[DCRM-L] Puzzling signatures

[Noble, Richard]

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, *A New
Introduction to Bibliography*, 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.

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

http://rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/printing-publishing/tr145.htm

Nobody paid them much attention before W.B. Todd published an article
in *Studies
in Bibliography*, no. 3, "Observations on the Incidence and Interpretation
of Press Figures" (available *via* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/bsuva/sb/).

RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY
BROWN UNIVERSITY  ::  PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912  ::  401-863-1187
<Richard_Noble at Br <RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU>own.edu>


On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 2:29 PM, Barbara Tysinger <btysingr at email.unc.edu>wrote:

>  Calling on those with more experience than I...
>
> I am cataloging a copy of the 1st ed. (London: J. Johnson, 1771) of  *The
> natural history of the human teeth : explaining their structure, use,
> formation, growth, and diseases*. by John Hunter.  [8], 128, [16] p. 28
> cm. 4to (plus 16 plates, but I'll address those below)
>
> In attempting to record the signatures I notices some anomalies that I
> didn't understand.
>
> First, ignoring the anomalies, the volume is gathered and signed as [A4]
> B-T4
>
> The plates are numbered, interleaved and sewn-in between the leaves of S-T
> 4, each plate facing the page that describes it. From examination of the
> chain lines, S-T4 appear to still be 4to gatherings and not singletons.
>
> 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.
>
> For example, the leaves in signature B4  are marked: B   B2  [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.
> This first caught my eye in C4 which is marked:   C   C2  4   7 although
> there are no markings on the verso in this case.
> 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 A4 (which
> is completely unsigned) and S4, all of the signatures have at least one
> of these odd additional markings.
>
> I will happily ignore these extra markings if they are unimportant, but I
> do not have the experience to know!
>
> Thank you, I hope I haven't asked a question with an embarrassingly
> obvious answer!
>
> Barbara
> PS. I am attaching a spreadsheet in which I have attempted to record the
> signature sequence and the anomalies.
>
> ...................All opinions are entirely my own....................
>
> Barbara R. Tysinger                                Phone: (919)966-0949
> Health Sciences Library                            Fax:   (919)966-1388
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> 335 S. Columbia Street, CB# 7585
> Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7585
> e-mail: Barbara_Tysinger at unc.edu
>
> ......."Non pilus tam tenuis ut secari non possit."-- St. Minutia......
>
>
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