AAE Style Guide

This style guide is intended for authors of texts on art—any kind of text—and for editors of these texts and their publishers. Its purpose is to provide guidelines for authors and editors in the writing and redaction of manuscripts. Uniformity of usage is not the purpose of this guide. Rather, it aims to ensure uniformity of comprehension about the issues that authors and editors deal with.

Although it would have its practical purposes, a definitive, this-way-only manual would be inadequate to the profession, since art history is an aggregate of many different methodologies and fields of specialization. Nor is it likely, or expected, that all publishers (or editors) will abandon long-cherished systems, especially when those systems adequately serve their purposes. Rather, we offer a guide to several generally accepted styles. Authors should consult with the publisher/editor before making final stylistic decisions; if the publisher is unknown at the time of writing, the author very often will be responsible for revising the manuscript later to accord with house style.

Note: "See Chicago" refers to The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. This guide was compiled and edited before the fifteenth edition came out. References to the book itself were updated, but it was not practical to redo the entire guide in light of new recommendations made by Chicago—a fact the user should bear in mind.

The style manuals and publications of various institutions were also among the sources consulted for substance and examples. We gratefully acknowledge: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York; the College Art Association, New York; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

This style guide is dedicated to Virginia Wageman (1941–2003), a co-founder and early president of the Association of Art Editors, who was an indefatigable campaigner for high editorial standards. Her loving devotion to her craft, fund of common sense, and sunny disposition made working with her deeply rewarding.

Abbreviations

In general, abbreviations are appropriate in notes and parenthetical or display material but should be avoided in straight (narrative) text. Some publishers prefer to keep abbreviations to a minimum in text, spelling out reigned, circa, born, and so on, even in parenthetical references. Consistency is of primary importance. If you use b. for born, for example, you must use d. for died. A list of common abbreviations appears below.

In running text, cite books of the Bible by short title, usually one word. See Chicago 15.50–54.

Do not abbreviate journal titles in running text. Example: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, not JWCI. If such titles are to be abbreviated in notes, provide a key to their abbreviations.

Avoid the abbreviations etc., e.g., and i.e. in running text.

State names are spelled out in running text or when they stand alone. In references, captions, or checklists, standard state abbreviations—Mass. or Calif., for example—can be used. Avoid the two-letter Zip code form (see Chicago 15.29). Note, however, that some publishers prefer to spell out state names in all cases, an approach that makes the work more accessible to a global audience.

In running text, spell out: figure(s), note(s), number(s), page(s), plate(s), catalogue number(s). These may be abbreviated in parenthetical references in text. See below for recommended abbreviations.

In running text, spell out: "about" (do not use "around," "circa," "c./ca."), days of the week, months of the year, and dimensions, such as "inches" and "feet."

Centuries are usually spelled out (eighteenth century, twenty-first century), but it is also acceptable to use numerals (18th century, 21st century). Whichever approach is chosen should be used consistently.

Spell out the word Saint in names of saints, but abbreviate it in personal names where the abbreviation is preferred. Example: Ruth St. Denis. See below under Saint for rules on church names and other related details.

In place-names, spell out: Fort, Mount, Mountain.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

act. Active (often preferred spelled out)

A.D. (SMALL CAPS), precedes the date; A.D. 61. AD is also acceptable.

B.C. (SMALL CAPS), follows the date; 146 B.C. BC is also acceptable.

C.E. (SMALL CAPS), follows the date; 61 C.E. (or CE).

B.C.E. (SMALL CAPS), follows the date; 146 B.C.E. (or BCE).

A.M., P.M.;
AM, PM;
a.m., p.m.;
or A.M., P.M.

add addendum, addenda

app. appendix

approx. approximately (in dimensions)

b. born

bibliog. bibliography

bk. book

c./ca. circa, about, approximately (in text use "about"); either c. or ca. is correct; be consistent

cat. no. catalogue number (pl.: cat. nos.)

cf. Compare (not "see")

chap. chapter

cm centimeter; centimeters (generally used without punctuation)

comp. compiler (pl.: comps.); compiled by

cpl./colorpl. colorplate (pl.: cpls., colorpls.), an awkward abbreviation, to be avoided

d./D. died; depth

dept. department

diam. diameter

diss. dissertation

doc. document

Dr.

ed. editor (pl.: eds.); edition; edited by

e.g. for example (avoid in text)

esp. especially

est. estimated (in dimensions)

et al. et alia, and others (note: no period after et)

etc. et cetera, and so forth (avoid in text)

ex coll./ex.-coll. ex collection (in provenance or credit)

exh. cat. exhibition catalogue

fasc. fascicle

fig. figure (pl.: fgs.)

fl. floruit, flourished

fol. folio (pl.: fols.). Sometimes f. and ff., but fol(s). is clearer

fr./frr. fragments

fr./frs. microfilm frames

ft. feet

h./H. height

ibid. ibidem, in the same place (Note: this is not synonymous with "idem," which means "the same person" and takes no period, as it is not an abbreviation.)

i.e. id est, that is (avoid in text)

in. inches

ill./illus. illustration (spell out in text)

intro. introduction

l./L. left, length, line (pl.: ll.); line(s) is often written out for clarity

M./MM.

Mlle (no period)

mm millimeter(s)

Mme (no period)

Mr./Messrs.

MS manuscript (pl.: MSS)

n. note, footnote (pl.: nn.)

n.d. no date

no. number (pl.: nos.)

n.p. no place; no publisher; no page

n.s. new series

o.s. old series

p. page (pl.: pp.)

par. paragraph

Ph.D. Chicago 15 recommends PhD

pl. plate (pl.: pls.)

pt. part

r. right; reigned

r./r recto (Note: these abbreviations are used mainly in notes and in works specializing in manuscripts; in other contexts, recto is spelled out.)

repr. reprint(ed)

rev. ed. revised edition

sec. section

ser. series

St. Saint (see Saint)

suppl. supplement

TV television (in many contexts may be used in text)

trans. Translated or translated by; translator

v./v verso (Note: these abbreviations are used mainly in notes and in works specializing in manuscripts; in other contexts, verso is spelled out.)

vol. volume

w./W. width

See also Chicago 15.45 for a list of scholarly abbreviations.

