TOWARD A TYPOLOGY OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL PERIODICAL

Abstract

Starting slowly in the middle of the seventeenth century, the number of scientific and technical periodicals had reached a total of ouer 1,000 titles by 1790. To deal with them as a body of literature and to provide an effectiue framework upon which to construct generalizations concerning them, it is desirable and necessary to develop a classification of the formats in which they tended to appear. Three classifications of scientific periodicals are examined: one that originated at the turn of the nineteenth century, another that appeared in 1839, and Fielding H. Garrison's classification of 1934. Various formats in the period before 1790, including those dealing with society publications, academic literature, and the essays resulting from the awarding ofprizes by scientific societies, are eramined in the light of the classification in which they appeared, and some of the issues they raise are discussed. It is fairly clear, for instance, that by the end of the eighteenth century the periodical has still not been segregated in bibliographic access and treatment, either as a vehicle for or as a repository of scientific information. Miscellaneous writings of indiuidual or multiple authors are in many cases regarded in the same light, and are sometimes indistinguishable from titles that can be regarded as bonafide periodicals. The basic differentiation to be made is that between an original and a derivative literature, without begging the question of originality in the conceptual sense. Borrowing, translating, extracting, and reprinting were so prevalent that distinctions are difficult to make in this early period. A classification of formats (types of component unit publications) is offered derived from an analysis of some of the titles on the lists, and some of the other facets under which the scientific and technical periodical of this era should be examined are listed.