Search criteria: ideal v. reality

A project such as CAT19, subject to human, budgetary, temporary and geographical constraints, aims for ‘local’ exhaustiveness, which can only be achieved by prioritising certain information, which have been cross-referenced to achieve scientific value. This is why, in some cases, qualitative data wins over quantitative data.

Since we were unable to consult every work listed in the database, some of the information is provided for reference only, and does not feature in the search criteria offered by CAT19. This is the case for the information relating to epigraphs, music and illustrations, which is incomplete and cannot therefore be used to draw conclusions regarding the whole of the period’s literary production. The same applies for data relating to publishers, printers, composers, illustrators and engravers, which have not been  the object of systematic research.

However, CAT19 enables to carry out a large number of searches, with or without filters, and with the following combinable criteria:

• Publication date
  • Sorting in chronological order in case of multiple results.
  • A filter can produce a list of works published the same year.
  • In the case of a republication, the date of the work’s republication and that of its first edition, will be indicated.
• Person (author, translator or scientific editor)
  • It is possible to produce a list of all authors, translators, or scientific editors, as well as to produce a list of all titles by the same author or translator, for example.
• Title
  • Search is enabled with keywords, full title, short title, alternative title, and original title in the case of translations. Results will provide access to the bibliographic record of the work searched for, to the author/translator record, and to that of associated editions (other editions of the same work, first edition in the case of a republication, other translations of the same title, and, in the case of a series of works intended as a collection, to the records of the other works as part of the same collection.
• Translation language.
• Format.
• Place of publication.
• First edition, or republication.
• Predefined descriptive categories: ‘Collective’ ; ‘New state’ ; ‘Marginal’ ; ‘*’; ‘Translation’ ; ‘T’?’.