biblatex question: translated volume without title?

[Pandita]

Hi! All,

I am having a problem with one bib entry for use with biblatex. It's
facts are as follows:
1. It is a 7-vol work translated from Pali into English.
2. Each volume is translated by a different translator, and published
in a distinct year.
3. But one editor did all the editing, and the publisher is the same.
4. The whole work has a title, of course, but no separate titles for
each volume.

I tried to make its bib entry as "inbook" crossreferencing the whole
"book", but the compulsory "title" for inbook type is missing simply
because there is no title apart from the booktitle. So the authortitle
bibliography item becomes like this:

"Rouse, W. H. D., trans. In: The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s
Former Births. Ed. by E. W. Cowell. Vol. 4. 7 vols. London: The Pali
Text Society, 1973."

Actually the "volume" field should have been in the place of the
title, but it doesn't. What did I do wrong? Or is this something that
can be improved in biblatex?

Thanking in advance

Ven. Pandita

[Philipp Lehman]

Pandita wrote:

> I am having a problem with one bib entry for use with biblatex. It's
> facts are as follows:
> 1. It is a 7-vol work translated from Pali into English.
> 2. Each volume is translated by a different translator, and
> published in a distinct year.
> 3. But one editor did all the editing, and the publisher is the
> same. 4. The whole work has a title, of course, but no separate
> titles for each volume.
>
> I tried to make its bib entry as "inbook" crossreferencing the whole
> "book", but the compulsory "title" for inbook type is missing simply
> because there is no title apart from the booktitle.

@inbook is for a text in a volume. Both the whole work and the
individual volumes should be @book entries. Also note that
the "title" is shifting depending on the entry type. Have a look at
the examples in §2.3.5 of the manual.

Be careful with the "crossref" mechanism. It only works reliably in
very simple cases. It's usually better to use self-contained entries
and "xref".

--
Sender address blackholed; do not reply to From: address.
You can still reach me by email at: lehman gmx net.

[Pandita]

On Oct 24, Philipp Lehman wrote:

> @inbook is for a text in a volume. Both the whole work and the
> individual volumes should be @book entries. Also note that
> the "title" is shifting depending on the entry type. Have a look at
> the examples in §2.3.5 of the manual.
>
> Be careful with the "crossref" mechanism. It only works reliably in
> very simple cases. It's usually better to use self-contained entries
> and "xref".

I changed the bib entries as you suggest and got the following
bibliography entry:

Rouse, W. H. D., trans. The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former

Births. Ed. by E. W. Cowell. Vol. 4. 7 vols. London: The Pali Text
Society, 1973.

But I think it would have been clearer and more natural if it can be
made as follows:

Rouse, W. H. D., trans. Vol. 4. In: The Jātaka or Stories of the
Buddha’s Former Births. Ed. by E. W. Cowell. 7 vols. London: The Pali
Text Society, 1973.

Maybe it is not possible to automate all possible bibliographic
information. Anyhow thanks a lot.

Cheers

Ven. Pandita