Creating A Descriptive Bibliography

The first assignment of the term was to create a descriptive bibliography; Bibliography in this sense not meaning the list of works used to write an essay, but rather a document that draws on the branch of book history by the same name. Bibliography in this case refers to the publication, authorship, and history of individual textual objects. 

I wrote up a descriptive bibliography of the Dover thrift edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray that I used for my senior year English class in High School. I tried to think about the ways in which the unique characteristics of this particular book (or textual object) indicated its intended use. 

I looked at the spine 

The price

And the copious notes inside 

To support the conclusion that it was a book used by a student, and not intended to be used again. This exercise laid the groundwork for thinking about the physical nature of the books, considering what the book is made of, looks like, feels like, and other physical attributes in addition to the words on the page.