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

[Erin Blake]

Cool! I've not heard of this before. Interesting that it just represents a
different perspective (literally) rather than being a symbol of distress
resolved by the birth of Their Lord, because the count of years since the
creation of the earth is right-way-up the whole time.

This raises an interesting cataloging question: is this something that
should go in a general note? We have user warrant (thanks, Jennifer!) that
it needs to be distinguished from a printing error that may or may not be
present in all copies.

Erin.



----------------
Erin Blake, Ph.D.  |  Senior Cataloger  |  Folger Shakespeare Library  |
201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003  |  eblake at folger.edu  |
office tel. +1 202-675-0323  |  www.folger.edu



On Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 7:44 PM Jennifer Dunlap <jrdunlap7 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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