History of the Book in Canada

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Canadian Imprints: Subject/Genre Thesaurus

When more than one broad subject term describes the content of the imprint, the most appropriate term will be included in the Broad Subject field and any others will be included in the Subject/Genre Terms field. The Subject/Genre Terms field may include additional subject and genre terms as well as personal names, corporate names, or place names which describe the content of the imprint.

This Subject/Genre Thesaurus includes terms in the Broad Subject authority list, indicated here with (BT/NT/RT) after the entry. When included, term definitions are italicized. For each of the subject and genre terms, associated terms are denoted as:

A

Aboriginals

Use Native Peoples

Accounting

Use Bookkeeping

Acts

Written ordinances of a parliament or other legislative body

BT: Legislation, Government Printing

RT: Bills, Constitution, Laws, Orders in Council

Addresses

Used for Speeches

RT: Sermons

Advertisements

Used for advertising

RT: Commerce

Advertising

Use Advertisements

Affidavits

Written statements confirmed by oath

BT: Legal Documents

Agriculture

Used for Farming

NT: Grain

RT: Horticulture, Land and Settlement

Alcoholic beverages

Use Food and Beverages

Almanacs

RT: Annuals, Calendars

American Revolution (1775-1783)

BT: Wars and Battles

Animals

RT: Horse Racing, Hunting

Annuals

RT: Almanacs

Arithmetic

Use Mathematics

Army

BT: Military

RT: Militia, Navy, Wars and Battles

Astronomy

BT: Science

Atlases

RT: Maps

Auctions

RT: Catalogues

Autobiographies

Used for Memoirs

RT: Biographies, Diaries, Personal Narratives

B

Banks and Banking

RT: Commerce, Finance

Battles

Use Wars and Battles

Benevolent Societies

BT: Societies

RT: Bible and Tract Societies

Bible and Tract Societies

BT: Societies

RT: Benevolent Societies

Bible

Passages, quotations, citations

BT: Religion

NT: Psalms

Bills of Exchange

Written order to pay a sum of money on a given date

BT: Printed Forms and Blanks

RT: Commerce

Bills of Lading

BT: Printed Forms and Blanks

RT: Commerce, Shipping

Bills of Sale

BT: Printed Forms and Blanks

RT: Commerce, Deeds of Sale, Receipts

Bills

Proposals for legislation

BT: Government Printing, Legislation

RT: Acts, Constitutions, Laws

Biographies

RT: Autobiographies

Blacks

RT: Slavery

Blank Books

Use Printed Forms and Blanks

Bonds

Sums of money as guarantees

Book prospectuses

Use Prospectuses

Bookkeeping

Used for Accounting

RT: Tables and Ready-reckoners

Booksellers

RT: Catalogues, Printing, Publishing, Reading

Boundaries

Bridges

BT: Transportation

RT: Roads

Briefs

Summaries of the facts of cases

Broadsides

By-laws

Use Regulations

C

Calendars

RT: Almanacs

Canals

BT: Transportation

RT: Shipping

Caricatures

Use Cartoons

Carrier's Addresses

BT: Newspapers

Cartoons

Used for Caricatures

RT: Satire

Catalogues

RT: Auctions, Booksellers, Libraries, Horticulture

Catechisms

BT: Religion

RT: Textbooks

Census

RT: Statistics

Certificates

Formal Documents attesting to a fact

BT: Legal Documents

Charters

Written grants of rights, constitutions

Children

Used for Orphans

RT: Children's Literature, Education, Schools

Children's Literature

RT: Children

Churches

Circular Letters

Letters presented for distribution to a large number of people

Cities and Towns

Used for Towns

RT: Streets

Citizenship

RT: Emigration and Immigration

Clergy

BT: Religion

RT: Clergy Reserves

Clergy Reserves

BT: Land and Settlement

RT: Clergy

Colleges

Use Universities and Colleges

Colonies

Use Colonization

Colonization

Establishment of a colony or settlement

RT: Emigration and Immigration

Commerce

Commercial establishments and activities, e.g., buying, selling

NT: Currency, Prices and Rates

RT: Banks and Banking, Bills of Exchange, Bills of Lading, Bills of Sale, Economics, Finance

