Puritan euphemisms

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/24/2012 06:35 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>suddenly,
>it's 1960 - at Harvard, an American imprint earlier than 1821 is
>considered to be a "Rare Book," the equivalent of a pre-1801 European
>imprint. So, that period is necessarily hard to research.

Not all such are kept at Houghton.  Some are at Widener, but don't
circulate.  Some others are not rare, and do circulate.  Although the
gatekeepers at the circulation desk do check publication dates of
attempted withdrawals, and may reclassify something as "not
circulating" (especially if it is in poor condition).

For research, I imagine Evans's "Early American Imprints" would be
the source of choice.  The printed edition at least is sorted by date.

Joel

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