[Rarebooks] FS: A Great 19th Century American Library Catalog

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

[Cutter, Charles Ammi] "CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM 
1807-1871"  Boston: 1874-1882.

The original edition of a monumental and important catalog. The Boston 
Athenaeum was a leading literary and artistic society in the 19th century, 
and its library contained a wide breadth of important material on American 
art, history and literature.

The library was catalogued by Charles Ammi Cutter, the librarian of the 
Athenaeum. Cutter [1837-1903], a founding member of the American Library 
Association, was an important influence on modern librarianship and 
cataloging. He graduated third in his class at Harvard at age 18, spent 
several years cataloging the Harvard library, and married Sarah Appleton, 
one of the first female library assistants in the Harvard cataloguing 
department.

When he came to the Athenaeum he was faced with the daunting task of 
cataloging its quarter-of-a-million volumes, a project that would 
eventually take almost a decade. Cutter's approach, which was designed to 
be most helpful to the patron looking for books (instead of the librarian 
or cataloguer organizing them) would be expanded upon in his "Rules for a 
Dictionary Catalog", and would become a cornerstone of modern Library 
Science. Throughout his career at the Athenaeum and as a President of the 
ALA and editor of its Journal, Cutter would be concerned with making the 
library more useful to patrons, especially those who needed it to further 
their educations and place in life.

After he left the Athenaeum and was Librarian of the Forbes Library in 
Northampton, Massachusetts, Cutter would write- "We are to buy the best 
books... Not the best book for the librarian, nor for the book committee, 
nor for the self-educated book committee outside the library, nor for the 
shelves (to keep them warm by never leaving them); but the best books to 
satisfy our clients for amusement and knowledge and mental stimulus and 
spiritual inspiration. The library should be a practical thing to be used, 
not an ideal to be admired."

5 volumes. Hardcovers. 7.5"x11", 3,402 + 24 pages; ex-historical society 
library, bound in old green cloth with leather spine labels with gilt 
titles; discoloration from a small label at the base of each spine; several 
old stamps, etc. Covers with minor soil and a little wear; the pages are 
very brittle and several, including the title page to the first volume, 
have several closed tears. [07960]  $250.00 net

the set-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images07/th-07960.jpg>


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JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design

Post Office Box 239
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 USA
telephone (413) 247-5080

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