bibliography (study) - Types

The study of the history, identification, and description of books, seen as physical objects, including the materials used and the methods of production (critical or analytical bibliography).

It can be divided into enumerative or systematic bibliography, which results in an overview of publications in a particular category, and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books.

Types

Enumerative bibliography

A bibliography is a list, either indicative or comprehensive, of works:

author date subject country or state published in a specified period mentioned in, or relevant to, a particular work (a bibliography of this type, sometimes called a reference list should normally appear at the end of any paper in scientific literature)

A bibliography may be arranged by author, date, topic or some other scheme.

Bibliographies differ from library catalogs by including all relevant publications rather than items actually found in a particular library.

Analytical bibliography

The critical study of bibliography is subdivided into descriptive, historical, and textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination of a book as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while historical bibliography takes a broader view of printing and publishing.