Accents

Unusual diacritical marks should be marked on the manuscript by hand for the designer/typesetter/printer, either called out in the margin or marked with yellow or other highlighter.

The most common accents (acute é, grave è, umlaut ü, circumflex î, and cedilla ç) are supported by most fonts and need not be marked.

In a program or font that does not have the macron (long mark), the circumflex or tilde may be employed to indicate it if there are no words using the circumflex or tilde in the manuscript. If macrons are thus indicated by a different accent, a note to that effect should be given at the beginning of the manuscript so that the designer/typesetter and printer will know to change these to macrons.

Insert all accents given in the foreign language, including accents on capital letters. (Note that diacritical marks are not always used on the first letter of capitalized words in French: Etude, instead of Étude, or Edouard instead of Édouard.)

In general, do not use vowel ligatures (œ or œ).

The five most commonly occurring accents can be created on Macintosh computers by pressing the Option key along with the following keys (after pressing these two keys together, press the letter that takes the accent):

+ e = ´ (acute) é

+ ` = ` (grave) è

+ i = ˆ (circumflex) î

+ u = ¨ (umlaut) ü

+ n = ~ (tilde) ñ

+ c = ç (cedilla)

Article (the)

In running text, lowercase the preceding a museum name. This is true even for museums that consider the article part of their official name (although they often capitalize The in their name in their publications. Example:

A similar print is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

In running text, also lowercase the preceding the name of a building, residence, business, and the like. Examples:

the Breakers
the Red Rooster restaurant
the Empire State Building
the University of Chicago
the College Art Association Conference

In illustration captions and exhibition checklists, initial articles that are part of the museum’s official name are often capitalized. (See The Official Museum Directory, or locate the given museum’s Web site on the Internet.)

In titles of books, an initial The is always italic. Example:

The Chicago Manual of Style.

In titles of journals, newspapers, or magazines, the preceding the name is lowercase and roman, even if it appears in the masthead for the publication. Examples:

The article is in the Village Voice.
He reads the New York Times every day.
The Art Bulletin is published by the College Art Association.

However, the article is retained in foreign-language titles. Example:

She reads Le Monde every day.

In footnote and bibliographical references, an initial article The is omitted in titles of journals, newspapers, and magazines. Examples:

Art Bulletin 52, no. 3
New Yorker, Feb. 14, 1998.

Art movements, periods, and styles

The question of whether to capitalize or lowercase is one of the most common in the field of art history and one of the most difficult in which to attain any agreement. Chicago would lowercase all art movements, periods, and styles except those derived from proper nouns. However, many art historians and art institutions traditionally capitalize them. For this reason, we offer an alternative to the Chicago method.

The names of art movements or periods of art can be capitalized to distinguish them as references to a particular body of work whose visual and/or chronological definitions are generally accepted. The art so designated may be of relatively short duration (Post-Impressionism), or extend over a longer period characterized by a broader range of styles (Renaissance, Baroque), or stem from self-styled movements (Cubism, Futurism).

For names of art movements that have entered the English language as an autonomous word (for example, baroque, meaning "stylistically overwrought"), capitalization of the movement helps to keep the distinction between word and movement clear.

Some exceptions are made in the general system of capitalization. The word medieval is never capitalized in designating medieval art (though the period known as the Middle Ages is always capitalized).

Words such as modernism or postmodernism are often left uncapitalized by those who hold that the cap should be used only when the works designated fall into a coherent visual and/or chronological category. Since the question, "What does a modernist work look like?" cannot be answered clearly, modernism remains in lowercase.

For those who prefer to capitalize art movements, remember that it takes time for a body of works to achieve capital-letter status—to undergo the kind of critical ordering and analysis that ultimately yield a definition. What we now call Conceptual art, for example, generally remained lowercase until the concepts and the works that exemplified it had been articulated over time.

Adjectival forms: Impressionism/Impressionistic or impressionistic; Cubism/Cubist or cubist? Some prefer to lowercase adjectival forms since adjectival forms of proper nouns generally take the lowercase (Pope John Paul’s visit to New York; the papal visit). Others prefer to retain the initial cap to refer unambiguously to the movement, avoiding confusion with another meaning or referent of the word. We lean toward capitalizing any adjectival form that would be capitalized as a noun as the simpler method (thus avoiding such ambiguities as "German expressionist painter": expressionist of German nationality or of the German Expressionist movement?).

Equally legitimate is the lowercasing of art movements. For some, it merely reflects a tendency to avoid capitalization whenever possible. For others, however, a lowercase baroque or cubism represents an ideological stance, in which the history of art is not a history of great "movements" progressing in linear fashion. But those who use a lowercase style should avoid ambiguities such as "German expressionist painter" (alternative: a painter of the German expressionist movement).

Names of artistic styles are capitalized unless they are used in a context that does not refer to their specific art-historical meaning (such as: His dream was surreal). Some common names:

Abstract Expressionism
Conceptualism, Conceptual Art, Conceptual art
Cubism
Dada
Minimalism, Minimalist, Minimal Art, Minimal art
Pop Art, Pop art
Surrealism

In general, sharply delimited period titles are capitalized, whereas broad periods and terms applicable to several periods are not:

Archaic period
Baroque
Early Renaissance
High Renaissance
Early Christian
Gothic
Greek Classicism of the fifth century (otherwise, classicism)
Imperial
Impressionism
Islamic
Mannerist
Middle Ages
Neoclassicism (for the late-18th-century movement; otherwise, neoclassicism)
Post-Impressionism
Pre-Columbian, Precolumbian
Rococo
Roman
Romanesque
Romantic period

antique, antiquity
classicism (see above)
medieval
modern, modernism
neoclassicism (see above)
postmodern
prehistoric
quattrocento

See also Word list.

