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Before launching fully into a discussion of procedures for bibliographical analysis and description of periodicals, some explanations are in order. First, I offer a very general set of observations, geared primarily towards the description of a single number of a periodical, on the assumption that other bibliographers will modify them according to the particular characteristics of the materials they wish to describe. I advocate the description of numbers for several practical reasons, the primary one being that some analysis and description of numbers is basic to any periodical-based project, no matter how large (i.e., description of an entire run of a given periodical) or small (analysis of typography, illustrations, or other parts of a run or number).

It is to be hoped that large projects such as descriptive bibliographies of entire runs of major periodicals will be made feasible and more flexible


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through the use of technology such as CD-ROM and hypermedia. The CD-ROM version of the Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals, 1800 — 1900 allows users to view digitized images of title pages of some periodicals. One can easily imagine the benefits to be gained from presenting a descriptive bibliography in a similar format, and the even greater benefit of linking bibliographic descriptions to each other and to images (which could include not only title pages of the items described, but illustrations, wrappers, or even entire periodicals or books).[21] Bibliographies of complete periodical runs offer the advantages of presenting each number both as an individual publication and as part of the larger series, and of avoiding the duplication of effort that could result from including full descriptions of periodical numbers in author bibliographies. Indeed, one of the most compelling arguments for creating descriptive bibliographies of literary periodicals is that by so doing, a bibliographer could provide insight into the writing lives of a large number of authors. Bibliographies of periodicals would also be particularly useful to editors of texts that were first published in periodicals.

But while literary and biographical considerations may be foremost in the minds of many readers, the act of establishing the bibliographical histories of individual periodical numbers carries a larger significance. The simple fact that a periodical number might have a life of its own is generally ignored, and since any investigation of a number necessarily involves placing it in the context of the rest of the series, studies of even a single number shed light both on that individual publication and on the other members of the series. Therefore, while it is enjoyable to contemplate the possibility of large-scale work on periodicals, it is also important to realize that any bibliographical work on periodicals, however limited in scope, is welcome and needed.

Along these lines, it is important to consider whether author bibliographies might attempt to render periodicals in greater detail. Since the bibliographer's task always includes determining the kind and amount of information to include in a description, it is reasonable to ask that the process of compiling an author bibliography should include


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a careful consideration of how the author's periodical contributions should be represented.[22] Of course, if reliable descriptive bibliographies of the relevant periodicals existed, no one would expect an author bibliography to do more than make note of the fact; at present, however, one hardly expects author bibliographies to make up for the absence of periodical bibliographies. It is all too easy to imagine situations in which full treatment of an author's periodical contributions would leave no room for descriptions of any other materials. But if an author served as the editor of a periodical, or as a primary contributor to one or more periodical numbers that are not likely to be covered in other author bibliographies or in a periodical bibliography, an expanded treatment within the author bibliography may be justified. A range of possibilities exists between the brief citation that is usually presented, and the full description that almost never appears. For example, a bibliographer may wish to establish the context for an author's contribution to a certain periodical number; one way to accomplish this goal would be to present a full list of contents, but the goal might also be met by mentioning the items that precede and follow the author's contribution, or by noting some other contents that are especially relevant. This point is that each author presents a unique publishing history, and that the bibliographer's decisions about the treatment of periodicals must reflect the particular circumstances of the author's career as well as the bibliographer's own interests and goals.

My comments are based on trial descriptions of a number of single numbers and bound volumes of Victorian periodicals; most of my work was done in the Newberry Library.[23] Unfortunately, I have rarely been


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able to secure multiple copies of any number or bound volume. I have, however, been able to work with a variety of periodicals and thus to identify the main ways in which the collection and presentation of bibliographical data for periodicals differs from that of books. What I offer, then, is a general discussion of the special considerations that come into play in the process of analyzing and describing a periodical number, followed by a partial description of one number of The Broadway.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the elements of bibliographical description as developed in Bowers's Principles and in the work of other scholars such as G. T. Tanselle (whose "A Sample Bibliographical Description With Commentary" is especially useful both as a model of bibliographical practice and a guide to previous scholarship). Because Victorian periodicals are in many ways similar to Victorian books, the procedures articulated by Bowers, Tanselle and others often do not require modifications when applied to periodicals; it is to be understood, then, that one proceeds as one would with a book except in the matters discussed below.