[DCRM-L] compositors' errors[?] in Fasciculus temporum 1492

[Jennifer Dunlap]

Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to reading the articles you cited!!
It makes perfect sense as a visual aid to the reader.

Best,
Jennifer


Jennifer Dunlap
Rare Books Project Cataloger
Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago

On Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 6:27 PM JOHN LANCASTER <jjlancaster at me.com> wrote:

> Actually, Margaret Bingham Stillwell does mention the feature briefly in
> her useful article, "The *Fasciculus Temporum*: A Genealogical Survey of
> Editions before 1480,” in *Bibliographical Essays for W. Eames* (Cambridge,
> Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1924), pp. 409-440, at p. 414, where she
> describes it as “a device which is of immense help to the reader of the
> book—by the merest glance you can tell exactly where you are, A.D. or B.C.”
>  Perhaps - if you’re good a reading inverted text.
>
> Parts of Stillwell’s discussion relating to the editorial history are
> revised and corrected in an article by Lotte Hellinga and Margaret Lane
> Ford, "Deletion or Addition: A Controversial Variant in Werner Rolewinck’s
> ‘Fasciculus Temporum’ (Cologne, 1474),” in *Essays in Honor of William B.
> Todd* (Austin, Texas: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The
> University of Texas at Austin, 1991), pp. 61-79.
>
> John Lancaster
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2019, at 7:01 PM, JOHN LANCASTER <jjlancaster at me.com> wrote:
>
> This is a feature not a bug (as they say).  It is found in Latin editions
> as well - the years before the birth of Christ are set to be read “upside
> down”; after that, they read the same as the rest of the text.  I don’t
> know if there’s any treatise on the work that discusses the feature - I’ve
> just noticed it in other copies I’ve worked with.  Many editions (including
> yours) have had copies digitized (linked from ISTC and/or GW).
>
> John Lancaster
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2019, at 5:25 PM, Jennifer Dunlap <jrdunlap7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> We just acquired a German edition of Rolevinck's Fasciculus temporum
> printed by Prüss in 1492 (ISTC  ir00282000) and as I was cataloging it I
> noticed that in one line of the dating given on leaves ii recto-xlv recto
> there seems to be a compositor's error in that the text is set upside down
> and backwards. At first I assumed it was an error, then after seeing it
> happen leaf after leaf, I thought perhaps it was intentional, however from
> leaf xlv verso on all the text seems to be set "correctly." Can anyone else
> with a copy in their library confirm if this odd text setting occurs in
> your copy as well? I have not seen the oddity mentioned in any of the
> reference sources I have consulted (though I must admit that my German
> palaeography skills are not quite up to snuff to make out the paragraph at
> the end of the bibliographic citation in the GW record), nor have I been
> able to locate any other scholarly articles or book chapters that mention
> it. I will attach some images from our copy so you can see what I'm looking
> at. Thanks in advance for any light that can be shed on this.
>
> Best,
> Jennifer
>
>
>
> Jennifer Dunlap
> Rare Books Project Cataloger
> Special Collections Research Center
> University of Chicago
> <IMG_8278.JPG><IMG_8277.JPG>
>
>
>
>
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