Descriptive Bibliography. By G. Thomas Tanselle A Sample Bibliographical Description with Commentary. By G. Thomas Tanselle

Abstract

Both publications distributed by Oak Knoll Books, New Castle, Delaware. ‘Descriptive bibliography, by recording and analyzing the physical features of books, contributes directly to the process of reading and is thus a crucial cultural activity.’ The links thus expressed by Professor Tanselle in 1992, between form and meaning, have been long established, if not always perfectly understood. They were expressed somewhat summarily by McLuhan, and with more finesse in McKenzie's much quoted (and much misquoted) ‘forms effect meaning’. That being the case, then a further question arises. Not just what can be seen, but also who was responsible for what, contributing in so essential a way to the process of reading: of what we extract from our reading, and how we understand it. In what exactly does this collaboration between author, manufacturer, and reader consist? Where is the common ground? So far as the printed and manuscript word is concerned, it lies in the physical object: something that can be described in terms that are neither equivocal nor ambiguous: precise within chosen parameters.