Genre and form

Genre/form terms in catalog records describe what an item is (or contains), not what it is about. Genre corresponds roughly to the intellectual content of what is being described: for example, almanacs, depositions, plays, and poems. Form corresponds with physical characteristics: for example, embroidered bindings, imposition errors, manicules, and sammelbands. This catalog record for two copies of a 1635 edition of Sternhold and Hopkins Whole booke of Psalmes includes the genre term Psalters (books) and the form term Embroidered bindings. In practice, "genres" and "forms" overlap, so the MARC cataloging standard uses the same field for both (the MARC 655 Genre/Form field).

Genre and form in library catalogs

Catalogers use controlled vocabularies to ensure that terminology is more or less the same between different institutions, or can be cross-walked to equivalent terms when sharing data. But as the saying goes, "the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."

Guidance for Folger catalogers can be found in the Folgerpedia article "MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form" but the gist of it is:

• Use the Getty's Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) if a suitable term exists
• Use the RBMS Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging if AAT does not have an appropriate term
• If neither has the appropriate term, use the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) or Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms.
• As a last resort, use Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or a local term.

Form terms can also appear at the end of a Subject heading, though this practice has largely been replaced by separate Genre/Form terms. At the Folger, these include, for example:

• -- Early works to 1800 (material about the named subject that is pre-1801)
• -- Manuscripts (material about the named subject that is manuscript rather than printed)
• -- Pictorial works (material about the named subject that is primarily pictorial rather than verbal)

Searching genre/form terms in the catalog

The Folger catalog has several built-in ways to search for items by their genre and form.

• Begin a search then narrow your search results using the checkboxes in the Genre/form facet in the left-hand side bar (on a mobile device or narrow screen, use the “Options” button to reveal the facets).
• Type genreform: immediately before a keyword search in the main search box (remember to use quotation marks around phrases). For example:
  • genreform:"Embroidered bindings"
  • genreform:(cookbooks AND manuscripts)
  • genreform:(epigrams NOT manuscripts)
• Follow the Advanced Search link near the bottom of the catalog's landing page and select "genre/form (what it is)" from the drop-down menus next to any of the three search boxes. You can search by genre/form alone, or combine it with other searches.
• Follow the Browse records link near the bottom of the catalog's landing page and select "genre/form (what it is)" then hit the "Search" button to browse an alphabetical list.

List of common genre and form terms in the Folger catalog

• This list of genre and form terms, and Folger policy for applying them, is currently under review and revision. Terms in bold are approved for current use. Most of the terms on the list were meant to be used consistently for all Vault materials. Other terms were selectively applied for unusual or outstanding examples of a feature (e.g. Fan style bindings for 267- 907.1q)
• Not all RBMS terms had scope notes at the time of this table's initial creation; consequently, some scope notes are taken from other thesauri with the same terms (or variant terms to represent the same concept). The source of each scope note is indicated.

Term	Term source	Scope note	Scope source	Folger practice
Abridgements	ǂ2 aat	Versions of written works produced by condensation and omission but with retention of the general meaning and manner of presentation of the original, often prepared by someone other than the author of the original.	AAT
Academic addresses (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Texts of speeches to be delivered in an academic environment.	AAT
Account books	ǂ2 aat	Books in which financial accounts are kept.	AAT	UF Estate accounts, if unbound, and waste books.
Accounts	ǂ2 aat	Documents in which monies or goods received and paid or given out are recorded in order to permit periodic totaling.	AAT
Acrostics	ǂ2 aat	Short poems or prose compositions in which text is arranged so that the first letters of each line form a word, phrase, or motto.	AAT
Acting editions	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for plays with extensive printed production information.	RBMS	Apply when an edition explicitly identifies itself as the text of the play as it was performed, usually using words like "as it is acted at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden" or "Printed from the promptbook. They will often have cast lists, but that is not a necessary criterion.
Addresses	ǂ2 rbgenr	Documents containing the text of any public address or talk.	AAT (Speeches)
Advertisements	ǂ2 aat	Public notices or paid announcements, especially those in print. For announcements paid for by an advertiser and broadcast on radio or television, use "commercials."	AAT
Addresses	ǂ2 rbgenr	Documents containing the text of any public address or talk.	AAT (Speeches)
Affidavits	ǂ2 aat	Sworn statements in writing; especially made upon oath before an authorized magistrate or officer.	AAT
Album amicorum use Libri amicorum
Allegorical prints	ǂ2 gmgpc	Use for prints representing truths or generalizations about human existence by means of symbolic images; often of classical derivation.	local	In the rare cases of other media in the Folger collection, use Allegorical drawings, Allegorical paintings, or Allegorical photographs from gmgpc as appropriate.
Almanacs	ǂ2 aat	Publications, usually annuals, containing a variety of useful facts of miscellaneous nature, or statistical information; originally included projections of coming days, months, and holidays.	AAT
Alphabets of arms use Armorials (reference sources)
Anagrams use Games
Annotations	ǂ2 aat	Notes added as comment or explanation, such as those accompanying an entry in a bibliography, reading list, or catalogue intended to describe, explain, or evaluate the publication referred to.	AAT	Folger practice: use for manuscript annotations by someone other than a scribe or transcriber
Anthologies	ǂ2 aat	Collections of choice extracts, from the writings of one author, or various authors, and usually having a common characteristic such as subject matter or literary form.	AAT	See also Miscellanies and Commonplace books
Anti-Catholic works	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for works that exhibit hostility toward or bias against Catholicism, or its proponents and practitioners.	RBMS
Aphorisms	ǂ2 aat	Short, pithy statements of principle or precepts, often of known authorship; distinguished from Proverbs, which are statements repeated colloquially and which often embody the folk wisdom of a group or nation.	AAT	UF Aphorisms and apothegms.
Aphorisms and apothegms use Aphorisms
Apologetic writings	ǂ2 lctgf	Works that explain a religion, denomination, sect, etc., and defend it from external criticism.	LCTGF
Arguments	ǂ2 aat	Statements of fact, in speech or writing, in support of a proposition and advanced for the purpose of influencing another person.	AAT
Armorials (reference sources)	ǂ2 aat	Reference works on coats of arms, heraldic bearings and devices, or the subject of armory (the devising and regulating of emblematic representations according to established convention).	AAT	UF Alphabets of arms; Heraldic manuscripts; Ordinaries of arms.
Astronomical charts	ǂ2 aat	Refers to maps of the heavens, including the constitution, relative positions, and motions of the heavenly bodies, which are all the bodies in the material universe outside of the Earth, as well as of the Earth itself relative to them. The earliest examples were often decorated with fantastic figures depicting the constellations and recognizable groupings of bright stars, and were primarily used as aids to navigation.	AAT	Do not confuse with astrological charts; use Horoscopes instead.
Auction catalogs	ǂ2 aat	A listing of items, including works of art, manuscripts, books, or other items, that are for sale by auction.	AAT
Autobiographies (literary works)	ǂ2 aat	Literary works that are biographies of individuals written by themselves. For the overall genre, use "autobiography (genre)."	AAT
Autograph albums use Libri amicorum
Autographs	ǂ2 rbgenr	Persons' names written in their own hand.	AAT (Signatures (names))	Use only for collections of autographs and single, clipped autographs. UF Signatures
Ballads use Songs or Poems, as appropriate
Bibles	ǂ2 aat	Refers to books, scrolls, rolls, or other document forms containing the sacred scriptures of Judaism or Christianity.	AAT
Bibliographies	ǂ2 aat	Lists of books, documents, and other bibliographical items, often all related by author, topic, or another criterion. Bibliographies are arranged in some logical order giving brief information about the works, such as author, date, publisher, and place of publication.	AAT
Bills of mortality	ǂ2 aat	LA periodically published official return of the deaths (later, also of the births) in a certain district.	AAT
Blank forms	ǂ2 aat	Forms, which are formulary documents that arrange particular information in a prescribed sequence and format, that are created with blank spaces, lines, boxes, data entry fields, or other means to prompt users of the form to fill in the particular information. Blank forms may be handwritten, printed, typed, or online. When indexing, this term may be used for such forms, whether or not they have been filled in by a user of the form.	AAT
Blankbooks	ǂ2 aat	Books of blank, mostly blank, or ruled pages, or of printed forms.	AAT
Book auction catalogs use Auction catalogs
Book illustrations	ǂ2 gmgpc	Illustrations in books or pamphlets, whether photographs, photomechanical prints, or other media; whether still part of or detached from the volume. Also, drawings, photographs, prints, and other pictures made to be reproduced as illustrations, whether or not they were ever published.	LC	Use for graphic materials only.
