Subdivisions

Early Works to 1800

Subject Heading Manual H1576 - "The subdivision -Early works to 1800 and similar subdivisions used under subjects are useful in subject cataloging because (a) they collocate early texts on a subject in the file under the subject, and (b) they separate from the general works (that is, the unsubdivided headings) materials that would normally be regarded as irrelevant by the average catalog user interested in current materials."

• General rule

Use the subdivision -Early works to 1800 as a free-floating form subdivision under all appropriate headings, including those assigned to maps of all types, to designate individual works written or issued before 1800.

650 #0 $a Astronomy $v Early works to 1800.

651 #0 $a Bergamo (Italy) $v Early works to 1800.

650 #0 $a Money $v Tables $v Early works to 1800.

650 #0 $a Martial arts $z China $v Early works to 1800.

650 #0 $a Physicians $z England $v Biography $v Early works to 1800.

651 #0 $a Greece $x Description and travel $v Early works to 1800.

651 #0 $a Paris (France) $v Aerial views $v Early works to 1800.

650 #0 $a Real property $z England $v Maps $v Early works to 1800

N.B. The former free-floating subdivision -Maps-To 1800 was discontinued in August 1993.

• Position of the subdivision

As a general rule, locate the subdivision as the last element in the string.  To bring out the form in which the modern publisher issued the work, add it after -Early works to 1800; for example, [topic]-Early works to 1800-Periodicals.

• Applicable categories

  • Early printed works and manuscripts - Assign the subdivision as long as the text in question originated before the date given in the subdivision. This applies not only to early printed works, but also to works originally appearing in manuscript form before the invention of printing.

  • Editions - Assign the subdivision to all editions of a work, including editions issued after 1800, as long as the original text has not been altered or reworked. Also assign the subdivision for literal translations of such texts, regardless of the date of the translation.

  • Post-1800 adaptations and reassembled works - Omit the subdivision if parts of an early work or works were adapted or reassembled after 1800 so as to constitute a new work. Also omit the subdivision in the case of collections of excerpts from one or more early works.

  • Collections of early texts - Assign the subdivision for collections of early texts brought together without alteration and issued in one publication after 1800.

• Exceptions - Follow the alternative provisions that currently exist in the subject authority file:

  •  if a date other than 1800 is used to bring out a date having more significance than 1800 for the topic:

650 ## $a Encyclopedias and dictionaries $v Early works to 1600

650 ## $a Electricity $v Early works to 1850

650 ## $a Psychiatry $v Early works to 1900

• • if a heading has been established with variant terminology instead of a date:

650 ## $a Botany $v Pre-Linnean works

650 ## $a Natural history $v Pre-Linnean works

650 ## $a Zoology $v Pre-Linnean works

• • omit the subdivision in situations for which the passage of time is of little consequence

    • under names of persons, corporate bodies (except for geographic names), or individual works (except sacred works)

    • historical works; chronologies

    • under headings with dates, or period subdivisions; under headings with period qualifiers, for example, Science, Ancient

    • works of belles lettres; works about belles lettres

  • Bibliographies

    • Early bibliographies - Assign headings of the type [topic]-Bibliography-Early to designate individual bibliographies that were issued before 1800 on a topic.

**The subdivision -Early works to 1800 is not used under the subdivision -Bibliography.**

• • • Bibliographies of early works - Assign headings of the type [topic]-Early works to 1800-Bibliography to designate bibliographies that list individual works issued before 1800 on a topic.

N.B. Catalogs of such bibliographies are assigned the heading [topic]-Early works to 1800-Bibliography-Catalogs, or, in the case of exhibition catalogs, [topic]-Early works to 1800-Exhibitions.

• • • When assigning the subdivisions -Bibliography-Early or -Early works to 1800-Bibliography, also assign the heading Early printed books-[century, if appropriate]. 

650 #0 $a Architecture $v Bibliography $v Early.

650 #0 $a Early printed books $y 18th century $v Bibliography.

650 #0 $a Architecture $x Early works to 1800 $v Bibliography.