I cataloghi di periodici antichi: riflessioni su alcune potenzialità descrittive

The collections of ancient periodicals are hardly ever described analytically and in detail; moreover, in specialized catalogues too, is frequently difficult to find rigorous distinctions between original editions and modern reprints. Ancient periodicals are a kind of documents not homogeneous with regard to bibliographical characteristics and they are also collected and preserved in a widerange of ways: so we can say that it's not easy to catalogue this "tipology" of editions. By creation of analytical catalogues, however, it might be possible to considerably increase our knowledge about ancient periodicals and about the collections of Italian libraries.