Using form terms to search within the Lee Library's catalog can be a fruitful way to discover and explore the Library's rich holdings in the history and art of the book. This section of the History and Art of the Book guide contains links to specific literary form searches, but you can also create your own searches for terms that are not listed here.

To perform a literary form search:

Go to the Library home page.

Click on the drop down arrow to the right of the search box (or left of the magnifying glass).

At the bottom of the popup window, choose "Alphabetic browse"

Click on "genres"; enter a search term (e.g. Manuscripts)

A thesaurus of form terms for books and printing is available from the American Library Association Rare Books and Manuscripts Section's Bibliographic Standards Committee here or here. Many terms from this thesaurus have been used in the BYU catalog.

For further help, including help in discovering form terms for books and printing that have been used in the Library's catalog, please contact me.

Robert L. Maxwell

6728 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah 84602
(801)422-5568
robert_maxwell@byu.edu
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Links:

To find examples of books in the BYU collection by aspects of their binding, click on one of the links below.

To find examples of books in the BYU collection by aspects of their papers, click on one of the links below.

Printers, typographers, and printing and typography students find it useful to study typefaces in the context of a completed book. For this reason, the BYU Library catalog identifies typefaces used in modern fine press books when known.

To find examples of typefaces,

Go to the Library home page.

Click on the drop down arrow to the right of the search box (or left of the magnifying glass).

At the bottom of the popup window, choose "Alphabetic browse"

Click on "genres"; enter the search term Typefaces (Type evidence) - [name of the typeface]

Alternately, click on the first letter of the name of the typeface, below, and browse to the typeface.

To find examples of books in the BYU collection by aspects of their printing or publishing, click on one of the links below.

To find examples of materials in the BYU collection by other aspects of the book, click on one of the links below.