Commissioners of the Peace

Concerts

RT: Dance, Music, Theatre

Confessions

Admissions of crime

BT: Crime

RT: Prisoners and Prisons, Trials

Congresses

Formal meetings

Constitutions

BT: Legislation, Government Printing

RT: Acts, Bills, Laws, Orders in Council

Cookbooks

BT: Food and Beverages

RT: Handbooks and Manuals, Domestic Science

Correspondence

Official communications from heads of state or government, See also Letters

Courts

RT: Crime, Justices of the Peace, Trials

Crime

Used for Criminals

NT: Confessions, Courts, Police, Prisoners and Prisons, Reward Notices, Trials

Criminals

Use Crime

Crown Lands

BT: Land and Settlement

RT: Land Grants

Currency

Used for Money

BT: Commerce

Customs and Tariffs

Used for Tariffs

BT: Trade

RT: Shipping

D

Dance

RT: Concerts, Music, Theatre

Deeds of Sale

BT: Legal Documents

RT: Bills of Sale, Land Titles, Mortgages

Devotional Literature

Works of private piety, service books

BT: Religion

Diaries

RT: Autobiographies, Letters, Personal Narratives

Dictionaries

RT: Encyclopedias, Glossaries, Language, Phrase Books

Directories

Discovery and Exploration

Use Exploration

Disease

Use Health and Medicine

Domestic Science

RT: Cookbooks, Social Life

Drama

Use Theatre

Duelling

E

Economics (BT)

Material prosperity of a region; economic aspects of an industry; production and distribution of wealth

RT: Commerce, Finance, Trade

Education (BT)

NT: Schools, Teaching, Textbooks, Universities and Colleges

RT: Children

Elections

Used for Poll Books, Voting

Embargo

BT: Trade

RT: Foreign Relations

Emigrants

Use Emigration and Immigration

Emigration and Immigration

Used for Emigrants, Immigrants

RT: Citizenship, Colonization

Encyclopaedias

RT: Dictionaries

Essays

Estate Inventories

Etiquette

BT: Social Life

RT: Self Improvement

Executive Council

Use Legislature

Exhibitions

Exploration

Used for Discovery and Exploration

RT: Routes, Travel and Description, Voyageurs

F

Farming

Use Agriculture

Fenians

BT: Societies

RT: Wars and Battles

Feudalism

Use Seigneurial System

Fiction

RT: Plays, Poetry

Finance

Management of public money

Used for Public Expenditures, Public Finance

RT: Banks and Banking, Commerce, Economics

Fire Departments

Used for Fire Societies

RT: Fires

Fire Societies

Use Fire Departments

Fires

RT: Fire Departments

First Nations

Use Native Peoples

Fishing

Used for Whaling

RT: Hunting

Floods

RT: Lakes, Rivers

Folklore

Use Legends

Food and Beverages

Used for Alcoholic Beverages

NT: Cookbooks

RT: Domestic Science

Foreign Relations

Relations between states

RT: Boundaries, Customs and Tariffs, Embargo, Trade, Treaties

Forms

Use Printed Forms and Blanks

Formularies

A collection of set forms for religious use

Freemasons

French Revolution (1789-1792)

