The Original 73 Rules of the British Museum: A Preliminary Analysis

The well-known 91 rules of the 1841 British Museum catalog, adopted in July 1839, had an ancestor in a draft of 73 rules from March 1839, a document that might be called the original rules of Antonio Panizzi. The code, finally sanctioned by the British Museum Trustees, has some substantial differences from the original draft, differences that seem to foreshadow later discussion on cataloging rules. In this preliminary analysis, some of these differences are described. Additionally, the origin of the rules is discussed. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: © 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]