‘Definite cataloguing rules set down in writing’: Antonio Panizzi’s Rules and the catalogue’s manifestations

Abstract

The authors evaluate the symbolic value of the 91 rules published in 1841, as incipit of the first volume of the Catalogue of printed books of the British Museum, declaring its founding basis, and legitimizing the growing reputation of Antonio Panizzi at the same time. Monument of the élites and Trustees of the British Museum Library, the 91 were preceded by 73 rules, printed and distributed only among the cataloguers of the library in March 1839. The essay explains the existence of a normative stratification and evolution of the rules (oral tradition, limited circulation, revision and wider diffusion) and therefore the need for an archeology of knowledge’s approach. The novelties of the first cataloging code reside in the passage from an empirical to a conscious approach to the functions of the catalogue, while the printing of the catalogue is considered by Panizzi an antieconomical manifestation. The catalogue had not yet found its expressive paradigm, consolidated only today in the format of an open digital work, constantly updated.