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The following sample description of The Broadway 1, no. 6 (February 1868), presents some of the situations and concerns that are likely to arise in dealing with periodicals, while underscoring the many similarities that exist between periodicals and books.
This account of The Broadway is not intended as a full description, but as an illustration of many of the matters previously discussed, including the problem of having to work with a limited number of copies.[36] In this case, all copies examined are bound volumes resulting from semi-active aggregation, so the sample also shows how one might proceed when the number in wrappers has not been located.
The sample description emphasizes the importance of placing the individual number in context. This takes place primarily in the introductory notes, which present an overview of the periodical's first volume with special reference to the position of Number 6 in the volume's history and to the special features of this number. The prose commentary supplied in the sample could be shortened or even replaced with a brief listing of crucial elements if space were limited. In any case, the introductory note for this number would contain considerably less information about the general history of the periodical if several numbers were being described, and in those circumstances some elements of the description proper, such as the publisher's case and related materials described in the "Miscellaneous" section, would be presented elsewhere and not repeated in individual descriptions. Also, if the contents of The Broadway were indexed in Wellesley or elsewhere, it might not be necessary to provide full titles and author's signatures in the description's contents section.
The organization of the sample description reflects the particular features of this number of The Broadway. For example, the wrapper is presented in the section on binding because the information it records is already mentioned in the introductory notes and in the title-page transcription. Since the number includes a relatively small number of illustrations, they are indicated both in the contents proper and in a separate, more detailed subsection.
The section on typography illustrates the tendency of periodicals to shift type sizes both for reasons of space (which probably accounts for the presentation of "Mrs. Holmes Grey" in double columns) and to use typography to distinguish among various sorts of headings and signatures. But here and elsewhere many elements appear essentially as they might in a description of a book, thus demonstrating that bibliographical description of periodicals is both feasible and appropriate.
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