BT: Wars and Battles

Funerals

Fur Trade

RT: Hunting, Routes, Voyageurs

G

Geography

BT: Science

Geology

BT: Science

RT: Minerals and Mining

Glossaries

RT: Dictionaries, Language, Phrasebooks

Government Printing

Official publications

NT: Acts, Bills, Constitutions, Journals, Laws, Orders in Council

Grain

BT: Agriculture

Grammar

Use Grammars

Grammars

Used for Grammar

BT: Textbooks

RT: Language, Readers, Spellers

Guidebooks

BT: Travel and Description

RT: Tourism

H

Handbills

RT: Playbills

Handbooks and Manuals

Used for Instruction Books

RT: Cookbooks, Tables and Ready-reckoners

Harbours

Use Ports

Health and Medicine

Used for Disease, Medicine

Heraldry

History

Home economics

Use Domestic Science

Horse Racing

RT: Animals, Sports

Horticulture

Used for Plants

RT: Agriculture

House of Assembly

Use Legislature

Hunting

RT: Animals, Fishing, Fur Trade

Hymns

BT: Music, Religion

RT: Songs

I

Icebergs

Illustrated Books

Used for Pictorial Works

Immigrants

Use Emigration and Immigration

Indentures

Official documents pertaining to employment or land ownership

RT: Labour

Indians

Use Native Peoples

Indigenous Peoples

Use Native Peoples

Institutions

Use Societies

Instruction Books

Use Handbooks and Manuals

Insurance

Invitations

BT: Printed Forms and Blanks

J

Jails

Use Prisoners and Prisons

Journals

Journals of the Councils and House

Daily records of government proceedings

BT: Government Printing

Justice (BT)

Law and its administration

RT: Crime

Justices of the Peace

Local public officials appointed to hear minor cases, take oaths, etc.

RT: Courts, Magistrates

L

Labour

Used for Workers

RT: Indentures

Lakes

RT: Floods, Rivers, Navigation, Shipping

Land and Settlement

NT: Clergy Reserves, Crown Lands, Land Grants, Land Titles, Seigneurial System

RT: Agriculture, Property, Surveys and Surveying

Land Grants

BT: Land and Settlement

RT: Crown Lands, Land Titles

Land Titles

BT: Land and Settlement

RT: Deeds of Sale, Land Grants, Leases, Mortgages

Languages (BT)

RT: Dictionaries, Glossaries, Grammars, Phrase Books

Laws

A body of rules; the statute and common law

BT: Government Printing, Legislation

RT: Acts, Bills, Constitutions, Orders in Council

Learned institutions and societies

Use Societies

Leases

BT: Legal Documents

RT: Land Titles, Mortgages

Legal Documents

NT: Affidavits, Certificates, Deeds of Sale, Leases, Licences and Permits, Mortgages, Power of Attorney, Warrants

RT: Laws

Legends

Used for Folklore, Mythology

Legislation

The process of making laws; laws or a series of laws

NT: Acts, Bills, Constitutions, Laws, Orders in Council

RT: Government Printing, Legislature, Orders

Legislative Council

Use Legislature

Legislature

Legislative body: to 1840 made up of appointed Legislative Council and elected House of Assembly

Used for Executive Council, House of Assembly, Legislative Council, Parliament. RT: Government Printing

Letters

Correspondence between non-public figures

RT: Correspondence, Diaries

Libraries

RT: Catalogues, Mechanics' Institutes, Reading

Licences and Permits

Used for Permits

BT: Legal Documents, Printed Forms and Blanks

Lighthouses

RT: Navigation

Lists

Use Registers

Literature and the Arts (BT)

Liturgy

Public worship in accordance with a prescribed form

BT: Religion

Lotteries

A scheme to raise money by selling numbered tickets

Loyalists

Lumber

Use Timber

M

Magazines

RT: Newspapers

Magistrates

Officials conducting courts for minor cases

RT: Justices of the Peace

Manuals

Use Handbooks and Manuals

Maps

RT: Atlases, Navigation, Nautical Charts, Routes

Marriage

Mathematics

Used for Arithmetic

Mechanics' Institutes

BT: Societies

RT: Libraries

Medicine

Use Health and Medicine

Memoirs

Use Autobiographies

Military

Military affairs, officers, operations, and orders

NT: Army, Militia, Navy, Sailors

RT: Wars and Battles

Militia

BT: Military

RT: Army, Wars and Battles

Minerals and Mining

Used for Mines

Mines

Use Minerals and Mining

Mission Work

Used for Missionaries

Missionaries

Use Mission Work

Monarchy

Money

Use Currency

Mortgages

BT: Legal Documents

RT: Deeds of Sale, Land Titles, Leases

Music

NT: Hymns, Songs

RT: Concerts, Dance, Theatre

Mythology

Use Legends

N

Native peoples

Used for Aboriginals, First Nations, Indians, Indigenous Peoples

Nautical Charts

BT: Navigation

RT: Maps, Pilots and Pilotage, Ships

Navigation

NT: Nautical Charts, Pilots and Pilotage, Steam Navigation

RT: Lakes, Lighthouses, Maps, Navy, Pilots and Pilotage, Routes, Shipping, Ships, Signals and Signalling

