Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
Access the Bibliothèque nationale de France website
Catalogue des anonymes 1500-1800
Access the BNF's dataset within the HPB (login required)
Name and coverage of file
The BnF's holdings of pre-1831 printed books.
Mode of cataloguing
The full book-in-hand cataloguing format conforms to the French standard for early books Z44-073 and is in INTERMARC format.
Present/Absent fields
Wanting are only the fingerprint, the signature collation (except when there is no pagination) and a contents note.
Treatment of multivolume works
Each volume is described as a separate entity with reference to a collective title.
Recommendations for searching
Start with searching on a complete title or on a title-word. A sophisticated search on printer’s name and place of printing can have good results, since particular attention has been paid to standardising the forms of these names. The same applies to authors’ names and the uniform titles of the Bible. It has to be borne in mind that essentially this is a catalogue of anonymous works and of works whose authorship was attributed after their publication.
Frequency of updates
Monthly updates