Have you ever heard of a place called Eboracum?

Most people haven't. It's the Latin name for York, England. Traditional printing assumed the word "city" in a printer's statement, and therefore the name of the city was printed the genitive case: "Eboraci," meaning "city of York." Novi Eboraci is therefore the Latin name for "city of New York."

Yes, you can type that into the online catalog and return a solid list of search results!

Researchers should be aware that even sixteenth-century English-language publications often list printer's statements in Latin. For example, in the image below, the famous English Protestant printer, John Day, executed his printer's statement in Latin, even though William Cunningham wrote the text in English. London is spelled: Londini.

Londini and Eboraci are only two of many examples. Researchers working with early printed material from particular locations may experience confusion and frustration, because the Latin names used by printers are often different than the names by which the city is known today.

In 1861, German scholar Johann Georg Theodor Graesse (1814-1885) published the first edition of the Orbis Latinus, a Latin-German dictionary of Latin place names. The dictionary is now in its fourth edition, and can be viewed online though the Bavarian State LibraryExternal. (Click the EN in the top right corner by the search in order to read the introduction in English rather than German).

For those who would rather not use the German edition, a more user-friendly database is available on the website for the Rare Book and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Library (RBMS): RBMS/BSC Latin Place Names FileExternal.

What are the three parts of Library of Congress online catalog record?

1. Bibliographic Record: The bibliographic record provides information for the publication. For printed material, the information provided in this area of the record is based on the ideal copy. The bibliographic information is contained on the top portion of the record.
2. Holdings Record: The holdings record provides information about a particular copy. Most importantly, this is the section of the bibliographic record that indicates where in the Library an item is located. In such a large library, where it can take a researcher fifteen minutes to get from one Reading Room to another, the holdings record is a very important section to pay attention to. This information is contained at the bottom of the record under ITEM AVAILABILITY. This is a very important section to review prior to making an onsite visit to the Reading Room. As an example this record indicates the item is located in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division (LJ-239). All material located in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division should have a holdings record that looks just like this, and the image at the top of this page.
3. Item Record: This portion of the record indicates the specific number of copies, issues, or years in the Library of Congress' holdings. The Library of Congress may have a particular journal title, but perhaps only from three of the six years that it was issued. In this record, the item records indicate that the Library of Congress, and specifically the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, has two copies of the same publication from two different collections. When requesting these items, a researcher should look at the call number provided in this lower section and be able to differentiate between the Copy 1 and Copy 2.

A Word of Caution: A researcher whose work involves specific issues, editions, or volumes of a particular title is encouraged to contact the Reading Room Staff prior to their visit and make certain that the particular volume required is on shelf and available to be served. Send a query through the Ask-A-Librarian services at any time.