Navy

Naval art and science, naval operations and officers

BT: Military

RT: Army, Militia, Navigation, Sailors, Wars and Battles

Newspaper and magazine prospectuses

Use Prospectuses

Newspapers

NT: Carrier's Addresses

RT: Magazines

Notaries

Notices

Sheets bearing an announcement

O

Oaths

Solemn declarations (often naming God) of truth

Orange Order

BT: Societies

Orders in Council

Administrative orders formally issued by the sovereign or the sovereign's representative

BT: Government Printing, Legislation

RT: Acts, Bills, Constitutions, Laws

Orders

Command, direction, instruction

RT: Legislation

Orphans

Use Children

P

Parliament

Use Legislature

Pastoral Letters

BT: Religion

Peace Treaties

Use Treaties

Permits

Use Licences and Permits

Personal Narratives

First-person account of connected events in order of happening

RT: Autobiographies, Diaries

Petitions

A formal, written request, especially one signed by many people

Philosophy

Phrase Books

RT: Dictionaries, Glossaries, Language

Pictorial works

Use Illustrated Books

Pilots and Pilotage

BT: Navigation

RT: Nautical Charts, Rivers, Routes, Ships, Signals and Signalling

Plants

Use Horticulture

RT: Agriculture, Grain

Playbills

RT: Handbills, Plays, Theatre

Plays

Dramatic pieces for the stage

BT: Theatre

RT: Fiction

Poetry

RT: Fiction, Satire

Police

BT: Crime

RT: Prisoners and Prisons

Political Literature

Public opinion on government affairs

Used for Public Opinion

RT: Politics, Satire

Politics

RT: Government Printing, Political Literature

Poll Books

Use Elections

Poor

Use Poverty

Portraits

RT: Cartoons, Illustrated Books

Ports

Used for Harbours

RT: Shipping, Ships, Signals and Signalling

Postal Service

Poverty

Used for Poor

Power of Attorney

BT: Legal Documents

Prayer Books

BT: Religion

Prices and Rates

BT: Commerce

Primers

BT: Textbooks

RT: Readers, Spellers

Printed Forms and Blanks

Used for Blank Books

NT: Bills of Exchange, Bills of Lading, Bills of Sale, Invitations, Licences and Permits, Receipts, Tickets

Printers

Use Printing

Printing

Used for Printers

RT: Booksellers, Publishing

Prisoners and Prisons

Used for Jails

BT: Crime

RT: Confessions, Police, Trials

Proclamations

Public or official declarations

Property

Something owned

RT: Land and Settlement

Prospectuses

Used for Book Prospectuses, Newspaper and Magazine Prospectuses

Psalms

BT: Bible, Religion

Public Expenditures

Use Finance

Public Finance

Use Finance

Public Opinion

Use Political Literature

Publishers

Use Publishing

Publishing

Used for Publishers

RT: Booksellers, Printing, Reading

R

Railways

BT: Transportation

RT: Shipping

Readers

BT: Textbooks

RT: Grammars, Primers, Spellers

Reading

RT: Booksellers, Libraries, Publishing

Ready-reckoners

Use Tables and Ready-reckoners

Rebellions (1837-1838)

BT: Wars and Battles

Receipts

BT: Printed Forms and Blanks

RT: Bills of Sale

Registers

Official lists or records

Used for Lists

Regulations

Rules, a subordinative form of legislation

Used for By-laws, Rules and Regulations

Religion

Relating to a system of faith or worship; religious figures, feasts, ceremonies, days, churches, denominations, members