Book prices	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for original price only	AAT
Bookplates	ǂ2 gmgpc	Book owners' identification labels; usually intended for pasting inside a book.	LC	Use when the item being cataloged is a bookplate. For volumes containing bookplates, use an 852 ǂz note.
Booksellers' advertisements	ǂ2 aat	Advertising materials for those selling books.	AAT	Use this term rather than "Publishers' advertisements" for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated.
Booksellers' catalogs	ǂ2 aat	Catalogs containing lists of books available by a given bookseller.	AAT	Use this term rather than Publishers' catalogs for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated.
Borders (Type evidence)	ǂ2 rbtyp	Ornamental areas of distinct pattern, material, color, or shape around the edge or boundary of something. With regard specifically to tapestries, refers to the areas around the central field outside the inner guard and within the guard that edges the outer sides of the tapestry. For the narrow surfaces showing the 'thickness' or smallest dimension of thin, flat objects, as distinguished from the broad surfaces, see "edges (object components)."	AAT
Botanical illustrations	ǂ2 aat	Drawings, prints, or other pictures that illustrate plants and their parts, often accurately rendered from life.	AAT
Bowdlerized books use Expurgated editions
Broadsides (notices)	ǂ2 aat	Sizeable single-sheet notices or advertisements printed on one or both sides, often chiefly textual rather than pictorial, and printed to be read unfolded. For the format in which the sheet is not folded, use "broadsheet (format)." For folded sheets having printed matter that generally does not cross the folds, use "folders (printed matter)."	AAT
Burlesques (literary works)	ǂ2 aat	Literary works that ridicule either through the treatment of a solemn subject in an undignified manner or by applying an elevated style and manner to a trivial subject.	AAT
Cablegrams use Telegrams
Calculations	ǂ2 aat	Documents containing numerical determinations, such as of quantities, distances, or amounts of time.	AAT
Calendars (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Registers of days or other contrivances for reckoning days, months, years, etc., such as a table showing the division of a given year into its months, weeks, days, years, or other divisions of time. A calendar may include important astronomical data, ecclesiastical or other festivals, and other events belonging to specific days. For calendric systems of dates, see children under "<dating systems by specific type>."	AAT
Calf bindings (Binding)	ǂ2 rbbin			Use also Goatskin bindings, Pigskin bindings, etc. Use for decorative bindings only, i.e. exhibition-worthy bindings.
Calligraphy	ǂ2 gmgpc	Works composed primarily of beautiful, elegant letters or flourishes that are typically created by hand with a pen, either in unjoined characters or in cursive writing. May also refer to similar works created by computer or another means.	AAT
Cancelled ownership marks	ǂ2 local	{Draft} Use for ownership marks that have been cancelled in any way, including by crossing out, obliterating, erasing, or excising.
Caricatures	ǂ2 aat	Exaggerated, distorted representations of a subject in art or literature; in art, refers particularly to representations, often portraits, that exaggerate certain features or characteristics to humorous or ludicrous effect.	AAT
Cartoons (humorous images)	ǂ2 aat	Pictorial images, usually drawings, that are humorous or that use wit and satire to comment on contemporary events, social habits, political trends, or other topical subjects, often executed in a broad or abbreviated manner. Originally referred to full-page illustrations in a circulating paper or periodical, especially when comical and relating to current events.	AAT
Cartularies	ǂ2 aat	Registers, usually in volume form, of copies of charters, title deeds, and other documents of significance belonging to a person, family, or institution.	AAT
Cast lists	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for lists associating specific performers with their parts.	RBMS
Catechisms	ǂ2 aat	Manuals or guides for instructing through a series of questions and answers, especially for religious instruction.	AAT
Cautionary tales	ǂ2 aat	Stories, verses, or writings usually intended for children, admonishing or warning of the consequences of misbehavior or foolishness; also, in various disciplines, refers to writings warning of possible methodological pitfalls.	AAT
Censored works	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for works that have been altered, prohibited, or suppressed because of allegedly objectionable content.	RBMS
Certificates	ǂ2 aat	Use for documents containing certified statements of ownership, membership, fulfilled requirements, legal status, etc.	AAT
Chapbooks	ǂ2 aat	Small books or pamphlets, usually cheaply printed and containing such texts as popular tales, treatises, ballads, or nursery rhymes, formerly peddled by chapmen.	RBMS	Do not use for 20th century items which represent themselves as chapbooks.
Charades use Games
Charters	ǂ2 aat	Documents, usually sealed, granting specific rights, setting forth aims and principles of a newly established entity, and often embodying formal agreements and authorizing special privileges or exemptions.	AAT
Checks (bank checks)	ǂ2 aat	Written orders drawn on a bank or the Treasury of the United States to pay on demand a specified sum of money to a named person, to his order, or to bearer, out of money on deposit to the credit of the writer; must be endorsed to be transferred.	AAT	UF any bank in any country, plus the U.S. Treasury
Chronicles	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for histories in which events are described in chronological order. These differ from annals in being more connected and full.	RBMS
Chronograms	ǂ2 aat	Phrases, sentences, or inscriptions in which certain letters, usually distinguished by size or other means from the rest, express by their numerical values a date, year, or epoch when added together.	AAT
Chronologies (lists)	ǂ2 aat	Tables, lists, or treatises listing events, biographies, milestones, or other items in serial temporal order relative to given dates or time periods.	AAT
Civilité (typeface)	ǂ2 aat	Group of script typefaces based on Gothic cursive hand-written scripts.	AAT
Ciphers	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for texts, the meaning of which is concealed by substitution or transposition of letters or numbers.	RBMS
Cityscapes	ǂ2 gmgpc	General or broad views of cities and towns or sections of them. Usually made from an elevated or distant vantage point, such as a view from a roof or a view of a skyline.	TGM
Clasps (Binding)	ǂ2 rbbin	Fasteners made of two or more parts, often of metal, and consisting of separate interlocking hooking and catching elements that hold together two or more objects or complimentary parts of the same object.	AAT	Use whenever there is evidence of original clasps, even if now missing.
Clippings (information artifacts)	ǂ2 aat	Illustrations, pages, articles, or columns of text removed from books, newspapers, journals, or other printed sources and kept for their informational content.	AAT
Coats of arms	ǂ2 gmgpc	Heraldic bearings, usually depicted on an escutcheon often with a crest, motto, or other adjuncts.	TGM	For books, only make for extraordinary exemplars, such as 225- 452f
Coats of arms, books of use Armorials
Coins	ǂ2 gmgpc	Pieces of metal stamped by government authority for use as money.	AAT (Coins (money))	Use for actual coins; for depictions of coins, use 650 0 Coins, ǂe depicted.
Collected works	ǂ2 aat	All the writings of an author, including those which have not been printed previously, published in one volume or a number of volumes in a uniform style of binding, usually with an inclusive title.	AAT
Commentaries	ǂ2 aat	Treatises or series of comments that systematically explain or annotate another work.	AAT
Commonplace books	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for personal notebooks in which the owner has copied passages of interest or written his or her own compositions; use also for printed versions of such works.	RBMS	Use only for such books organized alphabetically or thematically under specific headings. For similar books without headings, use Anthologies; Miscellanies, Poetical miscellanies; Memorandums
Communiques	ǂ2 aat	Official announcements.	AAT
Compilations (arranged works)	ǂ2 aat	Arrangements, compositions, or constructions comprising a written work, art work, or other work, by arrangement of materials collected from various sources. It may refer to the arrangement of content only (as in a literary work), or of physical pieces.	AAT
Composition irregularities	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for dittography, omissions of text, misspelling, and any other compositorial errors.	RBMS
Concealed editions	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for closely similar editions, printed from substantially different settings of type, not distinguished as such by the printer and/or publisher	RBMS
Concordances	ǂ2 aat	Includes indexes to the location of words or phrases in a text and finding aids, in two columns, establishing the relationship between the past and present reference numbers of individual items.	AAT
Contracts	ǂ2 aat	Documents, enforceable by law, embodying agreements between two or more competent parties to do or not to do something, and specifying the terms and conditions of the agreement.	AAT
Cookbooks	ǂ2 aat	Reference publications containing collections of recipes with ancillary content on selection of ingredients or the broader context of the types of cooking presented. Contemporary cookbooks may focus on cultural or regional themes.	AAT	Also use for manuscript cookbooks. UF Receipt books
Copy books (Penmanship)	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for penmanship or calligraphy manuals which include instructional text and examples as well as blank areas designed for a pupil's practice writing. For works which do not contain such blank areas for practice, use Penmanship manuals.	RBMS
Corantos	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for single-leaf forerunners of newspapers. For similar items consisting of more than one leaf, use Newsbooks	RBMS
Costume design drawings	ǂ2 gmgpc	Graphic delineations made for the design and production (or documentation of design and production) of costumes for theatrical and other performing arts productions and for special events, such as costume balls or Halloween.	TGM
Counterproofs	ǂ2 gmgpc	In printmaking, impressions taken from a print or drawing by passing it through a press against a sheet of damp paper. The image appears in reverse.	TGM
Court rolls use Judicial records
Courtesy books	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for books outlining the education, conduct, duties, and training of noble or royal persons, or persons serving at court.	RBMS
Criminal court records	ǂ2 aat	Documents that are a product of courts dealing with criminal, rather than civil cases.	AAT
Cryptograms	ǂ2 aat	Messages or writings in cipher or code.	AAT
Dates (Provenance)	ǂ2 rbprov	Use for evidence dating the acquisition or period of ownership.	RBMS
Debates use Addresses
Decisions (judicial records)	ǂ2 aat	Conclusions or resolutions reached after consideration by a judicial body.	AAT
Declarations	ǂ2 aat	Documents conveying formal statements intended to create, preserve, assert, or testify to a right.	AAT
Decorated papers (Binding)	ǂ2 rbbin	Use for the occurrence of such papers as any part of bindings, cases, endpapers, or doublures.	RBMS
Decorations	ǂ2 gmgpc	Images that ornament a text or picture but do not relate specifically to its meaning.	TGM
Decrees	ǂ2 aat	Authoritative orders, edicts, laws, ordinances, or judicial decisions that are set forth by a civil or ecclesiastical authority, typically having the force of law and often settling a disputed issue or doctrine.	AAT
Decretals	ǂ2 aat	Letters of the pope determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law and possessing the force of law within the Roman Catholic Church.	AAT
Deeds	ǂ2 aat	Documents, usually executed under seal, containing a conveyance, especially of real estate.	AAT	Consult Curator of Manuscripts when coming across more specific types of deeds.
