Books Table Form

 

The Books Table form is used to view, enter, and modify information in the Books Inventory Table.  All of the data elements listed for the Books Table are available from this form.    Buttons on the bottom of the form allow scrolling through the database.

The form is used to find records based on the contents of any field by placing the cursor in the field to be searched and hitting Ctrl+F .  This opens a window, which allows the entry of the string of characters to be found.  The option of searching for an exact match, any part of the field, or the start of the field (first letter) allows the user to search for a string of characters without knowing the exact form of the entry in the database.

Clicking the Go To Main Record for Items Shown button will bring up the Main Table Form, displaying the primary record for the inventory shown.

The Remove Filter to Show All Records is used to remove any filter which limits the records being displayed and allows all records in the Books Table of the database to be shown.

The View Transcript button will display the transcription of the inventory.

 

BOOKS TABLE DATA ELEMENTS

FILENAME:

The FILENAME is the link to the Books Table records from the Main Table entry; therefore, the FILENAME in the Books Table must match the FILENAME in the Main Table.  FILENAMES included in the Books Table Database are identified by T (titles) in the Main Table field Books.  Inventories listing at least one book by title are marked "T."

 

SUBJECT:

Subject of the book as defined, primarily, by source library's classification or strongly suggested by the title.  In some cases, particularly Religion, when the class is not identified by a library, the subject is entered under the broad class .

 

LOC CLASS:

Library of Congress classification  letters.  Unless specified in NOTES, all letters are derived from Library of Congress or another library's catalog.   

 

AUTHOR

Author's name as included in inventory is in lower case letters.  Author's name when surmised or corrected from original spelling is in upper case letters.   Example:  Addison, JOSEPH.   Addison's name is in the inventory, his first name is added in all upper case.   In cases where spelling is corrected, the inventory  is entered in NOTES with an asterisk*.

 

TITLE

Book titles as presented in the inventory are in lower case letters.  Spelling changes, additions, and surmises are in upper case.  The inventory transcription appears in NOTES as "Listed as:".  The full title of the book is entered in NOTES as "Likely:"

 

VOLUME

Number of volumes  of the same title listed in inventory.  Example:  Encyclopedia 25 volumes.  Listed as: 25 volumes, 1 quantity.

 

QUANTITY/TITLE

Number of the same title   Example:  Encyclopedia 25 volumes.  Listed as: 25 volumes, 1 quantity.

 

QUALIFIER

Information about the book noted by inventory recorder: law, old, Latin, etc.

 

SIZE

Information about the book's dimensions as noted by the inventory recorder:  folio, large, quarto, etc.

 

VALUE

Value set by the inventory recorder.  When several titles are grouped together under one value, a dash - is placed after the title indicating that this title is part of a group.  The group is listed in NOTES.

 

LOCATION

This field is dependent upon information provided by the inventory recorder.  A specific location is  not always included.

 

PAGE

The first series of numbers defines where the book is noted in the inventory.   The number after the slash / denotes where the book is listed in the transcribed inventory.  The facsimile and transcription can be accessed through PROBING THE PAST, at    chnm.gmu.edu/probateinventory/

 

FFLC

Notes that the book is found in the catalog of the Founding Fathers Library Consortium   http://librarycatalog.mountvernon.org/.  A possibly appropriate edition is identified  in upper case, while an edition published after the inventory was taken is noted in lower case. 

G:  Gunston Hall; M:  Mount Vernon; S: Stratford Hall.

 

SOURCE:

Identifies library where a title not in FFLC, http://librarycatalog.mountvernon.org/ can be found:  LC:  Library of Congress  http://www.loc.gov/; LT:  Library Thing.  https://www.librarything.com/;    H-HC:  Hollis-Harvard College http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/hollis/  ; MHS: Maryland Historical Society  http://www.mdhs.org/;   NLM:  National Library of Medicine  https://www.nlm.nih.gov/;  VTS:  Virginia Theological Seminary  http://www.vts.edu/ ;  RLCW:  Rockefeller Library Colonial WIlliamsburg  http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary.cfmWRLC  Washington Research Library Consortium http://www.wrlc.org/

OTHER:

Titles found in non-catalogued sites:    GB:  Google Books  http://books.google.com/  ;  JM:  "Book World of John Mercer of Marlborough," by Bennie Brown; RHL:  Book Inventory of Richard Henry Lee, Stratford Hall;  WB: The Library of William Byrd of Westover, by Kevin J. Hayes;  VG: Virginia Gazette.

 

NOTES:

Additional information about the title.  "Listed as:" book description  in the inventory with unique spelling or abbreviations marked with *.   "Likely:" probable corrected title.    >Other comments;  >Location of specific titles, particularly George Washington's books, 

 (Abbreviations include:  BA:  Boston Athenĉum;  LMU:  Loyola Marymount University; Houghton-Harvard College) ;  >Lack of LC subject or classification;  >Subject noted by non-catalogued collection.