Catalogue of the Alexandria Library Company, 1815

Item — Reel: 00039

Identifier: MS002 Series 10

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This catalog of 1,027 titles includes the title number, number of volumes, and price, as well as a note to indicate whether something was a donation. It is a reliable reference for the decades that followed, but should be used with caution for earlier periods. Comparison with the 1801 catalog shows that titles were inserted with very low numbers, and it is unclear how the 1808 catalog was organized. Given the way the catalog was divided, there is no clear method by which accretions could have been added to the working catalog other than accession order, whereas the 1815 catalog required them to be categorized.

It is therefore logical to assume that numbers added in between catalog issuances were later changed, and that the 1815 catalog is probably not valid for the preceding period.

The full title of the catalog included the phrase “to which are prefixed, the Act of Incorporation; the Laws of the Company, and the Names of the Members,” but our copy contains only pages 11-46 and does not contain front matter. It is unclear whether the first ten pages were removed, or John A. Stewart’s edition was simply printed without them.

Dates

Publication: 1815

Extent

From the Collection: 8.10 Cubic Feet (13 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 record carton)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The 1,027 titles were assigned numbers according to the following classification system based on size and subject. The title counts are taken from Evans, 1967.

Miscellaneous Folios (21 titles)
Miscellaneous Quarto (33 titles)
Civil History, Voyages and Travels, Geography, Antiquities, Biography, etc.

Octavos (223 titles)
Duodecima and Infra (95 titles)

Ecclesiastical History, Theology, Essays Moral and Religious, Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics etc.

Octavos (54 titles)
Duodecima and Infra (47 titles)

Miscellaneous _______ General Science, The Arts, Domestic Economy, Natural Philosophy, Periodical Essays, Magazines and Reviews, etc.

Octavo (72 titles)
Duodecima and Infra (43 titles)

Law, Politics, Political Economy, Agriculture, Commerce, etc.

Octavo (60 titles)
Duodecima and Infra (13 titles)

Poetry, the Drama, Belles Lettres, and Criticism

Octavo (39 titles)
Duodecima and Infra (13 titles)

Novels and Romances etc. (130 titles)
Appendix-Supplementary and Miscellaneous (30 titles)

Custodial History

A microfilm reproduction of a copy from the Library of Congress with an 1876 stamp donated as a gift of Mr. Allen Reese 3/1/49.

Existence and Location of Copies

In 1967, Marjorie Darnell Evans completed a multi-year thesis project for Catholic University of America publishing a reorganized 1815 catalog in alphabetical order by author, and a typed copy of the original as an appendix, of which photocopies also exist.