Depositions	ǂ2 aat	Testimonies of witnesses, under oath or affirmation, before a person empowered to administer oaths.	AAT
Descriptions (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Written, digital, spoken, or signed representations of the attributes or qualities of something or someone.	AAT
Designs and ornaments use Decorations
Devotional literature	ǂ2 aat	Religious texts that explore the values, ideas, and behaviors that a religion is seeking to advance, for the purpose of leading the individual, through devotion, closer to an ultimate state of grace or perfection.	AAT
Dialogues	ǂ2 aat	Written compositions in which two or more characters are represented as conversing.	AAT
Diaries	ǂ2 aat	Refers to books containing the daily, personal accounts of the writer's own experiences, attitudes, and observations.	AAT
Dictionaries	ǂ2 aat	Reference sources containing alphabetical lists of words with information given for each word; generally including meanings, pronunciation, etymology, and often usage guidance.	AAT
Digests (legal documents)	ǂ2 aat	Systematically arranged summaries of laws, reported cases, decisions, and other legal documents.	AAT
Documentary films	ǂ2 lcgft			Use for films and programs which depict actual persons and/or events. Exclude frank historical re-creations, but do not attempt to judge the "truth" of the depiction in a film purporting to be factual or documentary in character. UF Factual films
Documentary television programs	ǂ2 lcgft
Drafts (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Preliminary or tentative versions of documents.	AAT
Drafts (negotiable instruments)	ǂ2 aat	Written orders drawn by one party ordering a second party to pay a specified sum of money to a third party (who may be the first party); usually restricted to domestic transactions. For similar orders to pay used for foreign transactions, prefer "bills of exchange."	AAT
Dramatic music	ǂ2 lcgft			Music written for the stage. Use more specific terms (e.g. Incidental music, Operas) whenever possible
Drawings (visual works)	ǂ2 aat	Visual works produced by drawing, which is the application of lines on a surface, often paper, by using a pencil, pen, chalk, or some other tracing instrument to focus on the delineation of form rather than the application of color. This term is often defined broadly to refer to computer-generated images as well. TGM scope: Narrower terms include both physical media and genre categories but are limited to those which use drawing in the sense of a specific medium rather than in the everyday sense of graphic representation.	AAT/TGM	When applicable, prefer the following narrower/related terms: Set design drawings; Watercolors
Edicts	ǂ2 aat	Proclamations or orders concerning a law, decree, or other authoritative command, usually having the force of law. Edicts are the proclamations, as distinguished from the formal, finalized laws, decrees, ordinances, etc. that are referenced by the edicts.	AAT
Educational films	ǂ2 lcgft	This heading is used as a genre/form heading for films that are intended to impart knowledge and information, including those for classroom viewing. Films that use a structured format to teach or train the audience are entered under Instructional films.	LC	Use Educational films also for instructional films
Educational television programs	ǂ2 lcgft
Elegies	ǂ2 aat	Mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poems, especially funeral songs or laments for the dead.	AAT
Emblem books	ǂ2 aat	Artistic genre that flourished in Europe particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries, focusing on a motto and an image representing that motto. Each emblem generally consists of three parts: a short, often Classical, motto (lemma, inscriptio), a pictorial representation or icon (pictura), and the explanation of the link between them in an epigram (subscriptio).	AAT
Emblems (allegorical pictures)	ǂ2 aat	Allegorical pictures, often inscribed with mottoes, common especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. Distinct from "emblems (symbols)," which are simpler symbolic objects or representations of an object.	AAT
Embroidered bindings	ǂ2 aat	Bindings featuring cloth covers, usually of velvet, silk, or canvas, embroidered with gold, silver, or silk thread.	AAT
Encyclopedias	ǂ2 aat	Books, set of books, or disks, containing informational articles on subjects in every field of knowledge, or limited to a special field or subject, usually arranged in alphabetical order.	AAT
Engravings (prints)	ǂ2 aat	Prints on paper incorporating impressions of a reverse design created on a printing plate, usually copper, into which the design has been incised (engraved) using burins or gravers.	AAT	Use only for pure engraving. Use "Intaglio prints" for engraving and etching combined. Do not use for wood engravings.
Ephemerides	ǂ2 aat	Works giving the computed positions of celestial bodies each day or other regular interval; used by navigators and astronomers.	AAT
Epigrams	ǂ2 aat	Short satiric poems or any similar pointed sayings.	AAT
Epitaphs	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for inscriptions copied from sepulchral monuments in the memory of those buried in the tomb or grave. (Adapted from AAT). Also use for satirical epitaphs found in poetical miscellanies.
Erotica	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for literary or artistic works focused on sexual love or desire.	RBMS
Essays	ǂ2 aat	Short literary compositions on single subjects, often presenting the personal view of the author.	AAT
Estate accounts use Account books, if bound; Accounts, if unbound
Eulogies (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Tributes or laudatory speeches written in praise of a person or thing; often, but not always, refers to tributes in honor of the deceased.	AAT
Executive orders	ǂ2 aat	Orders or regulations issued by the President, or some administrative authority under his direction, for the purpose of interpreting, implementing, or giving administrative effect to a provision of the Constitution or of some law or treaty. May also include similar state documents issued by governors or upper-level management in business.	AAT
Expurgated copies (Provenance)	ǂ2 rbprov	Use for copies of a work from which objectionable parts have been defaced, obliterated, or removed, usually on moral grounds.	RBMS	This term is copy-specific and applies only to individual copies.
Expurgated editions	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for editions or versions of works from which objectionable parts in the original text -- whether or not that text has been published -- have been deleted, usually on moral grounds. UF Bowdlerized books; Expurgated books; Expurgated works.	RBMS
Extra-illustrated copies (Provenance)	ǂ2 rbprov			Use only when enough material was added to necessitate rebinding. Otherwise, use Insertions (Provenance)
Fables	ǂ2 aat	Fictitious narratives usually with animals or inanimate objects as protagonists, intended to convey a hidden meaning regarding human conduct.	AAT
Facsimiles (reproductions)	ǂ2 aat	Exact copies of an original object, usually in the same dimensions as the original, especially of books, documents, prints, and drawings. Today often reproduced photographically; in the past, reproduced by engraving or other printmaking process.	AAT
Factual films use Documentary films
False imprint dates	ǂ2 rbmscv
False imprints	ǂ2 rbmscv			Use for incorrect but plausible imprints. Use "Fictitious imprints" for completely imaginary imprints.
