[DCRM-L] Gathering in 9s?!

[Deborah J. Leslie]

When giving my lecture on format in Rare Book Cataloging, I used to say that there was one exception to the rule that you couldn't have an odd number of leaves in a gathering. I stopped saying it because I think it just confused the issue. But you can have an 18mo in 9's, and the only one I've ever seen was a late 18c Philadelphia German imprint. I have no idea how the forme would be imposed. Wherever I read the explanation (which I now cannot find and cannot even remember where I came across it) must not have had a diagram. The alternating 12's & 6's is at least as strange to me.   

 

From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On Behalf Of Ann KD Myers
Sent: Friday, 02 October, 2009 14:34
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: [DCRM-L] Gathering in 9s?!

 

I have a bit of a conundrum here. I’m cataloging a 1795 Philadelphia imprint (Richard Baxter’s A call to the unconverted to turn and live) and the signature pattern I’m getting is: [A]-D¹²·⁶ E-H⁹

 

How is a gathering in 9s possible? The alternating 12 and 6 gatherings suggest 18mo to me, so 9s makes mathematical sense, but not physical sense in terms of how the paper was actually folded. I see no evidence of cancels or additions of any kind and the binding is coming apart enough that I can see the structure pretty clearly. 

 

To further confuse the issue, while the book in hand has vertical chainlines, the citation in Evans indicates that this book is a 24mo, which doesn’t seem like it could be right.

 

Any wisdom on this?

 

--Ann, feeling very befuddled

 

Ann Myers

Special Collections Cataloger

Morris Library Mail Code 6632

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

605 Agriculture Drive

Carbondale, IL 62901

618-453-1499

amyers at lib.siu.edu

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