[DCRM-L] Uneven gatherings for broadsheet format books?

[Robert Steele]

The British Library record, which I looked at in Early English Books
Online, following a record from the Universal Short Title Catalog, has a
note which reads:

Bound from separate sheets, not gathered in quires. After the title page
the sheets are signed [fleuron], A1-6, B1-6 (i.e. B1-5, with 4 signed "B
iiii v"), C1-5, D1-6, E1-6, F1-6, G1-6, H1-3.

There really are no gatherings. The signing does not represent the
structure of the book. (Folding a sheet produces an even number of leaves;
in this case individual sheets are simply piled up, with signatures serving
to keep the individual sheets in order, and so the printer could use any
erratic system he thought made sense.)

You could ignore the signings and use:[1]-[45]1 (if I am right about the
number of leaves), with a note explaining the observed signing. That way
the structure of the book is represented correctly. I am nonetheless
prepared to defer to those better informed than I.

One further question: Do you see any watermarks? That will help you
understand whether the book is constructed from whole sheets, as per the
British Library record, or detached half-sheets.

Bob Steele
GW Law

On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 4:51 PM, Gemberling, Ted P <tgemberl at uab.edu> wrote:

> I haven’t done a lot of broadsheet books. I notice, looking over the ones
> I’ve done, that they usually are either unsigned or look something like
> this one:
>
>
> Signatures: pi1 A-N¹ ; 14 leaves.
>
>
>
> So there are really no “gatherings.”
>
>
>
> Ted G.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> *On Behalf Of *Gemberling,
> Ted P
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 18, 2018 12:21 PM
> *To:* DCRM Revision Group List (dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu) <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
> *Subject:* [DCRM-L] Uneven gatherings for broadsheet format books?
>
>
>
> I remember at Rare Book School we were taught that gatherings cannot be of
> odd numbers of leaves. If a gathering has 5 leaves, we must add a
> parenthetical statement saying one leaf has been added to a gathering of 4
> leaves or removed from a gathering of 6. My understanding of that was that
> if gatherings are created by folding, they have to be of even numbers of
> sheets because the first fold creates 2 sheets. But would that apply to
> broadsheet format? It seems like it wouldn’t.
>
> The book I’m working on is Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, aere
> exarata, by Thomas Geminus, 1545. The sheets are 39 centimeters, and the
> original cataloger interpreted it as full sheet format. I assume that in
> terms of Gaskell p. 86 (2007), she is interpreting the paper as “pot” size,
> where the height is 39 cm. The paper has horizontal chainlines, so I
> thought maybe that’s correct. However, I notice that the normal gathering
> in the book is 6 leaves. There are two gatherings that have 5 and one with
> 3. One of the gatherings with 5 has leaf B4 (or B5?) signed: 'Biiii v', as
> if the printer figured the gathering could be reduced from 6 to 5 leaves,
> with that leaf taking the place of two. Doesn’t that imply this book has
> leaves that are folded, and should therefore be interpreted as folio with
> turned chainlines?
>
>
>
> Thanks for any enlightenment.
>
>
>
> Ted Gemberling
>
> UAB Lister Hill Library
>
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