Family histories	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for narrative family histories. For family trees and other genealogical listings of family members, use Genealogies.	RBMS
Family papers	ǂ2 aat	Personal papers of members of a single family; usually of parents and their children, but sometimes including papers of spouses and their families as well.	AAT
Fast-day sermons	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for texts of sermons given on days designated as days of fasting.	RBMS
Feature films	ǂ2 lcgft	Here are entered individual full-length films with a running time of 40 minutes or more.	LC
Festival books	ǂ2 aat	Books containing accounts of such events as festivals, parades, or ceremonial entries.	AAT
Fiction (general genre)	ǂ2 aat	Genre that refers to works evoked from the imagination of the creator and not conferred as fact. In literature, fiction generally refers to the novel, novella, short story, and poetic forms.	AAT
Fictitious imprints	ǂ2 aat	An imaginary imprint used for the purpose of evading legal and other restrictions, to mask piracies, to protect anonymity of the author, etc.	AAT	For incorrect but plausible imprints, use "False imprints"
Film adaptations	ǂ2 lcgft			Use for films based on any written literature
Film scripts	ǂ2 rbgenr	Written forms of stories prepared for motion picture productions, including description of characters, details of scenes and settings, dialogue, and stage directions.	AAT (Screenplay)
Filmed performances	ǂ2 lcgft	Here are entered films that document a performance, event, or concert of dance, music, opera, operetta, theatrical stage productions, magic, circus, stand-up comedy, burlesque, or other vaudeville or variety stage acts. etc.	LC	Also apply the topical or genre heading for the specific performance, concert or event, e.g., Rock concerts.
Financial records	ǂ2 aat	Documents pertaining to money matters.	AAT
Flyers (printed matter)	ǂ2 aat	Printed pieces such as notices or advertisements intended for distribution by hand or by mail. For those intended for posting, use "posters."	AAT
Folding errors	ǂ2 rbmscv	For errors in folding one or more sheets of text.	RBMS
Fore-edge paintings (components)	ǂ2 aat	Paintings done on the fore edge of a book, either with the edge solid so that the resulting image is visible when the book is closed, or, in the more usual sense of the term, with the edges fanned out so that the image is visible only when the book is open.	AAT
Forgeries use Literary hoaxes
Formularies	ǂ2 aat	Reference works setting out formulas, recipes, or prescribed forms or models. In pharmacological contexts, use for non-standard works formulating the ingredients and amounts to be used in preparations, but not including recommendations for such things as use and dosage. For reference works detailing preparation of drugs and medicines, including their use and dosage, especially those works recognized as official or standard sources, use "pharmacopoeias."	AAT
Frontispieces	ǂ2 gmgpc	Illustrations placed next to the title page.	TGM	Use when cataloging individual frontispieces in the art collection.
Games	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for materials designed for play, usually according to prescribed rules.	RBMS	UF Anagrams, Charades, Puzzles
Genealogical notes	ǂ2 rbmscv			Use for manuscript notes in printed books.
Genealogies	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for family trees and other listings of family members. For narrative histories, use Family histories.	RBMS	UF Pedigrees
Gift books	ǂ2 aat	Books, usually illustrated literary anthologies, intended to be given as gifts and often published annually; popular in the 19th century. For works produced to mark an occasion, use "keepsakes (books)."	AAT
Grammars (instructional materials)	ǂ2 aat	Books or treatises presenting the basic principles or elements of an art, science, discipline, or practice, especially in the 17th through the 19th century.	AAT
Greeting cards	ǂ2 gmgpc	Cards sent or given on special occasions; usually bearing messages of good will.	TGM
Heraldic devices use Coats of arms
Heraldic manuscripts use Armorials
Herbals	ǂ2 rbgenr	Books containing names and descriptions of herbs, or of plants in general.	AAT
Horoscopes	ǂ2 lcgft	Horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the planets, other celestial bodies and sensitive angles at the time of any event, such as a person's birth; other common names include astrological chart.	LC
Housebooks	ǂ2 aat	Documents in which are recorded household expenditures such as for food, utilities, and domestic help, maintained in a journal or other book; also includes classed or chronological files of the bills and receipts for household goods and services	AAT
Household accounts use Housebooks
Human hair	ǂ2 aat			Use for locks of hair, single strands of hair, and hair incorporated into jewelery. Do not use for wigs in the costume collection.
Humorous pictures	ǂ2 gmgpc	Images intended to be funny. UF Comic pictures.	TGM	UF Humorous sketches.
Illuminations	ǂ2 gmgpc	Book leaves or single sheets of text embellished with hand-drawn ornamental letters, scrolls, paintings, and other designs; usually gold and color; may be decorations or illustrations.	TGM	Illuminated letters, for very early books
Illustrated works	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for texts which are 30% or more illustrative matter, or for works whose illustrations are particularly significant. Do not use for armorials. Do not use for graphic materials.
Imposition errors (Printing)	ǂ2 rbpri
Imprimaturs	ǂ2 aat	Authorizations to print or publish a work implying approval or sanction of content, usually in a context of church or government censorship. Distinguished from "privileges (permissions)" which are authorizations for the printing or selling of books, usually exclusively and for a specified period of time.	AAT
Incidental music	ǂ2 lcgft			Music played during a performance of a spoken drama, which is of secondary importance to the speech (though it may still have dramatic significance) and thus the term does not refer to the operetta, musical, Singspiel, or masque. It embraces both the music 'outside' the drama (e.g., overtures before the play or interludes between acts) as well as the music performed as part of the action (e.g., fanfares, songs, dances, marches, and mood music) whether on or off the stage.
Indentures	ǂ2 aat	Legally binding agreements between two or more parties in two or more originals or copies. Also, contracts binding one person to work for another for a given period of time.	AAT
Indexes (reference sources)	ǂ2 aat	Systematic guides to the contents of texts, files, documents, or collections, presented as a list, usually in alphabetical order, of persons and/or subjects referred to in documents, with location of references thereto.	AAT
Inquisitiones post mortem	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for official documents concerning the nature, extent, and value of a deceased landholder's possessions.	RBMS
Insertions	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for any kind of insertion that might allow identification of the provenance, e.g., autograph letter, news clipping, photograph, etc.	RBMS	Use for insertions with intrinsic interest (e.g., flyers, pictures, flowers, newspaper clippings), whether there is just one or several. Do not use for insertions without intrinsic interest, such as a plain strip of paper used as a bookmark, unless there's firm evidence of specific former owner placement (for example, if it's pinned). For numerous insertions requiring rebinding, use Extra-illustrated copies (Provenance).
Instructional literature (moral guidance works)	ǂ2 aat	Literature, including novels, poetry, and other forms, that provides guidance and instruction, often having a moral overtone and told through stories and examples. For more formal modern instructional manuals regarding practical undertakings, prefer "guidelines" or "manuals (instructional materials)."	AAT
Instructions (document genre)	ǂ2 aat	Information in the form of outlines of procedures, as directions or commands.	AAT
Interleaved books	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for books bound with blank leaves systematically inserted between the original leaves, whether by the publisher or owner, to facilitate user-added content.	RBMS	Not to be used for tissues bound in to protect illustrations.
Interleaved copies (Provenance) use Interleaved books (Binding)
Interludes	ǂ2 lcgft	Here are entered collections of dramatic interludes. Musical interludes are entered under Interludes (Music).	LC	Use for dramatic or mimic representations, usually of a light or humorous character, such as was commonly introduced between the acts of the long mystery-plays or moralities, or exhibited as part of an elaborate entertainment
Instruction books use Textbooks
Instructional films use Educational films
Intaglio prints	ǂ2 gmgpc	Prints made using the process of intaglio printing.	AAT
Inventories	ǂ2 aat	Detailed lists of things in one's view or possession, as of all goods and materials on hand, or detailed lists of all items in a given category. For documentation of examination conducted to achieve a comprehensive view, use Surveys.	AAT
Invitations	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for printed or handwritten requests for one's presence at an event.	RBMS
Invoices	ǂ2 aat	Documents showing items supplied, together with the prices charged for each; also, itemized bills or accounts.	AAT
Jestbooks	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for collections of short humorous anecdotes or prose tales of a style popular during the 15th through the 18th century, often with such additions as brief poems, riddles, epitaphs, or witticisms, and typically cheaply printed.	RBMS
Jokes	ǂ2 aat	Something written, said, or done to excite laughter or amusement.	AAT
Journals (accounts)	ǂ2 aat	Use for books containing accounts of an individual's or organization's occurrences or transactions, including records of financial transactions. Use "diaries" when referring to personal accounts of the writer's experiences, attitudes, or observations.	AAT
Judicial records	ǂ2 aat	Records of a tribunal established for the administration of justice.	AAT	UF Court rolls.
