A Brief Study of the British Standards.
This outline is provided courtesy of David Sanderson and is on his Facebook page Fowl Play.
Books about Poultry Books
I was asked a question a little while ago, about the sources of information about poultry books and how you find out about them. Today much information is from the internet, and people like myself spend time scrolling through book lists and web sites trying to find titles. That’s ok but generic search for “poultry books” often leads you to hundreds of pages of junk. Often its hard to find an original of anything there are so many “instant” print on demand who have scanned a copy and send a “facsimile” based on the idea that its rare so worth an arm and a leg. Then there are auction catalogues which often have a few poultry books listed and give some idea of what is out there and how much the sell for at open auction. Ebay is like that too, gives an idea of what is available. But mostly, we want to know about the stuff that’s not available, that’s out there but never seen.
I have spent a fair bit of time getting bibliographies and matching what I have with the lists. But there can be traps in that too. I have a wants ( the specialists call it disideratum meaning desires) list, which with time is reducing. Titles listed in a bibliography with author as Anon or title Poultry Breeding or Poultry Breeds when the title is “South American Poultry Breeds”, or “John Smiths Poultry”. It takes a while to eliminate these from the lists. Its interesting too when its serials to see how “official” lists of American Poultry Standards lists at least 10 volumes that don’t exist as a result of a bibliographer assuming there is one each year. I have chased a few of those until the penny dropped. Interesting also to hear, "I have had a complete set of "them" for ages." " can I compare my list with yours to check mine is right?" "I dont have a list I just know I have them all! " I would prefer I think I have them all.
Over time I have collected a list of useful references some not shown here, and use them to either correctly assess a volume for sale, or correctly catalogue the volume at hand, or answer a question of where did a page or two come from. I hope you enjoy this list and it challenges your methods of collecting and categorizing. There are many others of limited interest. The number at the front is an acquisition number ,. I use to keep track of either the book or the reference where it is to be found or recorded. James Finger. The location references are abbreviations of other bibliographies.
Bibliography of Bibliographies
[002846] Anon. Catalogue of Books in the Library of the National Institute of Poultry Husbandry.
Shrewsbury: Wilding and Sons, 1927. not sighted, k lists under national institute of poultry husbandry as author.
One I am still looking for help me if you have seen it please. In my wants list.
[002840] Hawks, Emma Beatrice. Bibliography of Poultry (a). Washington: Usda, 1897. Pp32. Cloth with Leather Spine Label. Very Good
This one is useful because of its age. Books in here are likely to be available to the bibliographer as many were published inside her lifetime. Its Also one I chased for a long time because there are two poultry people of the same time period, both initials of E.B.Hawkes, one male one female, and both Authors. Earl Bedford was a researcher who published in 1909. And an interesting side note is location found , a New Zealand Library! Referred to as HA in my writings.
spine shot
Library stamp
Title page