Universal and National Bibliographies

Selected subject headings:

[name of country]--Bibliography
[name of library]-- Catalog

British Museum. Department of Printed Books. General Catalogue of Printed Books. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1959-1966.
SML Reference Z921 +B86 (LC)
LSF AE50 B777 1959
The catalog is a complete record of the printed books in the Library of the British Museum (now the British Library), which have appeared from the 15th century to the end of 1955, in all languages except those of Asia. The Library is particularly important because of the extent and richness of its collections in all fields and languages, and also because its possession of the copyright privilege helps make it the most comprehensive collection of British publications in existence. Its catalog, therefore, is an indispensable bibliographical source for the scholar and librarian. In the main, it is an author catalog only, with catchword title entries, cross-references for anonymous books, etc. Subject entries are included to a limited extent, principally for the following: (1) under personal names, biographical works are included; (2) under countries, e.g., England, France, etc., are entered official publications, some works about the country, and many titles in which the name of the country occurs; and (3) under names of sacred books, e.g., Bible, Kur'an, etc., are entered both texts and works about them. Two important reference features are: (1) the large amount of analytical material included (analysis of series, etc.), and (2) the many cross-references from names of editors, translators, or other personal names.
The amount of bibliographical information varies; titles taken from the 19th-century catalog usually include only author, title, editor, place, and date, whereas more recent cataloging adds publisher, paging, and size. Some cataloging for early printed books is fairly full.
Although the National Reference Library of Science and Invention (formerly the Patent Office Library) was amalgamated with the British Museum in 1966, its holdings are not recorded in the General catalogue nor in the 1966-70 supplement. Attention is called to some arrears in cataloging of United Kingdom materials published 1966-67, and the British national bibliography will have to be consulted for those years. Greater conformity with the Anglo-American cataloging rules is evident in the supplements, and recently cataloged periodicals are entered under title instead of the uniform "Periodical publications" heading (although the latter is also employed). (Balay, AA103)

Supplemented by: -----. -----. General catalogue of printed books: ten-year supplement, 1956-1965. Compact edition. New York: Readex Microprint Corporation, 1969.
SML Reference Z921 +B86B 1956/65 (LC)

Supplemented by: -----. -----. General catalogue of printed books: five-year supplement, 1966-1970. Compact edition. New York: Readex Microprint Corporation, c1971-1972.
SML Reference Z921 +B86B 1966/70 (LC)

Supplemented by: British Library. General catalogue of printed books: five-year supplement, 1971-1975. London: British Museum Publications, c1978-1979.
SML Reference Z921 +B86B 1971/75 (LC)

Supplemented by: -----. General Catalogue of Printed Books, 1976-1985. London: British Library, 1986.
SML Reference Fiche B1221

Supplemented by: -----. General catalogue of printed books, 1976-1985: supplement, 1982-1985. London: British Library, c1986.
SML Reference Fiche B1223

Bibliothèque nationale (France). Département des imprimés. Catalogue général des livres imprimés de la Bibliothèque nationale. Auteurs... Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1897-1981. 231v.
SML Reference Z927 P35 (LC)
SML Reference Fiche B1202
SML Microform Fiche B1202
An important modern catalog, the value of which cannot be overestimated. An alphabetical author catalog, including only entries under names of personal authors, with the necessary cross-references; does not include title entries for anonymous books or entries for anonymous classics, periodicals or society transactions or government or corporate authors. The cataloging is excellent; the information given includes author's full name whenever possible, title, place, publisher, date, edition, paging or volumes, format, and occasional notes of contents, original publication in case of reprints from periodicals, etc. An important reference feature, in the case of authors whose works are voluminous, is the detailed alphabetical title index under the author's name, which indicates in what volumes or editions a given work may be found, and also indicates alternative and changed titles. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of French publications, the catalog is particularly strong in other Romance-language and classical materials.
Originally each volume included titles acquired up to the date of publication of that particular volume, so that there is a wide spread in coverage between the first volumes published in 1900 and those issued half a century later. Beginning with v. 189, however, no imprints after 1959 have been included, and this policy continues through the end of the alphabet.

Supplemented by: -----. Catalogue général des livres imprimés, 1897-1959. Supplément sur fiches. Paris: Chadwyck-Healey France, 1986. 2890 fiche.
SML Reference Fiche B1273
Lists works added to the Bibliothèque Nationale through 1959; as in the printed catalog, only works under names of personal authors are included. Thus the catalog (which, before v. 189, listed works acquired at the same time the individual volumes were published) now has uniform coverage.

Supplemented by: -----. Catalogue général des livres imprimés. Auteurs, collectivités-auteurs, anonymes, 1960-1969. Série 1, Caractères latins. Paris: La Bibliothèque, 1972-1976.
SML Reference Z927 +P35 1972 (LC)
SML Microform Fiche B1203

Supplemented by: -----. Catalogue général des livres imprimés. Auteurs, collectivités-auteurs, anonymes, 1960-1969. Série 2, Caractères non latins. Paris: La Bibliothèque, 1972-1978.
SML Reference Z927 +P35 1972B (LC)
SML Microform Fiche B1204

Supplemented by: -----. Catalogue général des livres imprimés. Auteurs, collectivités-auteurs, anonymes, 1970-1979. Série en caractères non latins. Paris: La Bibliothèque, 1983- .
SML Reference Z798 P22 F7 1983 (LC)

Guide: Bernard, Annick. Guide de l'utilisateur des catalogues des livres imprimés de la Bibliothèque nationale. Paris: Chadwyck-Healey France; Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey Inc., 1986.
SML Microform Z927 P35 B47 (LC)

Gesamtverzeichnis des deutschsprachigen Schrifttums (GV), 1700-1910. Ed. Peter Geils and Willi Gorzny. Munich; New York; London; Paris: Saur, 1979-1987. 160v.
SML Reference Z2221 +G46 (LC)
Compiles and interfiles entries from existing printed bibliographies and book catalogs. Thus the main entries, but not the indexes, from some 178 works published in about 560 volumes are here alphabetically arranged in a single alphabet.

Supplemented by: Gesamtverzeichnis des deutschsprachigen Schrifttums (GV), 1700-1910. Nachträge. Ed. Hilmar Schmuck and Willi Gorzny. Munich; New York: K.G. Saur, 1987.
SML Reference Z2221 +G46 Suppl. (LC)

Continued by: Gesamtverzeichnis des deutschspragichen Schrifttums (GV), 1911-1965. Ed. Reinhard Oberschelp. Munich: Verlag Dokumentation, 1976-1981. 150 vols.
SML Reference Z2221 +G47 (LC)
Represents a cumulation and integration of the main entries from some 15 series of German-language national bibliographies and dissertation lists. (Balay, AA647)

The National Union Catalog, pre-1956 imprints; a cumulative author list representing the Library of Congress printed cards and titles reported by other American libraries. London: Mansell, 1968-81. 754 vols.
SML Z881 A1 +N37 (LC)
LSF AE60 N213

A note on the annotations:

Balay = Guide to reference books. Edited by Robert Balay. 11th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1996.
Shelved at Reference Desk

Sheehy = Guide to reference books. Edited by Eugene P. Sheehy. 10th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1986.
Shelved at Reference Desk