[DCRM-L] help with a book term

Tue Feb 2 14:04:25 MST 2021

This happens quite a bit with manuscript notebooks: one bibliographic
entity, with every facing-page opening having text upside-down on one side.

The Folger's curator of manuscripts is keen for us to use "Tête-bêche" for
this, but we set aside proposing it because RBMS Vocabularies was (at the
time) still undergoing format integration.

Meanwhile, we've just been using explanatory notes, phrasing them so that
the term "tête-bêche" is defined (and keyword searchable). For example:

Mary Smith used this volume from both directions ("tête-bêche"): text is
written front to back and, with volume inverted, written from back to
front.

If anyone has a clearer way of wording that, please say so!

Thanke,

Erin.

______________________
Erin Blake, Ph.D.  |  Senior Cataloger  |  Folger Shakespeare Library  |
201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003  |  eblake at folger.edu  |
www.folger.edu
<https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/-t5RCjRgpBtArRXC7R7_2?domain=urldefense.com>
  |  Pronouns: she/her/hers

On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 3:40 PM Matthew C. Haugen <mch2167 at columbia.edu>
wrote:

> Something similar came up on DCRM-L in 2017, so I am copying the exchange
> below. I do think what you describe sounds like something accomplished
> during imposition and layout of sheets during printing, not binding (as for
> dos-à-dos and tête-bêche).
>
> "Tête-bêche imposition" might be a possible term for it:
> http://gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=8889412.
>
> Possibly something like "upside-down books" or "reversible books" might
> be inclusive of tete-beche imposition and tete-beche binding?
>
> Matthew
>
> --
> I agree with Deborah that what you describe sounds more like a matter of
> printing than binding. As I understand it, tête-bêche *binding* involves
> binding separate, normally oriented texts together head-to-tail. The first
> text would read normally on both rectos and versos, and the volume is
> flipped vertically to read the other text. Dos-à-dos (Binding) involves
> binding the separate texts back to back with spines on the opposite sides
> of the volume, which needs to be flipped horizontally. The two texts may be
> related but they don't share pages.
>
> I find the term tête-bêche also used in philately to describe the
> *printing* of adjacent unseparated postage stamps oriented head-to-tail,
> whether intentionally or not.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%AAte-b%C3%AAche
>
> The closest thing I could find in the RBMS vocabularies was "Inverted
> blocks (Printing)" but this appears to refer to a type of page make-up
> error, not an intentional printing phenomenon.
>
> I find reference to head-to-tail printing, referring to pages printed
> oriented as for a legal document bound along the top edge, to be read in a
> single direct sequence by flipping pages upward. This is also different
> from the opposing interleaved sequences described by Amber, but in both
> cases it involves printing rectos and versos in opposite orientations.
>
> As tete-beche is not found in the RBMS thesaurus at all, maybe this
> warrants two CV proposals for new terms along the lines of Tête-bêche (Binding)
> and Tête-bêche (Printing)?
>
> Matt
>
> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 7:25 PM, Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at folger.edu>
>  wrote:
>
>> You know, I don't think it is. Both dos-à-dos and tête-bêche are binding
>> structures that contain two books together in opposite directions. But what
>> it sounds like Billey is describing is a complete interleaving of the two
>> books, and therefore a printing condition. Yes? A single opening will show
>> an upside-down page on the verso and a right-side-up page on the recto.
>>
>>
>>
>> Deborah J. Leslie, MA, MLS | Senior Cataloger, Folger Shakespeare Library
>> | djleslie at folger.edu | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. | Washington, DC
>> 20003 | 202.675-0369 <(202)%20675-0369> | orcid.org 0000-0001-5848-5467
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] *On
>> Behalf Of *Amber Billey
>> *Sent:* Thursday, 01 June, 2017 18:52
>> *To:* DCRM Users' Group
>> *Subject:* Re: [DCRM-L] term for type of printing
>>
>>
>>
>> It is a Tête-bêche! Thank you!
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 6:44 PM Robert Maxwell <robert_maxwell at byu.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>> This sounds like a Dos-à-dos binding or Tête-bêche:
>>
>>
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos-%C3%A0-dos_binding
>>
>>
>>
>> http://rbms.info/vocabularies/binding/tr428.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> Robert L. Maxwell
>> Ancient Languages and Special Collections Librarian
>> 6728 Harold B. Lee Library
>> Brigham Young University
>> Provo, UT 84602
>> (801)422-5568 <(801)%20422-5568>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] *On
>> Behalf Of *Amber Billey
>> *Sent:* Thursday, June 1, 2017 2:49 PM
>> *To:* dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu
>> *Subject:* [DCRM-L] term for type of printing
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Does anyone know what you call a book that has the printing of one story
>> running through the recto pages, but then when you flip it over and
>> upside-down another story is printed on the verso pages?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Amber Billey
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> --
> Matthew C. Haugen
> Rare Book Cataloger
> 102 Butler Library
> Columbia University Libraries
> E-mail: matthew.haugen at columbia.edu
> Phone: 212-851-2451
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 3:15 PM Harriett Smith <harriett at uoregon.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello All,
>>
>> I have spent a lot of time trying to find this term, but without knowing
>> what it is I don't seem to be able to find it.
>>
>> I have a book where the pages are printed as normal on the rectos. On p.
>> 175 you turn the book so that the front cover is now the back cover, and
>> there is page 176. The last page of the work is printed on the verso of the
>> title page.
>>
>> When I looked at the descriptions of dos-à-dos or tête-bêche they seem to
>> be describing two different titles bound back-to-back and upside down, not
>> one title. The piece in hand is all one bibliographic work.
>>
>> I feel sure there is a term for this and it's driving me crazy! Does it
>> ring a bell with anyone?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Harriett
>>
>>
>> Harriett Smith
>> Cataoger, University of Oregon Libraries
>> harriett at uoregon.edu
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Matthew C. Haugen
> Rare Book Cataloger | Columbia University Libraries
> matthew.haugen at columbia.edu | 212-851-2451 | he/him/his
>
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