[DCRM-L] format again

[Deborah J. Leslie]

Possibly the most important thing I learned in Paul Needham's course at Rare Book School, "Physical evidence in 15c books" or some such title, is that Incunables are Different. If I remember correctly, there were different presses for different formats, so the accepted format-identification criteria don't apply to incunables

Deborah J. Leslie, M.A., M.L.S. | Head of Cataloging, Folger Shakespeare Library
djleslie at folger.edu | 202.675-0369 | www.folger.edu

.
-----Original Message-----
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On Behalf Of Cates, Patrick
Sent: Thursday, 08 December, 2011 11:09
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Cc: Exlibris
Subject: [DCRM-L] format again

I'm cataloging an incunable and I'm not sure what the format is.  The
volume is Nicholas, of Lyra. Postilla Nicolai de lira super psalterium
vna cum canticis. Lyon, 1493 (Goff N126).

Goff calls it a folio; GW calls it a 4to.  It's in gatherings of 8
leaves with horizontal chain lines; water marks are at the bottom
inside corner.  the leaf dimensions are about 248 x 158 mm.  So it's
shaped like a folio, but sized like a quarto, and the watermarks are
in the wrong place for either.

I'm stumped.

Patrick Cates
Technical Services Librarian
Christoph Keller, Jr. Library
General Theological Seminary
440 W. 21st Street
New York, NY 10011
212-243-5150 x354