Bias-free language

Bias-free language does not discriminate on the basis of age, physical condition, economic status, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Where possible without sacrificing meaning or euphony, use language that is not gender specific.

Avoid words and turns of phrase that exclude or are insensitive to readers of a certain gender, race, or religion. Equally, avoid any extremes of political correctness, unless required by the text; for example, the neologism "s/he" is to be avoided.

When appropriate, gender-neutral language can be achieved by making the subject plural. Example: Students may register in advance if they . . .

When necessary, he or she may be used.

Commonly used words and phrases:

handmade (for man-made)
assistive-listening headset
braille
people with disabilities
hearing impaired
humankind, humanity (for mankind)
individual (for man)
motor-impaired visitors
solo exhibition (for one-person show)
visually impaired
wheelchair accessible
wheelchair user

Biblical references

References to biblical passages should be made in the text, not the footnotes (such as Matt. 4:14), but the first citation to the Bible should have a footnote with a full reference, giving the version used, such as Vulgate, King James, and Douai.

For abbreviations of the books of the Bible, see Chicago 15.50–54.

Bibliography

There are numerous ways to organize a bibliography. It may be presented as a single list in alphabetical order, or it may be divided into categories; it may include all the works cited in the text, or it may be a selected bibliography, which will not necessarily include all the works cited. In a suggested reading list, works for further reading, some of which may have been cited in the text, are given.

In long books with many works cited, especially big exhibition catalogues that include references for the objects exhibited, shortened references are often used. The most popular is the author-date system, in which only the author’s last name and the publication date are used. (In this context, "author" means the name under which the work is alphabetized in the bibliography or list of references; it may be an organization or, as used sometimes for exhibition catalogues, the venue (such as New York for the Museum of Modern Art) or venues (New York and Philadelphia). When authors have the same last name, initials are generally added to distinguish them. When there is more than one identical short form (two for Smith 1957), adding a short title (Smith, Bronzino, 1957 and Smith, "Bronzino and His Contemporaries," 1957) is recommended rather than adding letters (1957a and 1957b), as this is easier to add at a late stage of production and is also easier to find, for both editors and readers. The author-date system requires a bibliography (or what Chicago calls a reference list; see chap. 16) in single, alphabetical list form, giving the shortened reference as the first item. Many bibliographies place the shortened reference on a line above the full reference or as the first element of the reference, in boldface and followed by a period or an em space. The full reference need not repeat the date, but most humanities bibliographies give the reference as it would appear in a standard bibliography. Authors who use this system must remember to verify their information and make sure the entries in notes, reference sections, and bibliographies all match. They should give information for only the edition used or, if original and reprint information is supplied, specify the edition followed for citations and use that date for the shortened reference.

Another shortened-reference system gives the last name of the author, a short title, and page number(s): Smith, Bronzino, 23. When the source is given in full in the bibliography, shortened references may be used throughout the book (taking care that they are given identically throughout). This system also requires the single alphabetical bibliographic list.

A bibliography divided into categories might separate sources of a general and a specific nature; books, exhibition catalogues, and articles; in a monograph, works by the artist, works about the artist, and exhibition history.

A selected bibliography can be used with a shortened reference system. Here, any references not given in the bibliography would be cited in full in the text. This would have the advantage of retaining the bibliography’s traditional aspect as a list of sources on the subject; tangential or unrelated citations would not need to appear in it.

See Chicago 16.71–120 for a detailed examination of bibliographic styles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OR REFERENCE LIST (sample entries)

Audsley, George Ashdown. The Art of Organ Building. 2 vols. 1905. Reprint, 2 vols. in 1, New York: Dover Publications, 1964.

Barron, Stephanie, et al. German Expressionist Sculpture. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983.

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Trans. Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981.

Bibliothèque Municipale, Rouen. MS fr. 938.

Binney, E. "Later Mughal Painting." In Aspects of Indian Art, ed. P. Pal. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972.

Blume, Dieter. Anthony Caro: Catalogue Raisonné. 5 vols. Cologne: Verlag Galerie Wentzel, 1981–86.

Burke, Edmund. The Correspondence of Edmund Burke. Ed. Thomas W. Copeland. Vol. 3, July 1774–July 1778, ed. George H. Guttridge. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.

Conze, Edward. Buddhist Thought in India. 1962. Reprint, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1967.

Dean, Bashford. Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. Microfiche.

Demuth, Charles. Papers. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

Gairola, Krishna C. "Manifestations of Shiva." Oriental Art, n.s., 27, no. 3 (Autumn 1981).

Genesis of a Novel. Tucson, Ariz.: Motivational Programming Corp., 1969. Sound cassette.

Goldwater, Robert. Primitivism in Modern Art. 1938. Rev. ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1966.

Goodrich, Lloyd. "Essay on Abstraction." 1930. Typescript. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Archives, Abstract Art Controversy Correspondence, box H4, file 82. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Gruen, John. "Michael Heizer: ‘You Might Say I’m in the Construction Business.’" Art News 76 (December 1977): 96–99.

Hockney, David. David Hockney: Photographs. Exh. cat. London and New York: Petersburg Press; Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1982.

Jerome. Commentaria in Esaiam, ed. Marcus Adriaen. In Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 78. Turnhout: Brepols, 1958.

Larsen, Susan C. "Los Angeles Painting in the Sixties: A Tradition in Transition." In Art in Los Angeles: Seventeen Artists in the Sixties, edited by Maurice Tuchman. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.

Locke, Nancy Elizabeth. "Manet and the Family Romance." PhD diss., Harvard University, 1993.

Mizuno, Kogen. The Beginnings of Buddhism. Trans. Richard L. Gage. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company, 1982.

Pal, Pratapaditya, and Earl A. Powell. Modern Haitian Art Reconsidered. 2nd ed. Grovers Corners, N.H.: Wilder Press, 1975.

