Books are like time machines. When we read the kinds of works produced by Aristotle, Einhard, Shakespeare, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mary Shelley, etc. we lift the veil of time and make contact with a past we will never truly know. This analogy deepens in meaning when the book itself– not just the text– is centuries old. Layers of dirt accumulated from centuries of hands holding the same text, marginalia, and inscriptions of ownership revive a bygone world. [1] By gently touching the fragile red leather or organic tan vellum of an early modern binding, one engages with its historical materiality.

For the spring semester of 2026, I worked with the Catholic University of America’s 1,400+ volume STC collection in the Rare Books Library. The acronym “STC” stands for Short-Title Catalogue. The history of the bibliographic classification of STC begins in 1926. Bibliographers A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave published A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad 1475–1640 which grew to become a standardized protocol in Rare Book Libraries across the world.

Revised in 1991, STC represents an effort to create an accessible index across all rare book libraries of printed works which were:
– Printed between 1475-1640
– Printed in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the European continent, and the Americas

STC classification lead the way to two subsequent classifications: ESTC and USTC.
ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue): This is a vast, freely searchable, international database. The ESTC database covers materials published in Britain, its colonies, and any books printed in English from 1473 to 1800. It incorporates and expands upon the original STC. The ESTC database currently contains about 500,000 records and more than 3 million holdings.

USTC (Universal Short Title Catalogue): Developed by the University of St Andrews, USTC is a collective catalogue of all printed books published in Europe and its overseas colonies (1450-1700). It currently contains bibliographical descriptions of more than 1.6 million editions published between 1450 and 1700, located in almost 7 million surviving copies in close to 10,000 libraries, archives and museums throughout the world.

After familiarizing myself with the literature and conceptual differences between the projects, I spent much of my 120-hour practicum in the Rare Books Library stacks building upon an existing inventory of the STC collection. This practicum both romanticized and rattled my concept of rare book librarianship. The existing inventory, created by a previous librarian, proved holistic… until it wasn’t. I confirmed the physical presence and digitally available catalogue entry of 111 STC volumes. I created almost 300 item records for un-inventoried editions in the STC collection. Each new item record received a detailed description of the book’s title, permanent call number, shelf location, library location, and notes. I used the notes category to record if the book had a frontispiece, engraved title page, missing title page, fold-out maps and illustrations, if the book proved to be a sammelband, and/or other bibliographic information I thought may be useful to document. On days when I was unable to come in-person, I worked on the back-end portion of the practicum which was to create a cross-referencing inventory of all STC volumes. First, I located each STC edition on the ESTC, USTC, and Worldcat databases. Then, I input each database’s identification number attributed to the specific volume in our collection, each item’s URL, etc. into a google form. This incredibly detailed item record was accomplished for many STC works. However, due to the granular and slow-moving process of this portion, I was unable to work at the same speed as my in-person inventorying.

Why was the remote work such a slow process? Late Medieval to Early Modern English syntax developed alongside the printing press.[2] Historian T.H. Howard-Hill’s work emphasizes the importance of the printing process as a key agent in the standardization of English. Still, standardization of spelling was not largely adopted until the early 19th century. Over time, letters merged (V+V→W), now-distinct letters were interchangeable (U→V, V→U), and letter formations changed (ſ→S). There could be several editions of the same book with slight textual variation or published in slightly different years. The smallest textual variation is a critical piece of information unique to each publication. Thorough bibliographic information is essential to the mission of the STC which seeks to record all printed works from the invention of the printing press (1473-1800). To add further complexity, early printed books feature titles of exhaustive length. Predating the mass adoption of the table of contents, the title page essentially served as the text’s index, outline, and elevator-pitch all in one. Here’s an example from Catholic U’s STC collection of similar (but different!) volumes:

– The History of this Iron Age: VVherein is set dovvn the true state of Europe, as it was in the year 1500. Also, The Original, and Causes of all the VVarres, and Commotions, that have happened: Together with A Description of the most memorable Battels, Sieges, Actions, and Transactions, both in Court and Camp, from that time till this present year 1656. Illustrated vvith the lively Effigies, of the most renowned Persons of this present Time. (STC Call # – D246 .P23 1656) Not available on Alma.

– The History of this Iron Age: VVherein is set dovvn the true state of Europe, as it was in the year 1500. Also, The Original, and Causes of all the VVarres, and Commotions, that have happened: Together with A Description of the most memorable Battels, Sieges, Actions, and Transactions, both in Court and Camp, from that time till this present year 1659. Illustrated vvith the lively Effigies, of the most renowned Persons of this present Time. (STC Call # – D246 .P23 1659) Not available on Alma.

I’d like to extend my sincerest thanks to the Rare Books Librarian Sally Kendrick whose patience with me this semester did not go unnoticed. She challenged me when I encountered issues in the collection I thought I couldn’t solve. She encouraged me to follow my logic until I realized what I had missed earlier. We worked diligently alongside each other to tackle this enormous project. I am truly grateful to have meaningfully contributed to the legacy of the rare books library at CUA. I’d also like to thank Lawrence Poos for answering my e-mails requesting paleographical assistance. As if Dr. Poos isn’t busy enough, he somehow always made time to transcribe the scrawls I could not get through myself (yet). My work in the rare books library inspired a myriad of intellectual, tactile, and personal memories I will hold dear always.

Bibliography:
[1]Ownership and provenance of literary manuscripts
[2] Howard-Hill, T. H. “Early Modern Printers and the Standardization of English Spelling.” The Modern Language Review 101, no. 1 (2006): 16–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3738406.