Archives & Special Collections

Using Boolean logic (AND, OR and NOT), and wildcards (* for truncation and ? to replace a single character within a word) different search terms can be brought together in a single search. A two-letter prefix must be added prior to each search term:

Author: au:

Example: au:Burns

Title: ti:

Example: ti:Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect

Keyword: kw:

Example: kw:dialect

Subject: su:

Example: su:Burns, Robert

Year: yr:

Example: yr:1786

Tips:  

• Decade: ti:bleak house AND yr:185?
• Century: ti:bleak house AND yr:18??
• Range of years: ti:bleak house AND yr:1850..1940

Notes: nt:

Examples: see the Searching for provenance etc section

Publisher: pb:

Example: pb:Foulis AND yr:1740..1760  

Publisher location: pl:

Example: au:Burns, Robert AND kw:dialect AND yr:1786..1820 AND pl:Edinburgh

Tips:

• For works not published in English the search term used should be adapted
  • eg: pl:Glaschu AND yr:1800..1890
  • Or, to search Glasgow and Glaschu: pl:Glas* AND yr:1800..1890
• If a book is published in Latin, the correct Latin placenames to include in the search can be found here: Orbis Latinus

Country of publication: cp:

Example: au:Burns, Robert AND yr:1786..1900 AND cp:Germany

Language: ln:

Example: au:Burns, Robert AND ln:ger

Tips:

•  A three letter MARC code is used for languages. To find the correct code cf: MARC Code List for Languages: Name Sequence (Library of Congress)

Descriptions of previous owners, bindings, copy-specific annotations, presentation inscriptions etc are included in local notes fields. To search:

• Open the rare books search
• Select any drop down option, keyword, title, or subject
• Enter your search term, preceded by the two letter code 'nt:'
• For suggestions on words and phrases which might be useful in searching see: Commonly used copy specific terms In University of Glasgow 
   

Examples:

To search for books owned by Captain John Anderson:

• nt:Anderson, John, Captain
• Note that this will return provenances but also any other occurance of these words in a note field

To search for books published in the sixteenth century with handwritten reader annotations:

• nt:annotation* AND yr:1501..1600

To search for hand-illuminated books published in Italy:

• nt:illuminat* AND cp:Italy
• Note that the cp: two-letter code allows for searching country of publication

The inclusion of copy specific and provenance information records is an ongoing project. Many of our records have yet to be upgraded to include this information, but we are adding it when we can. If you are conducting book history research and do not get many results, please contact us and we will try to help further.

Remember that you are relying on matching up the search terms you use with the way the copy specific details have been described in the records. Try different search terms.

The following terms/phrases are a guide to the terminology that we have used in cataloguing the books, so try searching with these to start with: 

• Binding
  • blind stamped
  • armorial stamp
  • gold tooled
  • fillets
  • (leather): calf; morocco; sheep; pigskin
  • vellum
  • clasp
  • embroidered
• Binder's ticket/stamp
• Marbled endpapers
• Doublures 
• Marbled fore-edge
• Fore-edge title
• Fore-edge painting
• Manuscript waste
• Manuscript fragment
• Printer’s waste
• Bookplate
• Book label
• Book stamp
• Manuscript foliation
• Manuscript signatures
• Interleaved
• Annotation/s
• Manuscript
• Manuscript note/s
• Nota marks
• Pen trials
• Doodles
• Inscription/s
  • presentation
  • ownership
  • manuscript dedication
  • autograph
• Decoration
  • painted
  • illuminated
  • initials supplied in red
  • underlining supplied in red
  • rubrication
  • capital strokes
  • penwork
  • decorated border
  • white vine decoration
• Coat of arms
• Press cutting
• Excerpt from bookseller’s catalogue
• Letter
• Bibliographical notes
• Price code
• Shelfmark (older useage: pressmark)
• Inventory/accession number
• Loosely inserted
• Tipped in
• Blind impressions of type
• Watermark
• Cancel