Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
I have to be honest here: I don't understand at all what you are saying.
|
No prob ; ) I thought I could add some examples. Also because, bookstores as I intend them are VERY hard to find.
In a bookstore "worth that name", I will visit a spot and I will find (depending on the Country):
--
Publisher: Odile Jacob.
Series: Poches, Sciences. Volumes: #1 to volume #345, latest published (understandably with some gaps, depending on sales, availability etc.)
--
Publisher: Einaudi.
Series: Nuova Universale. Volumes: #1 to #369
--
Publisher: Debolsillo.
Series: Contemporanea. Volumes: #1 to #248
--
Publisher: Diogenes.
Series: De.Te.Be. Volumes: #1 to #567
(I find it strange, but anglophone publications hardly seem to have "Series".)
For example:
Gallimard, Folio, #1000 happens to be
Les fleurs bleues from Queneau;
Alleanza Editorial, Biblioteca Borges, #1 happens to be
El Aleph.
A "series" corresponds to an editorial effort of a publisher - to publish the worthiest material in the spirit of the said series.
So, when you visit the "bookstore worth that name", you can check all that the publishing editors considered worth publishing in that collection they cured (competition aside - all that they considered worth publishing in some of their collections and managed to contractually bind before some other publisher got the rights). You can check because you will have all or most of the volumes at hand for every series, for every publisher (within reasonable constraints). You will have in front of you what was published in the past in that series and what was published lately.
This allows you to check "within a totality". What is available (all is available) is there in front of you: check, taste, browse, sieve. I am not sure online instruments can give you that. I am not even sure a service exists to browse that way. (EDIT: I mean, I have just downloaded a catalogue from a publisher, and today even an official catalogue can reveal to be an unkempt mess... Good luck with online services.)
EDIT:
I will put it again in different terms for further clarity.
Most libraries I know organize their collection in the corridors and shelves through the Dewey classification system (or similar).
Poor bookstores I meet organize their selection topically: on that wall cooking, on that travel, on that narrative etc.
The best bookstores I have known organize their collection through either "publisher, then series, then number (or alphabetically, depending)" or "topic, then publisher, then series, then number". And they strive towards the completeness of their collection. You visit them to see what is available.
To determine the titles within a series, a group of intellectuals has worked for you trying to discover the most worthy works available - that is already a great benefit. Having all them titles in front of you informs you well on what are your options.
I do not know of an electronic equivalent of this "normal practice" (for those who have the luck of knowing the right places).