Schubring, Walther. The Religion of the Jainas. Calcutta Sanskrit College Research Series, no. 52. Calcutta: Sanskrit College, 1966.

Shah, V. P. Jaina-Pupa-Mandana. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1987.

Smith, Vincent A. The Oxford History of India. 3rd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958.

Solomon, Alan R. Jasper Johns. Exh. cat. New York: Jewish Museum, 1964.

Stella, Frank. "On Caravaggio." New York Times Magazine, February 3, 1985, pp. 39–60, 71.

Sun Shaoyuan. Shenghua ji (Record of paintings). Preface 1107; Shanghai: Yiwen, 1996.

Talwar, K., and Kalyan Krishna. Indian Pigment Paintings on Cloth. Vol. 3 of Historic Textiles of India at the Calico Museum. Ahmedabad: Calico Museum of Textiles, 1979.

AUTHOR-DATE SYSTEM (sample entries)

Arcangeli, F. 1956. "Sugli inizi dei Carracci." Paragone 7, no. 79, pp. 137–43.

Siple, Ella S. 1942. "Art in America." Burlington Magazine 80, pp. 74–81.

Bohlin, Diane DeGrazia. 1979. Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family. Exh. cat. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art.

Petzet, Michael, ed. 1973. Bayern Kunst und Kultur. Exh. cat. Munich: Stadtmuseum.

Germanisches Nationalmuseum. 1928. Albrecht Dürer Ausstellung Germanischen Museum. Exh. cat. Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Sotheby Parke Bernet and Company. 1983. The Thomas F. Flannery, Jr., Collection: Medieval and Later Works of Art. Sale catalog.

Capitalization

HISTORICAL PERIODS
Capitalize the full name but not the generic term. Example:

Holy Roman Empire, the empire

NAMES OF ORGANIZATIONS
Capitalize the full or shortened version of a proper name but not generic categories. Example:

Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Académie Royale, but not the Academy.

NAMES OF PEOPLE
When particles are lowercased used with the full name, they are often left lowercased when only the last name is given. Example:

The late works of Vincent van Gogh
The late works of van Gogh

However, it is also accepted practice to capitalize the particle when the first name is dropped—Van Gogh—so long as this is done consistently. When particles are capitalized with the full name, they should always be capitalized when the first name is dropped. Example:

Anthony Van Dyck
Van Dyck

For capitalization of particles, follow the usage of the named individual or tradition. (In general, lowercase the particle in European names.) Examples:

de la Tour
d’ Hulst
de Stael
von Blanckenhagen
Der Nersessian
Van Buren
van Gogh
van der Weyden

Titles, whether of nobility, offices, or religious, are capitalized only when they directly precede the name: King Edward II, President Clinton, Pope John Paul II. Otherwise, lowercase them: the duchess of Kent, the senator from Ohio, the pope’s entourage.

Identify people mentioned with a brief phrase (the noted collector, the critic, etc.), using full name at first mention. Example:

The nineteenth-century writer and art critic Octave Mirbeau

Asian names: The traditional format for Chinese and Japanese names places the family name first, followed by the given name. Unless the name is Westernized, as it often is by authors writing in English, it should be kept in the traditional order.

Traditional order: Tsou Tang; Tajima Yumiko
Westernized: Tang Tsou; Yumiko Tajima

PLACE-NAMES
Capitalize place-names with distinct and titled identities—the Middle East, the West (referring to the cultural-geopolitical entity), the Continent, the East Coast—otherwise, lowercase: northern Italy, southern France.

In general, capitalize a political entity when it follows the name and lowercase it when it precedes—New York State, the state of New York—unless the official name happens to take that form: the District of Columbia, the Dominion of Canada.

For place-name spellings, use the first choice given in Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary.

Captions

Caption style varies according to field, period, institution, and so on, and caption forms will of necessity vary from publication to publication, subject to subject. What follows is a sampling of formats; for specific instructions on individual elements of captions, see Collections and collectors / Credit lines, Dates, Dimensions, Inscriptions, Media of artworks, Titles of artworks.

The caption normally begins with information identifying and describing the work of art. It usually ends with collections data, often including fund or donor credit and, sometimes, accession number.

Line-for-line style places elements of the caption on separate lines with no punctuation at the end of each line; run-in style gives all the information sentence-style, separated by punctuation. Checklists and catalogue entries often employ the line-for-line style. This style is seldom used in most books that are not also exhibition catalogues and periodicals, where the elements are placed in sequential order separated by punctuation. (This style is often used in exhibition catalogues for captions to figure references.) The particular style that the publisher requires should be ascertained ahead of time by the author or editor if possible.

All or some of the following information may be included in an illustration caption, in the order given or in a slightly different order. (For more information about each of these categories, see under each item.)

For a work by a known artist:

figure or plate number
name of artist, artist’s nationality or country of origin (Germany, active United States), artist’s dates
title of work, subtitle(s) or alternative title(s), translation of title
date of execution
medium, including support
dimensions, usually in inches (height precedes width precedes depth), dimensions in centimeters (usually in parentheses following inch measurement)
signature/inscription information (rarely given in figure captions)
credit line/collection, followed by city of collection (includes, as applicable, collection to which work belongs, donor of the work, and a museum accession number or the year in which the work was acquired)
photograph credit, if not given in a separate section (see Photograph and illustration credits)

Other cases:

figure or plate number
description of the work
country and/or region, dates
medium
dimensions
credit line/collection

An abbreviated caption may include:

figure or plate number
name of artist (including first name)
title of work
date of execution
credit line/collection

In general, the artist’s name should be given in full even in multiple captions for the same artist’s work, unless the article or book is about a single artist, in which case the artist’s last name is sometimes used after the first mention or the artist’s name is omitted altogether.

For anonymous works, if the category is not omitted altogether, "artist unknown" is generally used.

Be sure that the titles of works as given in the text and captions match.

If the full image is not used, the caption must specify that it is a detail: Michelangelo, David, detail; Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Rome, Vatican, detail of ceiling: ignudo; Detail of Fig. 3: Left wing; Detail of Fig. 8 with the Flight into Egypt.