NT: Bible, Catechisms, Clergy, Hymns, Liturgy, Pastoral Letters, Prayer Books, Psalms, Sermons

Reports

A description or summary of events

Reward Notices

BT: Crime

Rhetoric

Rivers

RT: Floods, Lakes, Navigation, Pilots and Pilotage, Shipping

Roads

BT: Transportation

RT: Bridges, Routes, Streets

Routes

BT: Transportation

RT: Exploration, Fur Trade, Maps, Roads, Shipping, Streets, Voyageurs

Rules and Regulations

Use Regulations

S

Sailors

BT: Navy

RT: Ships

Satire

RT: Cartoons, Poetry, Political Literature

Schoolbooks

Use Textbooks

Schools

BT: Education

RT: Children, Teaching, Textbooks, Universities and Colleges

Science (BT)

NT: Geography, Geology, Astronomy

RT: Technology

Scottish

Seigneurial System

Used for Feudalism

BT: Land and Settlement

Self-improvement

RT: Etiquette

Sermons

BT: Religion

RT: Addresses

Shipping

BT: Transportation

RT: Canals, Customs and Tariffs, Lakes, Navigation, Ports, Railways, Rivers, Ships, Steam Navigation, Routes

Ships

BT: Transportation

NT: Shipwrecks

RT: Navigation, Ports, Sailors, Shipping, Signals and Signalling, Steam Navigation

Shipwrecks

BT: Ships

Signal Books

Use Signals and Signalling

Signals and Signalling

Used for Signal Books

RT: Navigation, Ports, Ships

Slavery

RT: Blacks

Social Life

NT: Etiquette

RT: Domestic Science

Societies

Used for Institutions

NT: Benevolent Societies, Bible and Tract Societies, Fenians, Freemasons, Mechanics' Institutes, Orange Order

Songs

BT: Music

RT: Hymns

Speeches

Use Addresses

Spellers

BT: Textbooks

RT: Grammars, Primers, Readers

Sports

RT: Horse Racing

Statistics

RT: Census

Steam Navigation

BT: Navigation, Transportation

RT: Lakes, Rivers, Shipping, Ships

Streets

RT: Roads, Routes, Cities and Towns

Surveys and Surveying

RT: Land and Settlement

T

Tables and Ready-reckoners

Used for Ready-reckoners

RT: Bookeeping, Handbooks and Manuals

Tariffs

Use Customs and Tariffs

Taxes

Teaching

BT: Education

RT: Schools, Textbooks, Universities and Colleges

Technology

NT: Agriculture

RT: Science

Temperance

RT: Food and Beverages

Textbooks

Used for Schoolbooks

BT: Education

NT: Grammars, Primers, Readers, Spellers

RT: Schools, Teaching, Universities and Colleges

Theatre

Forms of entertainment performed in front of an audience

NT: Plays

RT: Concerts, Dance, Music

Tickets

BT: Printed Forms and Blanks

Timber

Used for Lumber

Tourism

RT: Guidebooks, Travel and Description

Towns

Use Cities and Towns

Trade

NT: Customs and Tariffs, Embargoes

RT: Economics, Treaties

Transportation (BT)

NT: Bridges, Canals, Railways, Roads, Routes, Shipping, Ships, Steam Navigation

RT: Navigation

Travel and Description

NT: Guidebooks

RT: Exploration, Tourism

Treaties

Agreements between states, formally concluded and ratified

Used for Peace Treaties

RT: Trade, Wars and Battles

Treatises

Trials

BT: Crime

RT: Confessions, Courts, Prisoners and Prisons

U

Universities and Colleges

BT: Education

RT: Schools, Teaching, Textbooks

V

Voting

Use Elections

Voyages

Use Exploration

Voyageurs

RT: Exploration, Fur Trade, Routes

W

War of 1812

BT: Wars and Battles

Warrants

Written authorizations

BT: Legal Documents

Wars and Battles

NT: American Revolution, French Revolution, Rebellions (1837-1838), War of 1812

RT: Army, Fenians, Military, Navy, Treaties

Whaling

Use Fishing

Workers

Use Labour