Lampoons use Satires
Landscapes (Representations)	ǂ2 gmgpc	General or broad views of natural scenery, including inland bodies of water; may also include figures or man-made objects, but these are of secondary importance to the composition. Usually made from an elevated or distant vantage point, such as a view from a hill; not ground level close-up view of, for example, a tree.	TGM
Law reports, digests, etc. use Legal documents
Laws (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Documents stating rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority and having binding legal force.	AAT
Leases	ǂ2 aat	Contracts by which one conveys land or other property for a specified time usually for compensation or rent.	AAT	Also use BT Deeds.
Lecture notes	ǂ2 aat	Use for notes made with reference to a lecture, both those from which the lecturer speaks, and those taken by people in attendance.	AAT
Lectures	ǂ2 aat	Expositions of a given subject delivered before an audience or class, especially for the purposes of instruction.	AAT
Legacies use Bequests
Legal documents	ǂ2 aat	Documents having legal relevance in general. For documents that give expression to a legal act or agreement for the purpose of creating, securing, modifying, or terminating a right, or for the purpose of furnishing evidence of a right, use legal instruments.	AAT	UF Legal notebooks; Law reports, digests, etc.
Legal formularies	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for collections of specimens of legal documents. UF Legal notebooks.
Legal instruments	ǂ2 aat	Use for documents that give expression to a legal act or agreement, for the purpose of creating, securing, modifying, or terminating a right, or for the purpose of furnishing evidence of a right. For documents having legal relevance in general, use Legal documents.
Legal notebooks use Legal documents or Legal formularies, depending on content
Legends use Myths and legends
Legislative acts	ǂ2 aat	Laws or statutes passed by a legislature.	AAT
Legislative addresses	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for documents containing the text of speeches given before a legislative body.	AAT
Legislative proceedings	ǂ2 rbgenr
Letter books	ǂ2 aat	Books of blank or lined paper on which letters to be sent have been written; also copies of letters, originally on loose sheets, bound together, usually in chronological order.	AAT
Letters (correspondence)	ǂ2 aat	Use for pieces of correspondence that are somewhat more formal than memoranda or notes, usually on paper and delivered.	AAT
Letters patent	ǂ2 aat	Written communications, usually signed and sealed from a government or sovereign of a nation, conferring upon a designated person a grant (as a right, title, status, property, authority, privilege, monopoly, franchise, immunity, or exemption) that could not otherwise be enjoyed.	AAT
Library catalogs	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for lists of books or other materials held in public or private libraries
Librettos (documents for music)	ǂ2 aat	Books or booklets containing the text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition.	AAT	Use for printed or manuscript books giving the literary text, both sung and spoken, of an opera (or other musical work).
Libri amicorum	ǂ2 rbgenr	Books, loose-leaf binders, or other volumes containing blank leaves, on which persons have written sentiments, quotations, or signatures. UF Album amicorum, Autograph albums	AAT (Autograph albums)
Lists (document genres)	ǂ2 aat	Transcribed collections of numbers, names, or other text indicating tallies of concepts collocated for any particular purpose.
Literary hoaxes	ǂ2 rbgenr	Valued objects or documents that are made or altered with intent to deceive; may range in falsehood from counterfeiting of whole works to altering of signatures or other deliberate misrepresentations. Distinguished from Copies (derivative objects) by the intention of deception. UF Forgeries	AAT (Forgeries (derivative objects))
Liturgical texts	ǂ2 aat	Religious texts used for varied rites.	AAT
Loyalty oaths	ǂ2 aat	Oaths, usually mandatory, affirming the loyalty of the takers, such as to a government, ruler, constitution, or set of principles.	AAT
Manorial records	ǂ2 aat	Records having to do with the history and transactions of a manor house and its estate.	AAT
Made-up copies	ǂ2 aat	Books which have had imperfections, such as missing leaves, made good by the insertion of portions from copies of similar editions.	AAT
Magazine illustrations use Periodical illustrations
Manicules	ǂ2 aat	Drawings of a pointing hand that were used as symbols in marginalia for marking noteworthy passages in texts, particularly during the 12th through 18th centuries in the Western world. In modern use, the manicule is a typographical symbol employed for similar purposes in texts, the Internet, as bullet symbols, and other contexts.	AAT
Manifestoes	ǂ2 aat	Formal written declarations, promulgated by a sovereign or by the executive authority of a state or nation, such as to proclaim its reasons and motives for declaring a war, or other international action; also public declarations or proclamations of political, social, artistic, or other principles.	AAT
Manorial records	ǂ2 aat	Records having to do with the history and transactions of a manor house and its estate.	AAT
Manuscript waste	ǂ2 rbmscv			Use for the presence of manuscript waste in bindings
Manuscripts (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Handwritten documents, particularly books and other documents created before the invention of the printing press. May also be used to distinguish certain documents from published or otherwise printed documents, as in the cases of typed personal letters or a typescript from which printed versions are made.	AAT
Manuscripts, [language]				Use for all non-English manuscripts
Manuscripts for publication	ǂ2 aat			Use for manuscripts used as copy-text by typesetters, etc.
Manuscripts from print	ǂ2 local			Use for manuscripts copied directly from printed texts
Maps	ǂ2 rbgenr	Graphic delineations at a set scale, of all or part of the earth or another celestial sphere indicating the relative position of selected artificial and natural features.	TGM	Use for resources that are entirely, or substantially, composed of maps. Subdivide by location depicted in the maps, not by place of production/publication
Markings	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for intentional or accidental marks applied manually in or on materials.	RBMS
Martyrologies	ǂ2 aat	Lists, catalogs, histories, or accounts of religious martyrs.	AAT
Masques	ǂ2 rbgenr	Short allegorical dramatic entertainments performed by masked performers, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.	AAT
Masques with music use Masques	also use Dramatic music? Needs discussion
Maxims	ǂ2 rbgenr	Rules or principles of conduct, morality or prudence, expressed in sententious form. It is often used specifically for precepts of morality or prudence occurring in Old English verse, or for self-evident propositions assumed as a premise in mathematical or dialectical reasoning. The meaning of this term may overlap somewhat with Aphorisms	AAT
Medical formularies	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for works not having the contemporary status of a standard.	RBMS	Use for works formulating the ingredients and amounts to be used in medical preparations. UF Receipt books.
Memorandums	ǂ2 aat	Documents recording information used for internal communication.	AAT	Use for early modern manuscripts which consist of simple notes of something to be remembered, or a record (for future reference) of something that has been done, without the formulas and signature characteristic of a letter, and conventionally bearing the heading 'Memorandum' ('It is to be remembered') and often the writer's name (OED).
Menus	ǂ2 rbgenr	Lists of dishes to be served or available for meals.	AAT
Military manuals	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for manuals on military or naval instruction, training, or operations
Military orders	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for commands issued by a military superior. Note: Use only if it is a directive issued from a higher authority to a lower one.	RBMS
Miniature books (Printing)	ǂ2 rbpri	Use for volumes 10 cm or less in height	RBMS
Miniatures (Illuminations)	ǂ2 gmgpc	Pictures in an illuminated manuscript; distinct from the initials and borders. For non-manuscripts, use Miniatures (Paintings)	TGM
Miniatures (Paintings)	ǂ2 gmgpc	Paintings on a very small scale (usually five inches or less), especially the portraits on vellum or ivory popular in England and America from the Renaissance into the 1800s. For miniatures in manuscripts, use Miniatures (Illuminations)	TGM
Minutes (administrative records)	ǂ2 aat	Records of what was said and done at meetings or conferences.	AAT
Miscellanies	ǂ2 aat	Compilations of separate articles, treatises, studies, or literary compositions of various kinds brought together into one volume. For compilations of brief extracts of works that are considered the best examples of an author, subject matter, or literary form, use Anthologies. Per Peter Beal, "distinguished from the miscellany, whether printed or manuscript, in that anthologies tend to have a more formal aspect, being a deliberately assembled collection rather than a miscellaneous compilation which may have evolved somewhat randomly."	AAT; Peter Beal, Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology	Ask yourself "Are these excerpts a carefully 'curated' collection of the best of the best? Or are they just a bunch of excerpts?" In case of doubt, also index under Anthologies. Use Poetical miscellanies for compilations of predominantly verse texts, or extracts from verse texts, by different authors and usually gleaned from different sources. Use Commonplace books for books in which the extracts are organized under specific headings or in alphabetical order.
Money orders	ǂ2 aat	Credit instruments ordering the payment of a specified amount of money, usually issued and payable at a bank or post office.	AAT
Morality plays	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for allegorical plays of the type which offer discourses in praise of morality between actors representing characters such as Charity, Faith, Death, etc.	RBMS
Multiple printers	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for evidence of a book having been set or printed by division among different workmen or firms	RBMS
Musical notation	ǂ2 aat	General term for systems used to visually represent music through written words or standard notations.	AAT	Use for a system of expressing musical sounds through the use of written symbols. Use only when cataloging a resource other than on the scores format.
