Message Board

I couldn't find a generic message board, so just made one.

Here's a link to an interesting article about the New York Society Library. They have a list of the borrowing records of their members back to 1789, including many notable Americans. Burr and Hamilton were both borrowers. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-york-society-library-borrowing-records...

An estate auction for Anthony Bourdain is coming including the sale of some of his books. Looks like details will be available on October 2. https://gothamist.com/food/anthony-bourdains-belongings-including-his-records-kn...

https://www.librarything.com/profile/browninglibrary has a book involved in a combining mess. Help is needed to get their copy of Night Thoughts into the correct work.

The CS Lewis copy is in the right work, but clarifying the title would help if this happens again.

>3 MarthaJeanne: What's the question about "Night Thoughts"? (It looks like the main work for that collection of poems is now https://www.librarything.com/work/235783, if that helps - that would have been the one in the Browning collection)

>4 JBD1:: The problem started when someone combined the poems with a Dr. Who thing with the same title (and the author has the same name too). Some of us have been trying to unravel that mess, but we're now left with a set of unidentifiable entries : https://www.librarything.com/work/24255003/editions

Obviously the Brownings didn't have the Dr Who entry - but if someone decides to enter that without ISBN or anything, they'll be auto-combined and we can't tell what's what.

There is a second work https://www.librarything.com/work/24254977 that was combined with it.

The Browning copy is currently in https://www.librarything.com/work/24255003 which is the editions that couldn't be clearly put into one or the other. It is in a group of three copies, and while the Browning copy is surely the 18th century poem, the other two copies could be either.

What is needed is something in the title that lets us differentiate. Currently the right work is called Night Thoughts: Or, the Complaint and the Consolation. Sometimes it is called Night Thoughts (illus Blake). As I could be sure that C S Lewis had the poem, I left his copy in the work, but it would be possible for future copies of the Dr Who work to be added to that edition, so editing that title would also help.

Apparently the modern Edward Young thought this was a tribute to his earlier namesake. And someone combined the two in spite of a disambiguation message.

>6 MarthaJeanne: - it can be combined into the poem, like with Lewis. Looks like jburlinson worked on that library, but it's been five years since anything was added, so I don't know whether they'll have the password, &c. to get in and make edits. There are different subtitles for the poem, though, so I'm not sure we'd want to add one in any case, since the edition in the Browning collection is unclear ... would be easier to just combine it as you did with Lewis, if feasible.

Feasible: yes. But if anybody enters the Dr Who thingy that way, we're in trouble again. (It's a problem with LT "editions")

It's part of a three book edition. No way of knowing what the other two books are. If you can't change it, it can stay in the unknown work. The Lewis one is different because at present there is no other copy in that edition.

Yeah I don't have the pw for that account.

It does look like we do know the edition, though (http://estc.bl.uk/T43095) so if we get the pw, the title can be edited to "Night thoughts ... With the life of the author, and notes critical & explanatory"). Maybe jburlinson can get in there? Their email is connected to the account.

>1 varielle: This is interesting.

I created the Browning legacy library. The bibliographic data for their edition of Night Thoughts is correct and fairly detailed. I'm not sure how the confusion has arisen, but would be glad to take whatever steps are necessary to sort it out. However, I've lost the password, so I can't access the library to make edits. Is there any way I can re-set the password?

>12 jburlinson: Maybe ask staff?

The confusion is just that Night Thoughts by Edward Young can refer to two different books.

>12 jburlinson: If you still have the same email address, a simple "forgot the password" procedure might do the trick.

>12 jburlinson: Yeah your email is connected to the account, so you should be able to request a reset through the regular reset system if you still have that email - if you can get it, the title for that can just be edited as I noted in #10 above ...

OK. I edited the record for the Browning's copy, under the title "Night thoughts ... With the life of the author, and notes critical & explanatory". I also tried to disambiguate the entry from the Dr. Who title. There are still multiple versions of Night Thoughts which could be confused, including the Folio Society box set -- which obviously is not what the Brownings had.

At any rate, please check to see if the problem has been solved, at least up to a point. Thanks.

Thank you.

Separated it from the unidentifiable ones, and combined it with the main work. Things should be better now.

New member: http://www.librarything.com/profile/RobertMorrisLibrary

I've pointed them to this group.

Yep! I've been working with them and have on my list to "Legacify" this weekend - thanks!

Great addition! I hope other books come to light. Thank you for sharing the provenance images.

Me too! Wouldn't that be fabulous!

Guys, I had a thought about creating a group that might be appealing to this crowd. I’ve acquired a number of books over the years containing dedications to people who are somewhat well known. For instance I just opened a copy Letters from a Traveller and found it was gifted to Dr. David Donald. I believe him to be the historian and Harvard professor David Herbert Donald who passed in 2009. So I assume his books were sold off or I would never have ended up with it. If you think there’s adequate interest in talking about these finds and who once owned them I’ll be glad to launch a group.

So, I went and launched the group. Come show off your finds. https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23352/Inscriptions-Dedications

Hey yall! how do i get started on entering books? ive already messaged the admin, and i know hes busy so i thought id try here, I already went to the highlighted links and i didnt find a catalog of things that have or have not been done. any help is appreciated thank you!

>24 veatch2014: - Thanks for joining! Glad to have you.
Have read-through of the guide too when you can (you may have already but just in case):
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Cataloging_Guide - that'll give you a general sense of things. I'll open up more Carver slots shortly, and I'm hoping to set up a couple more projects over the next couple of weeks that folks can work on.