Include verified credit lines and, where appropriate, photograph credits (see Collections and collectors / Credit lines, Permissions, Photograph and illustration credits). If the location of the work is not known, use "location unknown" or "whereabouts unknown." If the owner wishes to remain anonymous, use "private collection," or "private collection, name of city." If the artist owns the work, use "collection of the artist" or "collection the artist."

The following examples, from a variety of sources (some noted), offer a range of punctuation and ordering of the elements:

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1509). Mona Lisa, ca. 1503–5. Oil on panel, 30 1/4 x 21 in. (76.8 x 53.3 cm). Paris, Musée du Louvre [source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Clay figurine. Japanese, latest Jomon period (ca. 1000–250 b.c.). H. 2 1/4 in. (6.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Koizim, 1978 (1978.346) [source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Louis Lozowick (1892–1973), Allen Street (Under the El), 1929. Lithograph: sheet, 11 5/16 x 15 13/16 (28.7 x 40.2); image, 7 9/16 x 11 3/16 (19.2 x 28.4). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Print Committee 86.28 [source: Whitney Museum]

William Wegman (b. 1943), Ray and Mrs. Lubner in Bed Watching T.V., 1981. Polacolor ER, 24 x 20 (61 x 50.8). University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography, Tucson [source: Whitney Museum of American Art]

Peggy Ahwesh, The Scary Movie, 1993. Super-8 film, black-and-white, sound; 9 minutes. Distributed by Drift Distribution, New York [source: Whitney Museum of American Art]

Cheryl Donegan, Craft, 1994. Videotape, color, sound; 12 minutes. Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York [source: Whitney Museum of American Art]

Susan Rothenberg (American, b. 1945), Blue Head, 1980–81, acrylic and Flashe on canvas, H. 114 in. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Gift of The Sydney and Frances Lewis Foundation.

Plate 1. Egyptian, Vessel in the Form of the God Bes, Late Period, ca. 600 b.c., faience. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Purchase in memory of Bernard V. Bothmer, The Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 94.110.

Colorplate 22. Henri Matisse. Le Luxe, 1907–8. Casein on canvas, 6’ 10 1/8" x 4’ 6 3/4" (205.3 x 139 cm). Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; Rump Collection.

Figure 1. Nancy Graves, Dingbat, 1988. Cast, patinated bronze with painted elements, 8’ 5" x 34" x 6’ 2" (243.8 x 86.3 x 188 cm). Private collection.

Fig. 2. Commode, c. 1755–60, attributed to Thomas Chippendale (English, 1718–1779). Mahogany, oak, pine, and ormolu, 33 x 55 x 25 1/2 in. (83.8 x 139.7 x 64.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with the John D. McIlhenny Fund (photo: courtesy of the museum) [source: Princeton University Press]

Fig. 3. Seated Bodhisattva, early 8th century. Made in China (T’ang dynasty, 618–907). Gilded bronze with traces of color, H. 9 in. (22.9 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with Museum and subscription funds (photo: courtesy of the museum) [source: Princeton University Press]

7 Little Canterbury Psalter, Nativity. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale ms lat. 770, fol. 20r [source: Art Bulletin]

6 Rogier van der Weyden, Nativity, center panel of the Bladelin Altarpiece. Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin–Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie (photo: Jörg Anders) [source: Art Bulletin]

Catalogue entries and checklists

Catalogue entries and checklists include caption information, as above, usually on separate lines, often followed by provenance, exhibition history, and publication history. The format, like that for captions, will of necessity vary, and there is no one set way for all publications. Here, as in Captions, a sampling of formats is offered; for specific instructions on individual elements, see Collections and collectors / Credit lines, Dates, Dimensions, Exhibition history, Inscriptions, Media of artworks, Titles of artworks.

137. The Painter’s Family
La famille du peintre [Portrait defamille]
Issy-les-Moulineaux, spring 1911
Oil on canvas, 56 1/4 x 6’ 4 3/8" (143 x 194 cm)
Signed and dated on back of subframe: "Henri Matisse 1911"
The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Formerly collection Sergei Shchukin
[source: Museum of Modern Art]

14. Blindekuh (Blind Man’s Buff), 1944–45. Oil on canvas; triptych, left and right panels: 191 x 110 cm (75 3/16 x 43 5/16 inches), central panel: 205 x 230 cm (80 11/16 x 90 9/16 inches). The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
[source: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum exhibition catalogue Max Beckmann in Exile]

Isabel Bishop (1902–1988)
Subway Scene, 1957–58
Egg tempera and oil on composition board, 40 x 28 (101.6 x 71.1)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase 58.55
[source: Whitney Museum]

Joel Shapiro
Untitled, 1972
Wood and bronze
Bridge, 3 x 20 1/4 x 3 inches
Boat, 1 5/8 x 11 5/8 x 2 5/8 inches
Coffin, 1 3/4 x 7 1/16 x 2 3/4 inches
Bird, 1 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches
Private collection
[source: Whitney Museum of American Art]

10. Pair of Short Boots
Outer fabric: Weft-faced compound twill; silk tapestry (kesi)
1992.350: Top of boot to bottom of heel 32.8 cm (12 7/8 in.); toe to heel, ca. 25 cm (9 3/4 in.)
1992.349: Top of boot to bottom of heel 34.9 cm (13 3/4 in.); toe to heel, ca. 25 cm (9 3/4 in.)
Liao dynasty (907–1125)
The Cleveland Museum of Art. John L. Severance Fund (1992.349; 1992. 350)
[source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

