The Catalogue

The catalogue lists the pamphlets in binding order, with the volumes numbered in sequence from 1 to 88, followed by the 'Rare' and 'Personal' volumes, then by the 'AP', 'BL' and 'DA' volumes, and finally by the 'Unbound' pamphlets in alphabetical order. The 'Unbound' sequence lists only those titles not otherwise recorded; there are at least 140 pamphlets in the bound volumes which have duplicates in the collections drawn on for the Unbound pamphlets. The catalogue entries, which include notes of other copies in other volumes, are supplemented by an author-title index and a subject index.

The catalogue entries were originally prepared according to the American Library Association (ALA) rules of 1949, and headings for corporate bodies and some anonymous works were revised to conform with the first (1967) edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing page ix Rules. Headings for personal authors are, as in the ALA rules, in the fullest identifiable form, regardless of the form appearing in the work.

Descriptive cataloguing follows in general the first level of International Standard Bibliographical Description (ISBD), although the series and illustration statements are always included, and a statement of responsibility is included only if there are additional authors or the main entry cannot be deduced from the form appearing on the title page, as with married women or pseudonyms. The '/' is not used, and other punctuation elements are spaced in traditional typist's style rather than ISBD form.

Some items have proved somewhat intractable to describe and the resulting compromises may offend purists. We hope, however, that all entries are readily understood and not so inconsistent as to be confusing.

In headings and elsewhere a certain number of standard abbreviations have been used, in particular 'Gt Brit.', 'N.Z.' and 'U.S.' for the countries Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States of America. In Imprints, 'Government' is reduced to 'Govt', and the Government Printers are described as such, not by the name of the actual incumbent ('Wellington: Govt Printer', not 'Wellington: George Didsbury'). In many cases the imprint names the printer (manufacturer) as if he (or they) were the publisher. No effort has been made to distinguish between the two functions; if there is no publisher the printer will be named in the imprint.

Notes have been used sparingly, and the only 'copy specific' details relate to missing title-pages or otherwise incomplete copies, or to the occasional inscription which provides evidence of authorship or date. Material in the Maori language only is identified by a note 'Williams no.' referring to the Bibliography of Printed Maori to 1900 by Herbert W. Williams (Wellington: Govt Printer, 1924) where brief descriptions of the contents are given.