Musical works	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for written compositions in musical notation not covered by a more specific genre
Mystery plays	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for medieval religious plays based on scriptural incidents.	RBMS
Myths and legends	ǂ2 rbgenr	Stories handed down by tradition from earlier times, usually concerned with a real person, place, or event, and popularly regarded as historical although not entirely verifiable.	AAT (Legends (folk tales))	UF Legends.
Neo-Latin plays use Plays
Neo-Latin poems	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for poems written in Latin since ca. 1300.	RBMS
News bulletins	ǂ2 aat	Short reports of the latest news or events, usually in a television or radio broadcast context, but these also may appear as printed matter.	AAT
Newsbooks	ǂ2 aat	Forerunners of newspapers, consisting of more than one leaf, published in the 16th and 17th centuries. For similar items consisting of one leaf, use "corantos."	AAT
Newsletters	ǂ2 rbgenr	In the 16th and 17th centuries, manuscript reports produced for special subscribers and issued irregularly or weekly; from the 20th century to the present, periodic reports on the activities of a business or organization.	AAT
Nonce collections	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for volumes made up of previously published pamphlets reissued, usually with a collective title page. For volumes bound together for an owner, use Sammelbands (Provenance).	RBMS
Nonsense verse	ǂ2 rbmscv	Highly rhythmic, humorous, light poetry in which sense is subordinated to sound.	RBMS
Notebooks	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for books in which notes of memorandums are recorded, or notes taken during a class, lecture, or meeting.
Novels	ǂ2 aat	Invented prose narratives of considerable length and a certain complexity that deal imaginatively with human experience through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting.	AAT
Oaths	ǂ2 aat	Any forms of attestation, written or verbal, by which persons signify that they are bound in conscience to perform an act faithfully and truthfully; also affirmations of the truth of a statement given before testifying, as in a court of law.	AAT
Obituaries	ǂ2 rbmscv	Published notices of a death, usually with a brief biography of the deceased.	AAT
Odes	ǂ2 aat	Lyric poems of exalted emotion devoted to the praise or celebration of its subject; often employing complex or irregular metrical form.	AAT
Offsets (printing effects)	ǂ2 aat	Images or marks that result from an unintentional transfer of ink or other medium. For images intentionally transferred from a print or drawing to another sheet of paper, use "counterproofs."	AAT
Orders in council	ǂ2 aat	Use for British royal orders issued by and with the advice of a privy council; without legal force unless authorized by a parliamentary act.	AAT
Ordinaries of arms use Armorials
Operas	ǂ2 rbgenr	Here are entered musical compositions. General works about opera are entered under the heading Opera.	LC	Use for dramas set to music to be sung with instrumental accompaniment by singers usually in costume. Defintion: A dramatic musical work in which singing forms an essential part, chiefly consisting of recitatives, arias, and choruses, with orchestral accompaniment; a performance of such a work; a libretto or musical score for such a work.
Oratorios	ǂ2 lcgft	Here are entered musical compositions. Works about the oratorio are entered under the heading Oratorio.	LC	Use for a musical settings of a religious libretti for solo singers, chorus, and orchestra, in dramatic form but usually performed without scenery or costumes in concert-hall-or church. Defintion: A large-scale, usually narrative musical work for orchestra and voices, typically on a sacred theme and performed with little or no costume, scenery, or action. Also: this as a musical genre. Formerly also (U.S.): a concert of sacred music of any sort (obs.).
Overtures	ǂ2 lcgft	Here are entered overtures for orchestra. Overtures for other mediums of performance are entered under this heading followed by the medium, e.g. Overtures (Chamber orchestra). Works about the overture are entered under the heading Overture.	LC	Use for instrumental music composed as an introduction to an opera, oratorio, ballet, or other dramatic work, or intended for independent concert performance. Defintion: Music. An orchestral piece of varying form and dimensions, forming the opening or introduction to an opera, oratorio, or other extended composition, and often containing themes from the body of the work or otherwise indicating the character of it. Also: a similar orchestral piece, usually of descriptive or programmatic character, intended for independent performance; = concert overture n. at CONCERT n. Compounds 2.
Paintings	ǂ2 gmgpc			Use for all paintings except miniatures and watercolors, q.v.
Pamphlets	ǂ2 aat	Complete, nonperiodical printed works generally of fewer than 80 pages, often with a paper cover, sometimes short treatises on arguments or topics of current interest. For smaller printed works, of one sheet folded and not stitched or bound, use "leaflets." An independent publication consisting of a few leaves of printed matter fastened together but not bound.	AAT	Use for items 50 pages or less.
Pardons	ǂ2 aat	Official documents declaring the exemption of a convicted person from the penalties of an offense or crime by the power of the executor of laws.	AAT
Parish registers use Parochial records
Parochial records	ǂ2 aat			Use for records established and kept by an ecclesiastical parish, recording chronologically baptisms, marriages, burials, and other information. UF Parish registers.
Parodies	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for humorous, sometimes satiric, imitations of other works.	RBMS
Part books	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for copies of one or more (but not all) parts for the use of participating voices or instruments in a musical work
Pasquinades	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for satires or lampoons intended to be posted in a public place.	RBMS
Pattern books	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for books of actual patterns.	RBMS
Pedigrees use Genealogies
Pen and ink drawings use BT Drawings
Periodical illustrations	ǂ2 gmgpc	Detached illustrations are included as well as original drawings, photographs, and prints intended for publication or actually published as illustrations in periodicals.	TGM
Periodicals	ǂ2 rbgenr	Publications issued at regular intervals of more than one day.	AAT
Perpetual calendars	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for tables that allow determination of the correct day of the week for any given date over a wide range of years.	RBMS	Use only when cataloging a stand-alone perpetual calendar.
Petitions	ǂ2 aat	Includes any written requests and lists of signatures submitted to an authority to appeal for the performance of specific action.	AAT
Photographs	ǂ2 gmgpc	Refers to still images produced from radiation-sensitive materials (sensitive to light, electron beams, or nuclear radiation), generally by means of the chemical action of light on a sensitive film, paper, glass, or metal.	AAT	Photographs reproducing paintings or other artworks should NOT be traced in a 655.
Photomechanical prints	ǂ2 gmgpc	Prints made from photographically prepared printing surfaces. Most have a distinctive dot or screen pattern, but some are continuous tone. Usually planographic. UF Process prints	TGM
Pictorial bindings (Binding)	ǂ2 rbbin
Plans	ǂ2 gmgpc	Graphic delineations of a site, structure, or object in a horizontal projection. Projection lines are parallel to the picture plane rather than in perspective.	TGM
Playbills	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for single-sheet items advertising plays, usually announcing the cast.	RBMS	Assume printed unless manuscript is specified.
Players' parts	ǂ2 local			Use for actors' individual scripts, containing only their own dialogue and cue lines.
Playing cards	ǂ2 gmgpc	Cards made in sets of a designated number of cards and marked for use in playing one or more games or telling fortunes.	TGM
Plays (performing arts compositions)	ǂ2 aat	Use for dramatic compositions, arranged for enactment, as by actors on a stage.
Plots use Scenarios
Poems	ǂ2 rbgenr	Written or oral compositions characterized by condensed language chosen for sound and suggestive power as well as meaning, and by the use of such literary techniques as structured meter, natural cadences, rhyme, or metaphor.	AAT
Poetical miscellanies	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for collections of contemporary poems by different authors, usually dealing with various topics and primarily published from the 16th through the 18th centuries.	RBMS	Use also for manuscript collections.
Polemics	ǂ2 aat	Aggressive, forcefully presented arguments, often disputing a policy or opinion.	AAT
Portraits	ǂ2 gmgpc	Graphic representations, especially of the face, of real persons, usually posed, living or dead. Pictures whose purpose is the portrayal of an individual or several people, not pictures that merely include people as part of an event or scene.	TGM	Subdivide by gender (ǂx [Female or Male]) as well as century.
Postcards	ǂ2 gmgpc	Cards on which a message may be written or printed for mailing without an envelope; often include a pictorial, comic, or other scene on one side.	TGM
Posters	ǂ2 rbgenr	Single or multi-sheet notices made to attract attention to events, activities, causes, goods, or services; also, purely decorative posters. For posting, usually in a public place; chiefly pictorial. Intended to make an immediate impression from a distance.	TGM
Prayer books	ǂ2 aat	Books containing prayers and other forms of worship.	AAT	Additional info from RBMS "Use for books of personal prayer; they may include selections from liturgical books."
