It was published in two parts by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1906, under the title A General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 121° of the North Pole.
[2] The BDS was compiled by Sherburne Wesley Burnham, who worked on it sporadically for 36 years, starting in 1870.
In 1874, it was scheduled to be printed at the United States Naval Observatory, but the typesetting was interrupted midway and the type destroyed.
[3] By the time Burnham retired from Yerkes Observatory, he had accumulated material for a revision of his catalogue.
This eventually formed part of the 1932 Aitken Double Star Catalogue (ADS), the successor to the BDS.