<font><font face="georgia,serif">The numerals in question are called "press figures", which serve to identify the press or pressmen who printed the formes in which they occur. They were used only in Great Britain, except for a few printers in late C18 Philadelphia. For further information, see Philip Gaskell, <i>A New Introduction to Bibliography</i>, pp. 133-134; 315, 376 ("altered for new impressions"); and 333, 376 ("record of in bibliographical description"). Except in the earliest period of their use (late C17), sometimes in the form or typographical symbols rather than numerals, they were set in the direction line (the same line that has the catchwords) of pages that did not also contain a signature.</font></font><div>
<font><font face="georgia,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font><font face="georgia,serif">It is not usual to record them even in fairly detailed catalog records, unless they are known to be evidence for multiple impressions, or perhaps as a handy way to differentiate closely similar editions. One may refer to their presence in a note; and there is a 655 thesaurus term for them: Press figures (Printing) $2 rbpri</font></font></div>
<div><font><font face="georgia,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font><font face="georgia,serif"><a href="http://rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/printing-publishing/tr145.htm">http://rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/printing-publishing/tr145.htm</a></font></font></div>
<div><font><font face="georgia,serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font><font face="georgia,serif">Nobody paid them much attention before W.B. Todd published an article in <i>Studies in Bibliography</i>, no. 3, "</font></font><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Observations on the Incidence and Interpretation of Press Figures" (available <i>via</i> </span><font face="georgia, serif"><a href="http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/bsuva/sb/">http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/bsuva/sb/</a>).</font></div>
<div><font><font face="georgia,serif"><br clear="all"></font></font><div><font face="'courier new', monospace">RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY</font><div><font face="'courier new', monospace">BROWN UNIVERSITY :: PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912 :: 401-863-1187</font></div>
<div><span style="font-family:'courier new',monospace"><</span><a href="mailto:RICHARD_NOBLE@BROWN.EDU" style="font-family:'courier new',monospace" target="_blank">Richard_Noble@Br</a><span style="font-family:'courier new',monospace"><a href="http://own.edu" target="_blank">own.edu</a></span><span style="font-family:'courier new',monospace">></span></div>
</div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 2:29 PM, Barbara Tysinger <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:btysingr@email.unc.edu" target="_blank">btysingr@email.unc.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Calling on those with more experience than I...<br>
<br>
I am cataloging a copy of the 1st ed. (London: J. Johnson, 1771) of
<i>The natural history of the human teeth : explaining their
structure, use, formation, growth, and diseases</i>. by John
Hunter. [8], 128, [16] p. 28 cm. 4to (plus 16 plates, but I'll
address those below)<br>
<br>
In attempting to record the signatures I notices some anomalies that
I didn't understand.<br>
<br>
First, ignoring the anomalies, the volume is gathered and signed as
[A<sup>4</sup>] B-T<sup>4</sup> <br>
<br>
The plates are numbered, interleaved and sewn-in between the leaves
of S-T<sup>4</sup>, each plate facing the page that describes it.
From examination of the chain lines, S-T<sup>4</sup> appear to still
be 4to gatherings and not singletons.<br>
<br>
The real anomalies are numbers (and an occasional letter) that
resemble signature marks, but are in addition to the alphabetic
sequence above, and do not appear where one would expect them to be.
<br>
<br>
For example, the leaves in signature B<sup>4</sup> are marked: B
B<sup>2</sup> [blank] [blank], as one might expect. But on the
verso of B2 is the Arabic numeral 6 and on the verso of B3, the
Arabic numeral 4. These numbers are centered at the bottom of the
page, apart from the catchwords.<br>
This first caught my eye in C<sup>4</sup> which is marked: C C<sup>2</sup>
4 7 although there are no markings on the verso in this case.<br>
At first I thought perhaps it was some notation to show
cancellation, but the 4to gatherings seem to be intact, and with the
exception of A<sup>4</sup> (which is completely unsigned) and S<sup>4</sup>,
all of the signatures have at least one of these odd additional
markings.<br>
<br>
I will happily ignore these extra markings if they are unimportant,
but I do not have the experience to know!<br>
<br>
Thank you, I hope I haven't asked a question with an embarrassingly
obvious answer!<br>
<br>
Barbara<br>
PS. I am attaching a spreadsheet in which I have attempted to record
the signature sequence and the anomalies.<br>
<br>
...................All opinions are entirely my
own....................<br>
<br>
Barbara R. Tysinger Phone:
<a href="tel:%28919%29966-0949" value="+19199660949" target="_blank">(919)966-0949</a><br>
Health Sciences Library Fax:
<a href="tel:%28919%29966-1388" value="+19199661388" target="_blank">(919)966-1388</a><br>
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<br>
335 S. Columbia Street, CB# 7585<br>
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7585<br>
e-mail: <a href="mailto:Barbara_Tysinger@unc.edu" target="_blank">Barbara_Tysinger@unc.edu</a><br>
<br>
......."Non pilus tam tenuis ut secari non possit."-- St.
Minutia......<br>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>