AMERICAN IMPRINT TRACINGS
(Approved for use February 9, 2000)

Imprint tracings are made for all printed material including serials, scores and maps. Imprint tracings are made for items published in the United States through 1820; the Confederate States between 1861 and 1865, and in states west of the Mississippi River through either 1865 or 1890. The only exception is material printed in Oklahoma including the Indian Territory which is traced through 1907.  (See table)

Format
In general the tracing is created from information found in the 260 field.
Note: See table for format of Washington D.C. and the state of Washington.

 

691		4	‡a [State]. [City]. [Imprint date(s)].
691		4	‡a Massachusetts. Worcester. 1793.

• Do not bracket states, cities or dates. Do not include question marks.
• Use the current form of the city as established by the Library of Congress. If published while still part of a territory use the name of the state of which it later became a part.
• If the city is unknown make a tracing using the state and date of imprint.
• If there are multiple places of publication make an imprint tracing for each place.

[Nevada?, 1884?]

691

4

‡a Nevada. 1884.

New York : Published by Samuel Wood & Sons, No. 261, Pearl-street and; Baltimore : Samuel S. Wood & Co., No. 212, Market-street, 1819.

691		4	‡a New York. New York. 1819.
691		4	‡a Maryland. Baltimore. 1819.

• Use the date of publication for the item in hand.
• For questionable dates use the date as it appears in the 260 ‡c field.  Drop brackets, question marks, and text such as before, after, between, and ca. Older records using n.d. should be corrected as found to an estimated date.
• If the estimated date is a probable decade or century, use dashes (e.g.173-).  If the estimated date spans a decade,  then enter using the date as it appears (e.g. 1723-1735).
• If the work is a photocopy, make a chronology tracing for the date of publication of the original.
• If the date of publication has been corrected use the corrected date.
• If the date of publication is a double year use the second year.
• For monographs with multiple dates use a span of years for the date.

Boston : Printed by Munroe & Frances, 1802-1804.

691

4

‡a Massachusetts. Boston. 1802-1804.

Manitou Springs : Colo., Journal Print, [189-?]

691

4

‡a Colorado: Manitou Springs. 189-.

[Boise, Idaho? : s.n., between 1878 and 1882] 

691

4

‡a Idaho. Boise. 1878-1882.

Richmond, Va. : [Jno. R. Thompson], 1848-1864.  

691

4

‡a Virginia. Richmond.

(Made since a portion of this periodical was published during the Civil War.)

Exceptions
The curator will indicate if a tracing for a later date is desired. For example: Illinois. Nauvoo. 1844.
 

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© Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Contact: Stephen Young
Last revised: 2 April 2003
http://www.library.yale.edu/BeinCatM/american_imprints.html