[DCRM-L] Invocations

[Noble, Richard]

On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 1:42 AM, Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at folger.edu>wrote:

> ·         I’m not completely certain that the “Iesus Maria” at the head
> of the title really *is* a pious invocation, although I don’t know what
> else it would be, and can’t imagine what a pious invocation might be if not
> this
>
It can't be anything else, really. It is unrelated to the title or the
content of the book, except as an indication of its religious orientation.
It is analogous to the use of the mottoes of religious orders (eg the
Jeuits' "AMDG") in the same context for the same purpose. "Iesus Maria" is
more exactly comparable to "JMJ", of which one Catholic website (
www.fisheaters.com/letterstyle.html) -  says

"J.M.J. 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph.' You will find this most often written,
centered, on the tops of correspondence, articles, essays, etc., sometimes
with the letters separated by Crosses. Catholic schoolchildren write the
initials of the Holy Family across the top of their homework papers."



>  ·         Why is “Pious invocations” given such prominence in the rules?
> In my experience, quotations are far and away the most common non-title
> information, followed by privilege statements and prices. Wouldn’t the
> caption more logically be “Omission of quotations, etc.”?
>
This discussion itself is evidence that "you'll know it when you see it" is
not an applicable principle in this case. "Quotations, etc." leaves a whole
lot of "etc." to agonize about, and even in the current version the "etc."
means "here be monsters".

Are certain features of title pages *not* included in the list to be
considered title information or not? I recall being told that dedications
were consciously omitted from it, and therefore ought now to be considered
o.t.a.--which I agree with. The reasoning behind that agreement (if I'm
right) is what needs articulating, perhaps in a footnote. One governing
principle might be that of specific relevance: a schoolchild's JMJ is
specific only to the situation of writing, not to the written expression or
manifestation itself, as are most such mottoes or invocations(exceptions
always being possible); while a dedication is specific to the expression
and/or manifestation with which it is found, and possibly of value to a
researcher--e.g. our colleague John Buchtel, whose dissertation was
titled *Book
Dedications in Early Modern England: Francis Bacon, George Chapman, and the
Literary Patronage of Henry, Prince of Wales*.

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>
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