Principles of Bibliographical Description (St. Paul's Bibliographies ; 15)

If you can get through this extremely dense and detailed book without suffering at least one severe bout of sensory overload, you're my hero. Bowers' Principles of Bibliographical Description is by no means an easy or uncomplicated book, but a close read offers great rewards. Bowers goes to great length to spell out how to deal with various potentialities and possible circumstances that can be and are observed in the descriptive bibliography of printed books, and offers as detailed a treatment of constructing bibliographical descriptions and collational formulae that you're likely to find. The appendices offer a digest of principles (extremely handy for reference) and a full range of sample descriptions.