0C. Chief source of information

Contents:

0C1. Single title page

0C1.1.

The chief source of information for a publication other than a single sheet (see 1G) is the title page, or, if there is no title page, the source from within the publication that is used as a substitute for it. If information traditionally given on the title page is given on two facing pages or on pages on successive leaves, with or without repetition, treat all of these pages as the chief source of information.

0C1.2.

However, if the publication bears a cover issued by the publisher, and the cover contains all the elements typically given on a title page but with more recent information than that provided on the title page (e.g., a later edition statement and publication date), choose the cover as the chief source of information. Make a note to indicate that the cover has been chosen as the chief source of information (see 7B3.1).

Poetry of animated nature illustrated : a chaste, interesting and instructive present for juveniles. -- Second edition. -- Philadelphia : Published by Robert A. Smith, 1848

Note: Title, edition statement, and imprint taken from printed wrapper. Title page reads: Poetry of animated nature illustrated. In a series of numbers. Philadelphia: Published by Robert A. Smith, 1846

0C2. Multiple title pages

If the publication has more than one title page, choose as the chief source of information one of the following, applying the first applicable criterion:

a) If the title pages present the publication in different aspects (e.g., as an individual publication and as part of a multipart monograph), prefer the one that corresponds to the aspect in which the publication is to be treated.

b) If the publication is in more than one volume, each of which has a title page, use the title page in the first volume (or the lowest numbered volume if the first volume is not available).

c) If the publication is in one volume and the chief difference between multiple title pages is imprint date, choose the one with the latest date.

d) If the publication is in one volume and the chief difference between two title pages is that one is letterpress and the other is not, choose the letterpress title page.

e) If the publication has the same title page in more than one language or script, choose the title page that is in the language or script of the main part of the publication.

f) If the two title pages face one another, choose the right-hand one (the one on the recto of its leaf).

g) If two or more title pages follow one another, choose the first one.

Make a note indicating the source chosen as the chief source of information if other than the usual title page, or, in a multipart monograph, if other than the title page of the first volume (see 7B3).

0C3. No title page

For publications issued without a title page (and for publications issued with a title page when the title page is missing and no reliable description of it is available), if a single title proper is available in a single source within the publication, use this source as the title page substitute. If the same title proper is available in more than one source within the publication, choose as the title page substitute the source that supplies the most additional information. If different titles, or differing forms of the same title, appear within the publication, choose as the title page substitute one of the following, in this order of preference:

a) a source within the preliminaries or the colophon

b) a source elsewhere within the publication

c) a reference source

Make a note indicating the source chosen as the title page substitute (see 7B3).

Hereafter in these rules, "title page" means "title page or title page substitute."