In your table-groups, try to crack the following database puzzle.
Scenario: A secondary source cites a primary source you want to use. It's the 1st Edition of John Cowley's A description of the Windward Passage and Gulf of Florida (1739). After a title searching in PRIMO you see we have many editions of this work, including a 1739 edition in Eighteenth Century Collections Online ( https://go.wm.edu/l3bJqg). You’re heartbroken to find this is the 2nd edition, also published in 1739, also in London by the same printer.
Three Questions. First group to answer them win a glorious prize!
Assuming the first edition has either not been digitized, or is not digitized in a collection to which we subscribe, what format is your best option for gaining access?
Microfilm.
Using Worldcat Firstsearch, how many results are there for have tangible (book) copies of the book published in 1739? (Note: use title & publication fields in Advanced)
40-45, depending if they use quotation marks or put the full book title.
Some of these entries are for the 1739 first edition, others are for the 1739 second edition. How can you tell which of these are microfilm copies of the first edition? HINT compare the worldcat item description to the 2nd edition description (2nd ed: https://go.wm.edu/l3bJqg )
Number of pages. The second edition has 36 pages. The first edition has 23.
Side note: we do actually have the first edition as a digital item, but worldcat nor PRIMO make this at all clear. Researchers would need to open every single link in ECCO and know what to look for – every record is identical, but one does only have 23 pages and is the original, un-denoted first edition. Mention this at the end to hammer home that our databases sometimes are unclear.