Prospectuses

Prospectuses are printed materials (ephemera) which advertise an upcoming work or product and, often, seek financial support for that work (either in the form of subscriptions or early reservations). The product advertised could be anything from a literary work to an insurance company.

Prospectuses at the Folger

Unsurprisingly, most of the prospectuses in the Folger collection advertise books. They may be either standalone items, or they may be bound into a larger work.

The best way to find them in Hamnet is to search "prospectuses" in the Form/Genre search in the Advanced Search tab. (This will find items described as either "Prospectuses" or "Book prospectuses" in one search.) However, please note that many prospectuses, as with other forms of ephemera, do not yet have records in Hamnet, and may be recorded only in the card catalog.

Cataloging prospectuses

When cataloging prospectuses, generally follow Vault cataloging guidelines, with additions noted below. Make sure that the work you are cataloging is a prospectus (advertising a work not yet published), and not a publisher's or bookseller's catalog (advertising work(s) recently published).

• Whenever possible, determine the title that a proposed book was published under (prefer the title in Hamnet, if the Folger owns a copy of the book).
  • Add a 600 name-title entry, or a 630 title entry if more appropriate.
  • Add a 700 name-title entry, or a 730 title entry if more appropriate, mirroring the 600/630 entry.
  • The work is both the subject of the prospectus, and also a related work, so multiple entries may seem excessive but are appropriate. Ideally, this should also allow users to search for the title of a work, and find both the work and its prospectus in Hamnet, if the Folger owns both.
• Add brief subject headings as appropriate. Prospectuses for sets of Shakespeare should include a name-title heading for "Works." Prospectuses for individual Shakespeare plays should include their appropriate name-title heading.
• Add genre terms in the 655 field. Any book prospectuses should include:

 Prospectuses ‡2 rbgenr 

 Book prospectuses ‡2 rbgenr 

• • Any non-book prospectuses should use only "Prospectuses," of course.
  • Other appropriate genre terms may include:

 Dummies (Pub/Print) ‡2 rbpub/rbpri 

 Blank forms. ‡2 rbgenr 

 Publishers' advertisements. ‡2 rbgenr 

 Privately published books (Publishing) ‡2 rbpub 

 Private press books (Pub/Print) ‡2 rbpub/rbpri 

• While some prospectuses may include a specimen page(s), there is no distinct genre term for these, as specimen pages are a not-uncommon component of a prospectus.

Example:

 600 10 Shakespeare, William, ‡d 1564-1616 ‡x Language ‡x Orthography and spelling. 

 600 10 Shakespeare, William, ‡d 1564-1616. ‡t Works 

 600 10 Furnivall, Frederick James, ‡d 1825-1910. ‡t Old-spelling Shakespeare. 

 655  7  Prospectuses ‡2 rbgenr 

 655  7  Book prospectuses ‡2 rbgenr 

 700 1  Furnivall, Frederick James, ‡d 1825-1910. ‡t Old-spelling Shakespeare.