Book History — A Link between Information Science and Humanities: The Value of Information Contained in Book-Sellers Catalogues

This poster is briefly presenting the results of research that the author completed
as part of her PhD theses. The research included analysis of 8 booksellers
catalogues published in Zagreb, Croatia, between 1796 and 1823. The
large amount of data extracted from the catalogues enables insight into the
book-trade in Zagreb at that time. This data informs us about the books that
were available for the reading audience in Zagreb, in terms of languages and
script the books were printed in, places they were published at and were imported
from. The variety of genres speaks about the book-sellers ability to
cater for a variety of interests of local readers, including local professionals
and scholars. The information on book-prices and discounts allows for conclusions
on the buying power and also offers at least a partial business
perspective of book-sellers as traders and managers. Other aspects of booksellers’
work, such as classification, standardization, orthography, printing
practices, etc. can also be discussed based on information from the analysed
catalogues.