234. Medallions from an Icon Frame
Byzantine (Constantinople?), late 11th–early 12th century
Gold, silver, and cloisonné enamel
Diam. 8.3 cm (3 1/4 in.)
Inscribed: In Greek, on each medallion, an identification of the figure represented: Jesus Christ, Mother of God, John the Precursor, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Matthew, Saint Luke, Saint John the Theologian, and Saint George.
Provenance: [omitted here]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan (17.190.670–78)
Literature: [omitted here]
Exhibitions: [omitted here]
[source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Head of a Jina
Uttar Pradesh, late 2nd–early 3rd century
Sandstone
10 x 6 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. (25.4 x 16.5 x 17.2 cm)
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Paul Mellon, 68.8.3
[source: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts]

Alexander Kelety, Hungarian, dates unknown
Affection, ca. 1925–30
Silvered and cold-painted bronze, ivory, marble
13 3/4 x 7 1/4 x 5 in. (34.9 x 18.4 x 12.7 cm)
Signed on top of base: Kelety
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of Sydney and Frances Lewis, 85.328
[source: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts]

7. Bronco Buster
1895, this version cast July 30, 1906
Bronze, green over brown patina, lost-wax cast
22 5/8 x 22 3/4 x 15 1/4 in. (57.5 x 57.8 x 38.7 cm)
Signed at front, top of base at right: Copyright by / Frederic Remington
Inscribed at rear, top of base along right curve: roman bronze works n.y.
Inscribed on underside of base: 49
The Hogg Brothers Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Acc. no. 43.73
[source: Princeton University Press/Museum of Fine Arts, Houston exhibition catalogue Frederic Remington]

Catalogues raisonnés

The format of entries for catalogues raisonnés closely follows that of the exhibition entry or checklist, with a number assigned to the work; title and variations of the title; date; medium (usually omitted if works of a single category are listed, such as all paintings, in which, for example, all works are oil on canvas unless noted otherwise); dimensions; inscriptions; collection; provenance; exhibition history; publication history; and a category, usually called "Remarks," for other pertinent information. In a book with hundreds of such entries, it is important to verify consistency among entries. To this end, it is helpful to check each of the elements noted above one at a time from beginning to end. For specific instructions on individual elements, see Collections and collectors / Credit lines, Dates, Dimensions, Exhibition history, Inscriptions, Media of artworks, Titles of artworks.

Checklists

See Catalogue entries and checklists.

Chronology

Also called a biographical outline, a chronology is often included in artist monographs, solo exhibition catalogues, and catalogues raisonnés. Many formats are possible. In writing a chronology, it is important to decide on a particular approach and then use it consistently. It is also helpful to decide what kinds of information to include and exclude. If there is limited space, information readily at hand elsewhere in the volume (for example, in an exhibition history) as well as material of secondary importance may easily be omitted. The intention of a chronology is primarily to trace the artist’s development, not necessarily to list all of the artist’s accomplishments and activities.

Most chronologies are written in either narrative style, with full sentences (usually using the artist’s last name), or in telegraphic style, omitting the subject, understood to be the artist. As in any text, where individuals are introduced, their full names should be given and a brief identification added.

It is important to verify that information in the chronology agrees with that given elsewhere in the publication.

Example from Diane Upright, Morris Louis: The Complete Paintings (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1985):

1952
Louis and his wife moved into Washington, where they purchased a house at 3833 Legation Street, N.W. Louis converted the 12-by-14-foot dining room into the studio he was to use for the rest of his life.

Jacob Kainen, a Washington artist, helped Louis to obtain a teaching position at the Washington Workshop Center of the Arts, which was founded in 1945 by Leon and Ida Berkowitz. Louis taught two adult painting classes each week. He became friendly with Kenneth Noland, also an instructor at the workshop.

Example from John Elderfield, Henri Matisse: A Retrospective (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1992):

1912
JANUARY 27: With Mme Matisse, departs for the first of two trips to Morocco. Mme Matisse will stay in Tangier until the end of March, Matisse until mid-April. Paints landscapes, including Periwinkles (pl. 147), having received a landscape commission from Ivan Morosov; still lifes, including Basket of Oranges (pl. 148); and figure paintings.

MARCH 14–APRIL 6: First exhibition of his sculptures in America is held at the "291" gallery in New York, organized by Steichen and selected by the artist with Steichen. Includes six bronzes, five plasters (probably including those of the first four Jeannette sculptures; pls. 127, 128, 138, 139), one terra-cotta, and twelve drawings. The show is attacked by the critics; none of the works is sold.

APRIL 14: Leaves Tangier for Marseille, en route to Paris.

Classical references

References to classical works should be cited within parentheses in the text. Examples: (Odyssey 9.266), (Timaeus 484b). The use of Arabic rather than Roman numerals is preferred. However, a footnote should be given at the first reference, as with biblical references, citing which translation or critical edition was used.

For classical works that exist in numerous editions, write out the names of the sections of the work in the note (bk. 1, sec. 3), since readers may use an edition different from yours. The elements in the text can subsequently be given in Arabic numerals separated by periods without writing out the names of the sections.

See also Chicago 17.250–62. Note, however, that the rules Chicago gives apply primarily to specialized writings; a nonspecialist audience would not know what to make of IG².3274 or POxy. 1485, which are better written out: Inscriptiones Graecae, vol. 2, 2nd ed., inscription no. 3274, and Oxyrhynchus Papyri, document no. 1485.

Collections and collectors / Credit lines

For museums, all information required by the institution should be cited. This may include accession number and date and such information as "the Jones fund," "Gift of," and "purchased with funds from." Credit-line information, not to be confused with copyright information, identifies the donor or fund(s) through which the object was acquired. Some publishers change punctuation and capitalization for consistency in style, while others (especially museums) insist on using the form given by the museum, including punctuation and capitalization. Examples:

The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Lillie P. Bliss Bequest
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of Mrs. J. H. Jones, 1929
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Frick Collection, New York
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Although it is important that the wording given by museums and institutions be carefully followed in the credit line, some standardization can be obtained by using the same order of elements and the same punctuation throughout. Examples:

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase 58.55
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1987 (1987.275)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Gift of the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 1966.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Paul Mellon, 68.8.3
British Museum, London [E 289]

To help achieve consistency, it is permissible to omit the wording "courtesy" or "courtesy of" in the collection line. For example, if Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts specifies its credit line as "Courtesy, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," it could be given as simply "Museum of Fine Arts, Boston." The use of "courtesy" should be reserved to signal the role of an intermediary in obtaining a photograph or permission, as in "Collection of the artist; courtesy Mary Boone Gallery, New York."

