[DCRM-L] Press figures in an incunable??

[Noble, Richard]

Well, right you are. It goes all the way back to 1993. I now recall having
seen it, and still passed up the chance of asking what the 500 note "Press
figures" actually refers to.

In the ISTC description of this book (ib00607000) there's a note from BMC, "The
quire signatures, in multiple sequences of the first seven letters of the
alphabet, are perhaps early press figures (BMC)". This simply baffles
me--quire signatures and press figures are not the same thing at all. A
recent dealer description notes (from the  French) "The unusual collation
of this edition--the quires are signed with the first seven letters of the
alphabet in disorderly fashion [pas de bon ordre]--has the result that
copies are  not always made up the same way", which likewise suggests that
"press figures" refers to something quite other than a numeral or other
symbol in the direction line that identifies the pressmen who printed a
given forme, that being what the 655 term actually refers to.

Did I say how happy I am that the Examples are now in Cataloger's Desktop?
Well, it's true.

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, Jan 10, 2013 at 12:16 PM, Schneider, Nina <
nschneider at humnet.ucla.edu> wrote:

>  Dear Richard.****
>
> ** **
>
> I see what you mean... the 2nd edition of the Examples – from which we
> used for the first 48 examples – actually has a 500 note about press
> figures. Either this 500 note was inadvertently missed or was somehow
> deleted from one of the drafts. Sorry about that. ****
>
> ** **
>
> I guess someone should start an corrigenda.****
>
> ** **
>
> Nina****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> +---------------****
>
> Nina M. Schneider****
>
> Head Cataloger****
>
> William Andrews Clark Memorial Library****
>
> 2520 Cimarron Street****
>
> Los Angeles, CA  90018****
>
> (323) 731-8529****
>
> ** **
>
> nschneider at humnet.ucla.edu****
>
> http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] *On
> Behalf Of *Noble, Richard
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:44 AM
> *To:* DCRM Revision Group List
> *Subject:* [DCRM-L] Press figures in an incunable??****
>
> ** **
>
> I've just added DCRM(B) Examples to my Cataloger's Desktop preferences,
> and in Example 1 see that there's a 655 for "Press figures". That
> represents a significant bibliographical discovery, to say the least, since
> press figures were used only by British printers from the late C17 into the
> third decade of the C19 (plus a couple of late C18 Philadelphia printers).
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Sorry to bring this up--I probably didn't take advantage of an opportunity
> to review. I know that the examples are more an illustration of the
> treatment of information, rather than the nature of the information
> treated, but this is odd.****
>
> ** **
>
> What *are* these press figures? There's nothing in the 5XX notes that
> refers to them.****
>
>
> ****
>
> RICHARD NOBLE : RARE BOOKS CATALOGER : JOHN HAY LIBRARY : BROWN UNIVERSITY
> PROVIDENCE, RI 02912 : 401-863-1187/FAX 863-3384 : RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU
> ****
>
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