Accession Book

Accession Book

This is the interior of an
accession book
produced by the Library
Bureau, which Melvil
Dewey started in 1881.
The Library Bureau had
been The Library Supply
Department of Dewey's
Readers & Writers
Economy Company.

All of the titles would be
entered in accession
books in the order in
which they were
received into the
library's collection,
whether they were
purchased, given as
gifts, or acquired some
other way.

This is a page from the
introduction of the
Accession Book. It states:

This image shows the
Library abbreviations as
compiled by Dewey,
using Cutter
abbreviations.

Thank you to those who have contributed artifacts to the virtual museum! We are always
looking for more items to include. Please contact: heidihoerman@yahoo.com

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Thank you to Christine Rosset for supplying the above images!

The image, above, is from the Pictorial Library Primer by Mrs. Winifred
Lemon Davis. This page in the primer shows how an accession book would
be filled in. This chart has a column each for Accession Number, Author,
Title, Publisher, Year, Cost, and Remarks.

First of all records to
be filled, and by no
means last in
importance, is the book
of accession, the
history of the growth
of the library. To this
the librarian turns for
final reference in
doubtful cases. Here is
the complete story of
each volume, fully told,
but in the most
compact form. It is the
official indicator for the
whole collection. Each
line is a separate
pigeonhole, in which, if
not exactly the book,
all the condenst facts
about the book are
placed. Thence they
are never removed;
they are never stolen,
or loaned, or
condemned, or
withdrawn, or sent to
the binder, or lost…He
may turn to his book of
accessions to learn
what, and where, and
when, and whence, and
how much, and feel
sure of his answer. A
well-made accession-
book has an element of
mathematical
exactness unknown to
any other catalog.

Also seen on the Rubber Stamp page, this is an accession stamp that could
be set to stamp the same accession number in multiple places, such as in
the accession book, on the item itself, and on the payment form.