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Language Variants

Volumen; Jaargang; Vuosikerta; Volumen.

Usage Notes

The term “volume” refers to either: collections of several newspaper issues, published at the end of the year, by a certain writer (or on a certain theme), or bound together from the issues as they were published; or, a numbering decision made by the publisher, often to indicate a new publisher or editor. As newspaper issues were intended to be printed and consumed quickly, rather than kept and revisited, publishing volumes offered readers a more expensive, lasting edition of the articles. Sometimes, the new volumes would include additional illustrations.

The term is often used to refer to the bound collections held by libraries. Many digitisers rely on these volumes as the bound format better preserves them; however, this binding does not guarantee completeness or correct sequencing, as these volumes can be dedicated to one specific newspaper, or issues from a specific year taken from a range of newspapers. Most digitised collections began with microfilmed collections, which in term were largely derived from bound volumes. This affected the suitability of many microfilm reels for digitisation and OCR processing. With regard to the Trove collection, the State Library of South Australia generally dis-bound its copies when microfilming, as did the Library of Victoria, or they loosened the bindings during the microfilming process in order to deal with margins and so on. Other digitisers indicate that they do not usually dis-bind, as it is not usually possible to re-bind them, and this threatens the physical object; many collections in the US were damaged during 20th-century microfilming owing to the destruction of this binding. More recent digitisation at the British Library does typically involve the dis-binding of volumes, followed by the re-wrapping issues in plastic for preservation.

Examples:

Fig. 1

Masthead of The Una, 1 February 1853, showing volume and number information (Vol. 1 No. 1). Wikimedia Commons.

“I was at that time writing in the Morning Chronicle newspaper (of which one series had lately been collected and published in two volumes, illustrated by my esteemed friend Mr. George Cruikshank)…” [Dickens, 11.76]

“They were not appended to any of the material in the original folio sheets, and although the newspaper continued publication to 1752 there were no further reprint volumes.” [Lockwood, 91]

“Lehden vuosikerta, numero, osa, sivu, päiväys/vuodenaika (painettu lehti, journaali)”

“I keep on my knees a volume of the Illustrated News of many years ago … or a volume of Punch published between the ‘forties and the ‘fifties” [Sala 1894, 1.xiii]

“I saw it the other day, to my infinite amusement, reproduced in a volume compiled from the ‘agony column’.” [Yates, 1.328]

“A newspaper may restart its numbering with volume 1, number 1, or an alternative designation that indicates a renumbering, without a change in title. This happens frequently with newspapers, often with a new publisher or editor.” [Sagendorf and Moore, 26]