Descriptive Bibliography

The scholar Jerome McGann distinguishes between the linguistic and bibliographic codes of textual objects. The linguistic code refers to the textual content, such as the words that comprise The Catcher in the Rye. In contrast, the bibliographic code is the material evidence that suggests history and usage of a textual object, including such factors as its size, paper, binding, marginalia, annotations, and ownership inscriptions.

My used paperback copy of Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories provides an illuminating case study of descriptive bibliography, which is the process of analyzing bibliographic code. The book’s size suggests that it was meant to be easily portable and the slight wear on the edges and corners of the cover suggests that it was carried in a backpack. It also has several interesting inscriptions from previous owners on the inside of the first page. A quote from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings at the top suggests that the book was assigned reading in middle or high school, and maybe a student who would have preferred to be reading Tolkien wrote it down. Perhaps it was a class copy, since a person who purchases a book because they want to read it would seem unlikely to write in it a quote from a different book. Sparse annotations with different writing utensils and in different handwriting, as well as a list of things to “remember” and “always think about,” further indicate its usage in school. A short message addressed from a teacher to a student says, “I had to read this book for my Latino literature class in college,” and that she hopes the recipient of the book will “be able to connect with this book as much as I did,” indicating that the giver and receiver share an identity as Latinas. Carefully examining the book’s bibliographic code offers insight into its past and its changing patterns of usage, from an object of study handled with relative disinterest to a book that recalls treasured memories and is given as a gift from mentor to student.