Prayers (literary works)	ǂ2 aat	Reverent petitions made to a deity or other spiritual entity.	AAT	Use for individually issued prayers, not in book form.
Presentation copies (Provenance)	ǂ2 rbprov			Use for materials that have been formally presented as a gift to a person or body. Use in conjunction with the relationship designators inscriber and former owner as appropriate. Note: in 2011-01-14: added because "inscriber" doesn't necessarily work well with manuscripts, but "presentation copies" works for both books and manuscripts. Update: in 2019-02-28 we reiterated that we want to keep "Presentation copies (Provenance) limited to very special unique objects, typically presentation manuscripts (the Esther Inglis sort of thing) or printed books with special bindings or title pages. Do not use for books that simply have a "For my dear friend..." handwritten on the endleaf.
Press kits	ǂ2 aat	Packets of promotional materials for distribution to the press, as at a press conference. For official or authoritative statements distributed to the press typically by a public relations firm or government agency, use "press releases."	AAT
Pressbooks (theatre manuals)	ǂ2 aat	Manuals provided to theater owners, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, advising them on how to promote a particular motion picture being shown in their theater.	AAT	Use for exhibitors' campaign books.
Prices (Provenance)	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for prices in materials indicating purchase cost information by a previous owner or relating to secondary selling, e.g., second-hand dealer prices, auction prices.	RBMS	Use for pre-19th century manuscript prices, especially auction prices.
Printed waste	ǂ2 rbmscv			Use for the presence of printed waste paper in bindings.
Printers' advertisements	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for advertisements for books &c. printed by an entity who is clearly not the bookseller or publisher
Printers' devices (Printing)	ǂ2 rbpri	Emblematic designs or devices of a printer or publisher. The printer's mark as an identifying device was used in typographic books with the invention of printing in the 15th century; printers gradually added a blank piece of paper at the front of a book to protect the first page from soiling. The identifying device, monogram, or emblem was applied to this page or with a brief sentence at the rear of the book; when the printer's mark was incorporated into the colophon, it is sometimes itself known as a "colophon."	AAT	Use only for printers' devices cataloged as individual items. For printers' devices in the Folger rare book collection, search for "printer's device" as a phrase.
Prints	ǂ2 gmgpc	Images formed by transfer from one surface or source to another. Usually created with ink(s) and produced in multiple impressions.	TGM	Do not use narrower terms, e.g., Mezzotints, Etchings, Lithographs, etc.
Privileges (permissions)	ǂ2 aat	Authorizations for the printing and selling of a particular book or class of books, usually exclusively granted and for a specified period of time. Distinguished from "imprimaturs" which are authorizations to print or publish a work, implying approval or sanction of content, usually in a context of church or government censorship.	AAT
Private press books (Publishing)	ǂ2 rbpub
Prize books (Provenance)	ǂ2 rbprov
Proclamations	ǂ2 aat	Documents that are publicly announced or officially declared; especially a public notice by an official of some order, intended action, or state of facts.	AAT
Programs	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for lists of the events, pieces, performers, speakers, etc., of an entertainment, ceremony, or the like.	RBMS
Prologues and epilogues	ǂ2 local			Use for poems, speeches, or other literary works written to be spoken or performed before or after a play.
Promissory notes	ǂ2 aat	Unconditional written promises to pay on demand, or at a fixed or determined future time, a certain sum of money to, or to the order of, a specified person or to the bearer.	AAT
Promptbooks	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for plays with manuscript production annotations.	RBMS
Proofs (Printing)	ǂ2 rbpri	Refers to trial sheets of printed matter that are checked against original manuscripts and on which errors can be corrected and alterations made.	AAT (Proofs (printed matter))	For proofs of graphic materials, use Proofs (printed matter).
Proofs (printed matter)	ǂ2 gmgpc	In printmaking, impressions taken at any stage from a plate, block, or stone, but not considered part of the edition. In photography, photographic prints made as quick records of a negative or for clients to choose from, as with studio portraits.	TGM	Use a more specific term when appropriate: Trial proofs, Counterproofs, Proofs before letters. For proofs of textual material, use Proofs (Printing).
Proofs before letters	ǂ2 gmgpc	In printmaking, impressions complete except for a title or publication statement to be printed outside of the image area.	TGM
Prophecies	ǂ2 lcgft			Use for written utterances declaring divine will and purpose, or predicting things to come.
Props use Stage props
Prospectuses	ǂ2 aat	Documents designed to inform prospective investors or patrons, consisting of a formal summary of a proposed commercial, literary, or other venture, or a description of the features or services of an institution or business.	AAT
Proverbs	ǂ2 aat	Short, concise sayings repeated colloquially expressing a general truth or observation about human life or behavior, often embodying the folk wisdom of a group or nation. Distinguished from "aphorisms" which are statements of principle or precepts, often of known authorship.	AAT
Psalms	ǂ2 aat	Sacred songs that may be sung or recited in religious worship, particularly those contained in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures.	AAT
Psalters (books)	ǂ2 aat	Books or other document forms containing the Book of Psalms, which is composed of 150 psalms of the Old Testament. A psalter is usually divided into sections to be recited daily at Matins and Sunday Vespers, used as a liturgical book for the clergy in the Divine Office (forming the basis for the Breviary) or by the laity for private devotions. In addition to the psalms, psalters generally contain an ecclesiastical calendar, canticles, creeds, and the litany of the saints.	AAT
Publishers' advertisements	ǂ2 aat	Advertising materials for those publishing books or prints.	AAT	Use Booksellers' advertisements rather than this term for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated.
Publishers' catalogs	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use Booksellers' catalogs rather than this term for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated.	RBMS
Puzzles use Games
Questions and answers	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for works consisting primarily of a series of questions and answers.	RBMS
Quotations (texts)	ǂ2 aat	Excerpts of parts of a literary composition, as into another book or writing; use also for statements of market price of one or more securities.	AAT
Radio plays	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for scripts of radio plays
Receipt books use Cookbooks and/or Medical formularies.	[Most Folger receipt books will require both use terms.]
Receipts (financial records)	ǂ2 aat	Written acknowledgment of the receiving or taking of goods or money delivered or paid.	AAT
Recipes	ǂ2 aat	Sets of directions with a list of ingredients for making or preparing something, especially food.	AAT
Reference books	ǂ2 aat	Books intended primarily for consultation rather than for consecutive reading.	AAT
Regulations	ǂ2 rbgenr	BT Legal works. Regulations issued by a governmental agency, having the force of law, to interpret or implement the provisions of a statute.	AAT (Administrative regulations)
Religious literature (genre)	ǂ2 aat	Literature having a religious subject or spirtual theme.	AAT
Religious texts	ǂ2 aat	General term for texts of religion, sacred beliefs, or related to religious beliefs and practices.	AAT
Resolutions (administrative records)	ǂ2 aat	Formal expressions of the opinion formed by some superior authority on matters referred to its decision and forwarded to inferior authorities for their instruction and government.	AAT
Ribbon markers	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for ribbons attached at the head of the spine to be used as a place marker in the book. For unattached devices intended to be inserted between leaves in a book as a place marker, use Bookmarks.	RBMS
Riddles (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Puzzling questions or statements, written or oral, worded so as to exercise one's ingenuity in answering or discovering their hidden meaning; frequently used as a game or pastime.	AAT
Romances	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for medieval and Renaissance tales in prose or verse celebrating the adventures, in love and war, of some hero of chivalry. Do not use for modern romance novels.	RBMS
Romantic fiction (popular fiction)	ǂ2 aat	Mass-market literary genre in which love is the central theme; often written by and for women and featuring plots that focus on finding and sustaining romantic relationships with an ideal partner.	AAT
Ruling in red	ǂ2 rbmscv	Manuscript ruling in red ink in order to set off the text.	RBMS
Sammelbands	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for separately-produced works bound together for the owner during the medieval or early modern period. Note: this scope note is in the process of being revised, partly to remove the period limitation.	RBMS
Satires	ǂ2 rbgenr	Literary compositions in verse or prose in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.	AAT (Satires (document genre))	Folger practice: use for both literary and visual satires.
