Originally published author

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Is it firm policy, as in 100% all the time absolutely inconclusively, that a book originally published under one name should have that as the primary author? I'm thinking

Charlotte Bronte, was originally published as Currier Bell, for example

And some of Anthony Trollope's works were originally published as Anonymous. I'm fairly certain that I am not aware of all of this type of authorial change.

If it is not "100% all the time absolutely inconclusively", how are we to know when it is OK to list the known author rather than Anonymous?

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

There has been an exception made for the Bronte's.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

And for Trollope?

Do we have to ask for exceptions for authors?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

These were originally published as by Anonymous

Nina Balatka
Linda Tressel
The Golden Lion of Granpere (I'm not 100% positive about this, I have found conflicting information.)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Dream of the Red Chamber was originally published as Anonymous.

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text was originally published as Anonymous.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden was originally published as Anonymous.

Democracy: An American Novel was originally published as Anonymous.

Tamerlane and Other Poems was originally published as Anonymous.

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was originally published as Anonymous.

Demian by Herman Hesse was originally published as Anonymous.

[Suzi]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Dream of the Red Chamber was originally published as Anonymous.

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text was originally published as Anonymous.

[book:Elizabeth and Her German Gar..."

Elizabeth and Her German Garden and other works by this author were published at firstas anonymous, but primarily as just "Elizabeth" and only in relatively recent times was her name changed to Elizabeth Von Arnim, and that wasn't her real name either.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thanks for this, Suzi.

How can this policy be clarified? Is it only for authors who are dead that we use their real name? Or somehow we determine that the author is well known under a name other than Anonymous or the pseudonym of original publication?

[rivka, Librarian Moderator]

Goodreads staff have many ongoing internal discussions about our policies. We have been discussing the case of books originally published under Anonymous and later under an author name for some time. After much discussion, we have come to a consensus on this issue.

We agree that Anonymous-and-later-name is a different case than Name A and later Name B. While we have no current plan to change the policy regarding Name A and later Name B, we have decided to modify the policy in cases where a book was initially published under Anonymous and then later published under the author's name or pen-name.

In such cases, if the book has either been primarily published under the name, or if the author has requested that all editions be listed under the name that later editions have been published under, it is acceptable to list the actual name (or pen name) as the primary (or only, if there are no other authors) author on all editions of the work.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thank you for this Rivka. This is very clear and we have good direction.

[lethe]

So does that mean that The Bell Jar should be listed with Victoria Lucas as primary author, since that was the name it was first published under?

https://www.worldcat.org/title/bell-j...