2 Features that may be recorded in this element include known imperfections and anomalies; the presence of advertisements not recorded in Extent of manifestation (6.21.4235.1); illumination, rubrication, and other hand coloring unless issued that way by the publisher (see Details of color content); provenance evidence (such as bookplates, stamps, autographs, and manuscript annotations); and item-specific binding details.

Example:
Library copy: On vellum; illustrations and part of borders hand colored; with illuminated initials; rubricated in red and blue

Example:
Library copy annotated to create a mock up for a constitution for Dayspring Division, no. 218

Example:
Library copy annotated with marginalia containing questions, comments and criticisms

Example:
Library copy is extra-illustrated with 2 plates

Example:
Library copy: Extra-illustrated with 70 added engravings depicting scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, as well as people and places mentioned in the text

For notes on missing pages or leaves, see Note on extent of item (9.43.3.2).

9.41.33 Provenance evidence

9.41.33.1 Record physical evidence of provenance on the item if considered important. In less detailed descriptions, it is advisable to summarize provenance evidence, without providing exact transcriptions or descriptions. Include the names of former owners or other individuals of interest and approximate dates, whenever possible.

Example:
Library copy: Inscription of John Morris, 17th-century; stamped as a British Museum Sale Duplicate, 1787

Example:
Library copy with inscription of Langston Hughes dated 1954

Example:
Library copy autographed by author

Example:
Library copy bears stamps and label of St. Ignatius College; signature on flyleaf of N. Blagdon, dated 1813

Example:
Library copy stamped “C. Matthaei*” on title page. Early ownership inscription of L.L. Matthäi, dated 1796, on front paste-down

Example:
Library copy annotated on endpapers and binder’s blanks by C.R. Boxer

9.41.33.2 More detailed descriptions of provenance evidence might include such additional features as: exact transcriptions of autographs, inscriptions, bookplates, stamps, shelfmarks, etc.; location of each in the item; descriptions of bookplates using standardized terminology; and descriptions of anonymous heraldic bookplates according to heraldic blazon.

Example:
Library copy: From the Old Royal Library. Previously part of the library of John Morris (d. 1658) with his signature on the title page: “Gio. Maurizio.” See no. 153 in the printed catalogue of the library of John Morris. In another hand, on title page, ownership inscription: “D et M[?] Gianferro[?]”

(Comment: The formal citation for T. Birrell’s catalogue of the library of John Morris is given in a Manifestation described by note (see 9.32.31.2))

Example:
Library copy inscribed by Langston Hughes on title page: “Especially for Louise Bennett with admiration, Sincerely, Langston, New York, Oct. 8, 1954”

Example:
Library copy annotated “To W.C.C. from J J McC Xmas 1901” and in a different hand “From Jas J. M’Cabe, for Xmas present to Wm Chas Cooke a practice continued until Jas. Mcabes death in (I think) about 1950”

For summaries of the past ownership of an item, see Custodial history of item (9.42.3.1). For immediate source of acquisition, see Immediate source of acquisition of item (9.425.3.1).

9.41.35 Bindings

9.41.35.1 Describe item-specific bindings if considered important. For descriptions of publisher-issued bindings common to all copies of an edition or issue, see Type of binding (6.32.3.1).

9.41.35.2 Indicate any errors in binding if considered important.

Example:
Library copy: Printed in gold and green glazed paper surrounding a picture of children. Bound upside down. Original cartonage

Example:
Library copy: Leaves I5-6 incorrectly bound between h3 and h4

Example:
Library copy: Gathering I of book 2 incorrectly bound between gatherings A and B of book 3

Example:
Library copy: Folios 10-12 incorrectly bound between folios 20 and 21

Example:
Library copy incorrectly bound, with the special title page for part 1 as general title page, the general title page used as special title page for part 1, and with part 2 bound in before part 1

Example:
Library copy: Leaf G1 has been misbound between leaves E4 and F1

9.41.35.3 Record other details of an item-specific binding if considered important. Less detailed descriptions might include the color and nature of the covering material, a summary of any decoration present (e.g., “gold-tooled,” “blind-tooled”), and (if these can be determined) an approximate date and the name of the binder.

Example:
Library copy: In a late seventeenth-century English gold-tooled red goatskin binding with the coat of arms of George III added later to the front board

Example:
Library copy: Binding: contemporary quarter-calf over marbled boards

Example:
Library copy bound in vellum from a 16th-century notarial document

9.41.35.4 Whenever possible, use standard terminology from resources such as the RDA Value Vocabularies: RDA Type of Binding, RBMS Controlled Vocabularies: Binding Terms, or other controlled vocabularies (e.g., Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online, the Language of Bindings).

9.41.35.5 More detailed descriptions of a binding might include such additional features as: nature of the boards (e.g., wood, paper); details of decoration; country or city of production; nature and decoration of spine; presence or former presence of ties, clasps, or other furniture; flaps; description of headbands, page-edge and end-paper decoration; references to published descriptions or reproductions of the binding (or related bindings), etc.

Example:
Binding: Contemporary quarter calf and pastepaper boards, later gold-stamped arms of Pavée de Vandeuvre on sides, smooth spine decorated with gold-tooled diaper pattern, red morocco gilt lettering-piece, marbled pastedowns, edges stained red

Example:
Binding: Bound in gold-tooled calf, perhaps 18th-century, with ornamental devices on both covers and remnants of blue silk ties; includes binding waste from a medieval manuscript fragment (15th-century), used as spine lining; content suggests that it was a charter or deed

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