Some museums require a copyright credit for having given permission to reproduce a photograph. This should appear in the photograph credit, not the credit line. Example:

Oslo, Nasjonalgalleriet (photo: J. Lathion, ©Nasjonalgalleriet)

Give the full name and place for museums, unless the location is part of the name. Example: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (not National Gallery). If an institution’s title includes the name of the city, do not repeat the city, although the state or country may have to be included. Examples:

The Springfield Museum of Art, Illinois
Dallas Museum of Fine Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Kunsthalle Bremen
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

States and countries should be given only for cities judged to be obscure or where there are two cities with the same name, for example, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, England. By tradition, "Cambridge" is given for the city in England, whereas the state name is added for the city in Massachusetts. Names of states may be spelled out. If they are abbreviated, the standard Webster’s abbreviations should be used rather than postal abbreviations. Chicago 15.29 also gives the older abbreviations.

For private collections, only the information the collector provides should be given. Do not add a city to private collection unless the owner approves. Examples:

Private collection
Private collection, Boston
Collection John Jones, New York
Collection of Mary Black, Somerville, New Jersey
Collection of Mary Black and John Jones, Ventura, California
Collection of the artist
Collection the author (or, perhaps better, private collection)

Some collections are treated as entities. Examples:

Joseph H. Hirshhorn Collection
The Abrams Family Collection
Lehman Collection

Note that in the text, while formal collections should be capitalized (Lehman Collection), generic terms associated with collections should be lowercased (the collection of Robert Lehman).

The words and abbreviations "Inc.," "Company," "Co.," "Ltd.," and the like are usually omitted when giving names of commercial galleries. However, such elements should be retained when the collection refers to a business or corporation. Example:

The IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York

In general, the names of foreign museums are given in the original language for scholarly publications. However, for books with a wide general audience, the names of foreign museums may be anglicized. Examples:

Palazzo Pitti, Florence = Pitti Palace
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome = National Gallery of Modern Art
Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan, Tokyo = National Museum of Modern Art

In cases where the owner cannot be ascertained, use "Location unknown" or "Whereabouts unknown." If it is known that a work has been destroyed or lost, that information should be provided. Examples:

Formerly Berlin, Gemäldegalerie; destroyed in World War II
Destroyed by the artist, 1954
Destroyed in a fire, 1963

In most books, photographers’ and photo agencies’ credits are removed from captions and placed in a section, called "Photo credits" or "Photograph Credits," at the back of the book. See Photograph and illustration credits.

Credits (image and lender)

Credits usually appear at the end of a book, after the index, if there is one, though if they are short they may be on the copyright page. Pictures, extensively quoted passages of text (short quoted passages—properly attributed in the text or endnotes—and extensive quotations in scholarly publications are still covered by fair use), photographers, and owners of rights (organizations such as SPADEM that own rights to an artist’s work but do not own the actual work of art) must all be credited scrupulously. Many owners of artworks now request that a credit line appear in the caption to an image. However, wherever permitted, information beyond the location and owner of an artwork should be removed from the caption and inserted into the credits page. Picture agencies and photographers often request that a credit line appear with a photograph. Many publishers do not generally consent to that style and instead place all such credits at the end of the book. Note that the credits typically are not listed in the table of contents. For specific instructions, see Photograph and illustration credits.

Dashes

There should be no extra space on either side of dashes. Em (long) dashes may be typed as two hyphens--or as an em dash—.

En dashes are used between inclusive numbers and between compound adjectives. These should be either marked by the editor or inserted by the editor on disk. Examples:

1970–72
pp. 38–45
New York–London flight
post–Civil War period
quasi-public–quasi-judicial bodies

Dates

Month-day-year or day-month-year: June 6, 1988, or 6 June 1988; either is acceptable so long as one style is consistently used in both text and notes, including in references to journals. Note that a comma follows the year in the month-day-year style.

Month-day: January 30 (not 30th)
Month-year: January 1992 (no comma)
The name of the month should be spelled out in text; it may be abbreviated in notes, especially for bibliographic uses.

Seasons: The fall 1992 season (lowercase, no comma)

Decades: 1950s; 1840s and 1850s (in full, no punctuation); or, when the century referred to is unambiguous, "the thirties."
Do not vary formats within one sentence or paragraph. Use "in the 1950s and 1960s" or "in the fifties and sixties," not "in the 1950s and sixties," "in the 1950s and 60s," or "in the 1950s and ’60s."

Mid: mid-1990; mid-nineteenth century; mid-nineteenth-century (adj. form)

Centuries: Spell out and lowercase in text. Examples:

twentieth-century art
a phenomenon of the nineteenth century
He is a scholar of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century art.
art of the late eighteenth century (noun form: no hyphen)
late-eighteenth-century art (adj. form: many style guides and institutions hyphenate early- and late- in the adjective form, but several do not)

In notes and captions, figures are often used. Example:

late 2nd–early 3rd century

Century or centuries? Some institutions offer the following guide:

The style was revived during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The movement lasted from the fifth through the eleventh century.
The movement lasted from the fifth to the tenth century.

Eras or systems of chronology: These abbreviations are conventionally set in small capitals, separated by periods but no space (some publishers omit the periods). The most commonly used system remains B.C./A.D. The latter always precedes the year. Examples: 55 B.C., A.D. 110.

Alternative systems that use the same time frame:

B.C.E./C.E. (before the common era and the common era)
B.P. (before the present)

Other systems:

A.H. (in the year of the Hegira, beginning A.D. 622; also, in the Hebrew year, beginning 3761 B.C.), precedes the year
A.M. (in the year of the world), precedes the year
A.S. (in the year of salvation), precedes the year
A.U.C. (from the founding of [Rome, 753 B.C.]), follows year

Use of the solidus (slash /) in dates: In birth or death date, 1878/81 means born or died in either 1878 or 1881. In the date of a work of art or event, it also indicates either/or.

