Illustrations and Plates
Illustrations were a selling point of certain periodicals, and should always
be an important element of the description. Changes in illustrations or their
accompanying captions can be an important source of bibliographical
information, and both the content and means of production of illustrations
have considerable historical and cultural relevance. Since scholars may have a
special interest in illustrations apart from the other contents of the periodical,
it may make sense to present them in a separate listing. In this way, detailed
information about the processes used for illustration can be made easy to
find, with the added benefit of not making the list of contents unnecessarily
long.
Given the close relationship between the periodical press and the
development of illustration in the nineteenth century, I would argue for
mentioning all illustrations in the periodical and describing at least some of
them, if not all, including advertisements. It is difficult to decide whether
illustrated advertisements should be separated from illustrations listed in the
contents or otherwise featured as part of "text." A
researcher interested in periodicals per se might find such a distinction to be
artificial and counterproductive; on the other hand, the goals of the
bibliography might make it logical to draw distinctions or emphasize some
illustrations more than others, especially if one considers that the readers of a
bibliography may be interested in the work of a particular illustrator, or in the
ways in which a particular author's works were illustrated.
The same considerations apply to plates.[34] The placement of plates in periodicals should
be carefully noted, especially in bound volumes, where variations in the
positions of plates can help to establish active or passive aggregation. The
actual position of plates should always be compared to positions designated
on the plates themselves or elsewhere in the number or volume.
