Bodies in the Library will launch fully in the Autumn. For now it consists of a Twitter profile and an Instagram account that highlights library-related quotations in crime fiction, alongside other “bookstagram” posts. At the moment it’s featuring Dewey Death by Charity Blackstock, which includes chapter headings with numbers from DDC 15:
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One unusual feature of Dewey Death is the use of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in the chapter titles. DDC was first published by Melvil Dewey in 1876, in four pages, and has expanded over the years to a behemoth of an online product from library giant OCLC. In 1956, when this novel was published, it was in its 15th edition (published 1951), so the numbers we see in the book are DDC 15. Fun fact: we know straight away that the author is playing around with the classification scheme – whereas a book can have multiple subject headings, it can have only one classmark, since it denotes where it will be placed on the shelf. She’s chosen two numbers here to reflect that her opening chapter sets the book out on binary gender lines. #amreading #amrereading Charity Blackstock, Dewey Death, London: Heinemann, 1956, p.1. #crimefiction #bodiesinthelibrary #Dewey Death #classiccrime #1950sscrimescene #1959s #librarylife #cataloguerlife #catalogerlife #deweydecimalclassification #ilovemurdermysteries #murdermysteries #bookstagram
A post shared by Bodies in the Library (@bodiesinthelibrary) on Jun 2, 2020 at 12:40am PDT
