[DCRM-L] Gathered in 9's?

[Noble, Richard]

Bowers, p. 434:

"A small number of irregular formats will be found which must violate the
principle of even index-figure and be listed with odd index numbers.
<fn6>Some examples from Washington Irving, with mention of several early
nineteenth-century books, are provided by Jacon Blanck, '*Salmagundi* and
Its Publisher,' [*PBSA*] XLI (1947), 7n.</fn6> But such a formula as
*A*1* *B-H^9
I^8 would be appropriate only if (*a*) the gatherings in 9's are not
isolated phenomena but the customary form of the book; (*b*) the single
leaf which makes the odd number is inserted in the center of the quire."

This is in the C19/C20 section of the *Principles*, so the problem of
format is elided here. If we know that we're dealing with the product of a
hand-press, we can confidently call this 18mo (9s). Jaggard's "12mo" is
surely a size statement--nothing to do with technical format at all--and it
most certainly is not 8vo. There were 18 type pages on the bed of the
press, thus 18mo, imposed so as to produce two identical half sheets of 9
leaves, which is just as much 18mo as 18mo (6s), and exactly analogous to
12mo (6s). (In fact the imposition is a bit of a nuisance, since it
requires switching two of the type pages before perfecting; but you still
have the basic economy of perfecting from the same forme. I'm inclined to
think that 18mo in 9s is almost certain to be from a hand-press, and isn't
used much after the mid-1820s.)

Joe Felcone, in his newly published revised and expanded bibliography of
early New Jersey imprints, describes a number of these, some of which
regularly place the odd leaf off center (which may make for a slightly
sturdier binding). We had a delightful correspondence about this and other
unusual practices of printers who (generally) worked in the hinterlands.

RICHARD NOBLE : RARE BOOKS CATALOGER : JOHN HAY LIBRARY : BROWN UNIVERSITY
PROVIDENCE, RI 02912 : 401-863-1187/FAX 863-3384 : RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU


On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 12:19 PM, Lenore Rouse <rouse at cua.edu> wrote:

> Deborah
> I think it's an exceptional case that Bowers does mention. But I can't
> find our copy at the moment.
> Lenore
>
>
> On 11/29/2012 12:06 PM, Deborah J. Leslie wrote:
>
>> We're cataloging an 1825 Boston imprint of William Bellamy, Select
>> comedies from Shakspeare, which is gathered in 9's throughout. Our
>> deteriorating copy with uncut leaves have helped us determine that the
>> singleton is inserted after the 4th leaf of each gathering.
>>
>> I've long known about the existence of gatherings in 9's--and give it as
>> the one exception to prohibition against signature statements with a
>> superscript odd number--and am pretty sure I even handled one at the
>> Library Company, but can't track down documentation on it. The ExLibris-L
>> archives are down so I can't search there. I seem to remember it as a
>> Philadelphia German thing. Before we put down the signatures as A-L^9,
>> though, it would be nice to have confirmation that this formulation is
>> legit. As for identifying the format, Jaggard (Shakespeare bibliography)
>> calls it a 12mo but I'm inclined to call it an 8vo.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Deborah
>>
>> Deborah J. Leslie, M.A., M.L.S. | Head of Cataloging, Folger Shakespeare
>> Library | 201 East Capitol St., S.E. | Washington, D.C. 20003
>> djleslie at folger.edu<mailto:djl**eslie at folger.edu <djleslie at folger.edu>>
>>  | 202.675-0369 | http://www.folger.edu<http://**www.folger.edu/<http://www.folger.edu/>
>> >
>>
>>
> --
> Lenore Rouse, Curator
> Rare Books and Special Collections
> Catholic University of America
> Room 214, Mullen Library
> 620 Michigan Avenue N.E.
> Washington, DC 20064
>
> Phone: (202) 319-5090
> Email: rouse at cua.edu
> RBSC Blog: http://ascendonica.blogspot.**com/<http://ascendonica.blogspot.com/>
>
>
>
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