Life dates: Give in full. Examples:

1908–1972; Arminius (c. 17 B.C.–A.D. 21); 385–331 B.C. (all digits are given for all B.C. dates)

Abbreviations may be used in text for life dates given in parentheses. Examples:

born = b. (b. 1930) Note: this is preferable to the form (1930–)
died = d. (d. 1538)
about = c. or ca. (ca. 1489–d. 1538)
flourished = fl. (fl. 1503–30) (fl. 1530s) (fl. 16th century)
date known but unverified = ? (1489?–d.D. 1538)
active = act. (or spell out) (act. 16th century or active 1711–16)

Other forms:

(1683–before 1737)
(after 1750–1799)

Other dates: 385–331 B.C. (all digits are given for all B.C. dates), 1864–1916, 1900–1902 (all digits are given with dates ending in 00), 1962–65.

Reign dates: 1902–39; the abbreviation r. may be used for dates given in parentheses (r. 1902–39).

Dates of artworks: Do not use circa, c., or ca. in text, except when the date is given in parentheses; "about" should be used instead. Dates separated by a solidus (1878/81) indicate either/or (either 1878 or 1881). An en dash, not a solidus, should be used to indicate a range of time: 1878–81 means the work was begun in 1878 and completed in 1881; ca. 1878–81 means the work was executed sometime between 1878 and 1881. An undated work may be designated n.d. (no date) if it is not wished to give an approximate date. A work in progress may be designated by the date begun followed by an en dash and a space (1994– ). These and other possibilities are offered here:

1878/81 = work executed either in 1878 or in 1881

1878–81 = work begun in 1878 and completed in 1881. If it is known that no work was done in 1879 and 1880 it could be given as "1878 and 1881," or as "begun 1878 and completed 1881"

ca. 1878–81 = work executed sometime between 1878 and 1881

exh. or exhib. or exhibited 1881 = earliest record of the work is date of exhibition, 1881

n.d. = undated

1994– = work in progress, begun 1994

1924, reconstructed 1989 = originally executed 1924 and remade, refabricated, or reconstructed 1989. Alternative: 1924 (1989 reconstruction)

1932, exhibition print 1995 = photograph originally printed 1932, exhibition print (or any later print) made 1995. Alternative: 1932 (1995 exhibition print)

For a work in a series, the date of the series alone suffices if it includes the date of the print; if not, both dates must be given. Examples:

Manhattan View, from the portfolio New York Skyline, 1932
Manhattan View, 1931, from the portfolio New York Skyline, 1932

act.	Active (often preferred spelled out)
A.D.	(SMALL CAPS), precedes the date; A.D. 61. AD is also acceptable.
B.C.	(SMALL CAPS), follows the date; 146 B.C. BC is also acceptable.
C.E.	(SMALL CAPS), follows the date; 61 C.E. (or CE).
B.C.E.	(SMALL CAPS), follows the date; 146 B.C.E. (or BCE).
A.M., P.M.; AM, PM; a.m., p.m.; or A.M., P.M.
add	addendum, addenda
app.	appendix
approx.	approximately (in dimensions)
b.	born
bibliog.	bibliography
bk.	book
c./ca.	circa, about, approximately (in text use "about"); either c. or ca. is correct; be consistent
cat. no.	catalogue number (pl.: cat. nos.)
cf.	Compare (not "see")
chap.	chapter
cm	centimeter; centimeters (generally used without punctuation)
comp.	compiler (pl.: comps.); compiled by
cpl./colorpl.	colorplate (pl.: cpls., colorpls.), an awkward abbreviation, to be avoided
d./D.	died; depth
dept.	department
diam.	diameter
diss.	dissertation
doc.	document
Dr.
ed.	editor (pl.: eds.); edition; edited by
e.g.	for example (avoid in text)
esp.	especially
est.	estimated (in dimensions)
et al.	et alia, and others (note: no period after et)
etc.	et cetera, and so forth (avoid in text)
ex coll./ex.-coll.	ex collection (in provenance or credit)
exh. cat.	exhibition catalogue
fasc.	fascicle
fig.	figure (pl.: fgs.)
fl.	floruit, flourished
fol.	folio (pl.: fols.). Sometimes f. and ff., but fol(s). is clearer
fr./frr.	fragments
fr./frs.	microfilm frames
ft.	feet
h./H.	height
ibid.	ibidem, in the same place (Note: this is not synonymous with "idem," which means "the same person" and takes no period, as it is not an abbreviation.)
i.e.	id est, that is (avoid in text)
in.	inches
ill./illus.	illustration (spell out in text)
intro.	introduction
l./L.	left, length, line (pl.: ll.); line(s) is often written out for clarity
M./MM.
Mlle (no period)
mm	millimeter(s)
Mme (no period)
Mr./Messrs.
MS	manuscript (pl.: MSS)
n.	note, footnote (pl.: nn.)
n.d.	no date
no.	number (pl.: nos.)
n.p.	no place; no publisher; no page
n.s.	new series
o.s.	old series
p.	page (pl.: pp.)
par.	paragraph
Ph.D.	Chicago 15 recommends PhD
pl.	plate (pl.: pls.)
pt.	part
r.	right; reigned
r./r	recto (Note: these abbreviations are used mainly in notes and in works specializing in manuscripts; in other contexts, recto is spelled out.)
repr.	reprint(ed)
rev. ed.	revised edition
sec.	section
ser.	series
St.	Saint (see Saint)
suppl.	supplement
TV	television (in many contexts may be used in text)
trans.	Translated or translated by; translator
v./v	verso (Note: these abbreviations are used mainly in notes and in works specializing in manuscripts; in other contexts, verso is spelled out.)
vol.	volume
w./W.	width