1/12/12
Examined 18th century duplicates with Melissa as she talked me through her selection decisions. It is essential to first determine the match between the library copy, as well as the catalog record, and the item in question. The primary selection criterion is the condition of the item. Melissa rejects duplicates that are deteriorated beyond reasonable repair; in one case however she swapped and withdrew the library copy because it was more worn than the donated copy.  I worked to modify and update the following records accordingly:

Currie, W. (1798). Memoirs of the yellow fever: which prevailed in Philadelphia, and other parts of the United States of America, in the summer and autumn of the present year, 1798 ... To which is added, a collection of facts respecting the origin of the fever. Philadelphia: Printed by J. Bioren, for T. Dobson.

The following are two different editions of the same work, three decades apart, from London and Philadelphia:

Underwood, M. (1811). A treatise on the diseases of children: with directions for the management of infants from the birth. 6th ed., rev. and enl. London: Printed for J. Callow. This is a three-volume set.

Underwood, M., Bell, J. (1842). A treatise on the diseases of children: with directions for the management of infants. From the 9th English ed. Philadelphia: Barrington & Haswell in a single volume.

The library had an incomplete set of this next two-volume work, but the J. R. Paul copy had both parts. We decided that instead of filling in our missing vol. 2, we would add the full set because of the matching Pennsylvania Hospital Library bookplates:

Webster, N. (1800). A brief history of epidemic and pestilential diseases: with the principal phenomena of the physical world, which precede and accompany them, ... By Noah Webster, ... London: printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, by G. Woodfall.