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Technical Services Units:

American Literature in English

United States & Canadian Authors

For Works by or about an individual author, use the genre numbers indicated in Dewey, but do not extend beyond them:

Poetry 811
Drama 812
Fiction 813
Essays 814
Speeches 815
Letters 816
Satire and humor 817
Miscellaneous writings 818
Note: 819 is not used in the UIUC Library.


The UIUC Library attempts to bring together all the works by and about an individual author who is writing primarily in one particular genre. Thus, the occasional correspondence of the .dramatist Eugene O'Neill would be cataloged as biographical material of the dramatist (collocated under 812 using "Y" [see "Works about an individual author"]), rather than being classed under Letters (816). The cataloger should use Letters (816) only for individual authors whose writings are primarily correspondence. Similarly, use Miscellaneous writings (818) only for individual authors whose writings are diffuse or "scattered" (i.e., for individual works in which no particular genre is predominant; as well as for collected works of an individual author not noted for one specific form). For an American author writing substantially in two or more genres, class each work in its respective genre (i.e., if an author first publishes an individual work of poems [811], followed by an individual work of fiction [813]).

For Works by an individual author:

  1. An individual work

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Cutter for author; work mark for title) 813
    F57g
  2. A selection of works =

    The Selected Short Stories by Fitzgerald (Work mark for the unique title) 813
    F57s

    NOTE: Selected works differ from collected, complete works. For Selected works, work mark for the unique individual title, rather than from the generic uniform title.
  3. Collected, complete works =

    The Collected Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Complete works use dates, not work marks. The date is entered as the 3rd line of the call number. Use the year in which the work, or 1st vol. thereof, was published.). 813
    F57
    1943

For Works about an individual author


(i.e., for Bibliographies; Biographies or Criticism and interpretation; and Concordances of an individual author, use "V" "Y" or "Z" respectively:

  1. A bibliography of an individual author =

    The Longfellow Collector's Handbook, a Bibliography of First Editions by William Evarts Benjamin (Cutter for author; add "V"; work mark for the author, editor, or title of bibliography). 811
    L86Vb
  2. A biography of an individual author

    Mark Twain by Piero Mirrizi (Cutter for author [the biographee]; add "Y"; work mark for the biographer) 813
    C59Ym

    NOTE: Prior to 1980 biographies were classed in "B.". Currently, both Biographies and Criticisms of individual literary persons not classing in the UIUC Literature schemes are classed in the author's appropriate literature number. In both cases, cutter for the author who is the subject of the work; add "Y"; work mark from the main entry. Past practice indicates that the main entry has most often been used. 
  3. A general criticism of an author's works (i.e., a criticism of a selection of works, or a criticism of the collected, complete works).  For a second or subsequent criticism by the same author, add a number to the work mark, e.g. L95Yh2. 

    Lowell & His Poetry by William Henry Hudson (Cutter for author; add "Y"; work mark for the critic) 811
    L95Yh
    A criticism of an individual work =
    James Russell Lowell's The Biglow Papers by Thomas Wortham (Cutter for author; work mark for title of work being critiqued; add "Y"; work mark for the critic) 811
    L95bYw
  4. A concordance of an individual author =

    Dictionary of Names and Titles in Poe's Collected Works [compiled] by B. R. Pollin (Cutter for author; add "Z"; work mark for the compiler, or editor, or title) 813
    P75Zp

    Further examples of Works about an individual author:
    Huckleberry Finn; a Descriptive Bibliography [by] Lucille Adams 813
    C59ahVa
    Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Scarlet Letter by J.C. Gerber 813
    H31sYg
    A Concordance to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby compiled by A. T. Crosland 813
    F57gZc

For Works by or about more than one author


Use the form divisions -01-09 from Dewey 19 (the precursors to the current Standard Subdivisions), but do not extend beyond the first digit (What has been used in the past are the form divisions prior to their expansion in the 17th-qr 18feh- edition of Dewey):

Philosophy and theory 810.1
Dictionaries, etc. 810.3
Serial publications 810.5
Organizations and management 810.6
Study and teaching 810.7
Collections in more than one form 810.8
Criticism, history, and interpretation of more than one form 810.9

For Works by or about more than one author in Specific forms:

Collections of Poetry 811.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Poetry 811.09
Collections of Drama 812.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Drama 812.09
Collections of Fiction 813.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Fiction 813.09
Collections of Essays 814.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Essays 814.09
Collections of Speeches 815.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Speeches 815.09
Collections of Letters 816.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Letters 816.09
Collections of Satire and humor 817.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Satire and humor 817.09
Collections of Miscellaneous writings 818.08
Criticism and Interpretation of Miscellaneous writings 818.09


For example:

The Roots of African American Drama edited by James V. Hatch 812.08
R679
The Development of American Social Comedy from 1787 to 1936 by John Geoffrey Hartman 812.09
H25d