Sayings (literary works)	ǂ2 aat	Collections of familiar expressions or sentiments, often attributed to a particular person. Typically used in a more general sense than "epigrams" or "aphorisms."	AAT
Scenarios	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for plot outlines of dramatic works.	RBMS
Scores	ǂ2 rbgenr	Original and entire drafts or transcripts of musical compositions or arrangements, with the parts of all the different instruments or voices written on staffs one above another, so that they can be read at a glance.	AAT
Scrapbooks	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for albums containing a variety of items, especially when those items serve as memorabilia.	AAT
Screenplays use Film scripts
Seals (marks)	ǂ2 aat	Marks printed or impressed on a surface, in wax, or otherwise applied to a material by "seals (artifacts)," which are devices bearing a design, emblem, a letter, name, or words.	AAT
Sermons	ǂ2 rbgenr	Religious discourses delivered as part of a church service.	AAT
Set design drawings	ǂ2 gmgpc	Graphic delineations made for the design and production (or documentation of design and production) of stage settings for theatrical, movie, broadcast, or other performing arts productions.	TGM
Ships' logs	ǂ2 aat	Daily records of the progress of a ship at sea, with notes on the weather and important incidents of the voyage.	AAT
Ships' manifests	ǂ2 aat	Lists or invoices of cargo on a ship, usually containing marks or indication of contents or commodity, consignee, and other pertinent information for use at terminals or customhouses.	AAT
Short films	ǂ2 lcgft	This heading is used as a genre/form heading for films usually limited to a running time of less than 40 minutes	LC
Short stories	ǂ2 aat	Relatively brief invented prose narratives.	AAT
Shorthand	ǂ2 aat	Methods of handwriting that use simplified strokes, abbreviations, or symbols to facilitate rapid writing.	AAT
Signatures use Autographs
Signing patterns (Printing)	ǂ2 rbpri	Use for signatures with patterns such as alternating 12's and 6's.	RBMS	Use only in extremely unusual signing pattern situations.
Silent films	ǂ2 lcgft	This heading is used as a genre/form heading for films produced in the early days of the motion picture industry before the advent of talking films	LC
Silhouettes	ǂ2 gmgpc	Images shown in profile in a single hue against a contrasting background; cut, drawn, painted, printed, or photographic; often portraits.	TGM
Slides	ǂ2 gmgpc	Transparent materials on which there is a drawn image or a positive photographic image; intended to be bound or held in a mount and usually designed for use in a projector or viewer.	TGM
Slurs (Printing)	ǂ2 rbpri	Use for blurred or doubled ink impressions caused by the sliding of the paper on the printing surface.	RBMS
Songbooks	ǂ2 aat	Books containing brief musical compositions written or adapted for singing.	AAT
Songs	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for written poems that include musical notation, specify a tune, and/or call themselves a song.
Sonnets	ǂ2 aat	Poems consisting of 14 decasyllabic lines, often in a rhyming scheme.	AAT
Souvenir programs	ǂ2 aat	Programs produced and distributed to mark special events, usually more lavishly designed and printed, and with more detailed contents than regular programs.	AAT
Stage props	ǂ2 gmgpc			Use for movable physical objects used on a stage set that are not costume or structurally part of the set, such as furnishings, decorations, and objects held or touched by actors.
Subscription lists	ǂ2 aat	Lists or records of subscriptions and subscribers.	AAT
Summonses	ǂ2 aat	Instruments delivered by a sheriff or other appropriate party, notifying a person that a court action has been commenced against the person and that the person is required to appear in court on the day named to answer the complaint.	AAT
Surveys (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Documentation of examinations or inspections conducted in order to achieve a comprehensive view, as of a place, a group of related items, or to ascertain condition or value. For detailed lists of items on hand, or of items in a given category, use Inventories. For sets of questions submitted to a number of persons to obtain information, use Questionnaires.	AAT
Tables (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Condensed, orderly arrangements of data, especially those in which the data are arranged in columns and rows.	AAT
Telegrams	ǂ2 aat	Messages sent by telegraph. UF Cablegrams	AAT
Textbooks	ǂ2 aat	Books used as standard works for the formal study of a particular subject.	AAT
Theses.	ǂ2 aat	Discourses advancing an original point of view as a result of research, especially as a requirement for an academic degree.	AAT
Tickets	ǂ2 gmgpc	Slips of paper, cardboard, or other material used for admission or passage.	TGM
Ties (Binding)	ǂ2 rbbin	Cords, bands, or similar flexible devices used for fastening, especially by interlacing, such as in a knot or bow.	AAT (Ties (fasteners))	Use whenever there is evidence of original ties on bindings, even if now missing.
Title pages	ǂ2 gmgpc	Pages bearing the title and usually the names of author and publisher, and date and place of publication of a book, portfolio, or other material.	TGM	Use when cataloging individual title pages in the art collection.
Toy theaters	ǂ2 aat	Toys comprising engravings in miniature of the characters, scenery, stage, and proscenium, either hand-colored or without color for the child to color him- or herself; they were designed to be cut out and mounted on stiff backing such as cardboard or wood.	AAT
Tracts (literary works)	ǂ2 aat	Brief treatises or pamphlets for general distribution, usually on a religious or political topic.	AAT
Translations (documents)	ǂ2 aat	Translated versions of a text.	AAT
Treasure bindings	ǂ2 rbbin	"Covered with gold and silver, ivories, enamelwork, and gems." -- Needham. UF Medieval treasure bindings.	RBMS	Use for narrow terms Enamel bindings, Ivory bindings, Jewelled bindings, and Silver bindings.
Treaties	ǂ2 aat	Agreements or contracts made between two or more states, formally signed by duly authorized representatives, and usually ratified by the lawmaking authority of the states, as treaties of peace or alliance, or commercial treaties.	AAT
Treatises	ǂ2 aat	Formal and systematic written expositions of the principles of a subject, generally longer and more detailed than essays.	AAT
Trial proceedings	ǂ2 rbgenr			Use for official or unofficial written accounts of judicial trials of any kind
Trial proofs	ǂ2 gmgpc	Prints made before the completion of the accepted impression.	TGM
Underscoring	ǂ2 rbmscv	UF Underlining	RBMS	Use for resources that have been underlined in manuscripts
Untrimmed edges	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for edges of sheets retaining their original deckles.	RBMS
Verses use Poems
Visionary literature (dream literature)	ǂ2 aat	Genre of literature in which the author writes as if the subject was been experienced in dreams, visions, or in ecstasy; often religious or otherwise having a strong moral message. For more whimsical works, use "fantasies."	AAT
Visiting cards	ǂ2 gmgpc	Small cards bearing a person's name and sometimes address; presented when making a formal social call. May have a portrait, scene, or decoration; may be accompanied by an envelope.	TGM
Vital statistics records	ǂ2 aat	Public records kept by a state, city, or other governmental subdivision, under a statutory provision, of births, deaths, marriages, diseases, divorces, and other life events.	AAT
Volvelles	ǂ2 aat	Any of various reckoning devices consisting of movable discs surmounted by or carrying other graduated or figured circles for calculating, for example, phases of the moon, the time of the rising or setting sun, or the times of the tides; usually made of paper, cardboard, or vellum and often found preprinted in or attached to manuscripts or books of the 13th to the 16th century.	AAT
Vues d'optique	ǂ2 gmgpc	Prints intended for viewing through an optical system such as a zogroscope that enhances the effect of perspective. Because the viewing device included a mirror, the lettering and image are usually laterally reversed. Common in the late 1700s in Europe for peep shows.	TGM
Warrants	ǂ2 aat	Documents giving authority to do something; especially used in civil and criminal law for the arrest of persons or for their production in court as witnesses.	AAT	Most commonly used for documents authorizing payment
Watch papers	ǂ2 gmgpc	Circular papers used to ensure a tight fit between inner and outer cases of a pocket watch. Often contain watchmaker's or watch owner's name.	TGM
Watercolors	ǂ2 gmgpc	Use for Watercolor drawings and Watercolor paintings.	TGM
Watermarks (Paper)	ǂ2 rbpap	Use for any pattern in the paper which appears when the paper is held up to the light, and light shines through because the paper is thinner where the pattern is formed. Terms listed here are general designations of types of watermarks, and do not indicate specific shapes or patterns, which can be described in notes in the cataloguing record. Libraries may wish to sub- divide the general term Watermarks by the images they portray. For example: 655 Watermarks (Paper) ǂx Lion.	RBMS	Use when the item being cataloged is a watermark.
Wedding books	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for works which recount and depict nuptial festivities and events, chiefly of royalty, nobility, or famous persons, and which may also include literary works offered to the principals, such as epithalamia or the Italian "per le nozze."	RBMS
Wills	ǂ2 aat	Legal instruments in which a person declares the disposition of his/her property, to take effect after his/her death, and which is revocable during the lifetime of that person.	AAT
Writing books	ǂ2 rbgenr	Use for books which provide instruction in handwriting or penmanship.	RBMS
Writing tables (Paper)	ǂ2 rbmscv	Use for paper or vellum treated to enable erasure and intended for use with a metal stylus.	RBMS