[DCRM-L] Folded plates

[Deborah J. Leslie]

How vexing!

I think your suggestion of "[11] leaves of plates (3 folded)" is as good as any, especially since you're adding a note describing the nature of the plates. If it were me, I'd err on the side of giving a fuller description in the note instead of going for concision.

BTW, I love these high-res images, where you can see the bite of the impression on the paper. (This is as close as I get these days to a hand-press book.)

______________________________
Deborah J. Leslie, MA, MLS | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library | 201 East Capitol St., SE, Washington, DC 20003 | djleslie at folger.edu<mailto:djleslie at folger.edu> | www.folger.edu<http://www.folger.edu> | Opinions her own

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Noah Sheola
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2021 16:07
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: [DCRM-L] Folded plates

Hello all,

Dcrm:b instructions say "Count a plate folded and bound at the inner margin as two leaves
of plates." I'm cataloging a book containing six plates, numbered I-VI. All but one are folded and bound at the inner margin, so that makes [11] leaves of plates (and I would explain the numbering in a note). So far so good.

But where I get flummoxed is that the first of those folded-and-bound-at-the-middle plates also folds out along its bottom edge (picture a large sheet folded in quarters). Is this then [2] folded leaves of plates? The final leaf of plates is also a fold-out, but as it is attached at its left margin it does not present a problem. There would seem to be, then, 3 folded leaves.

Following the rules as literally as I can, I suppose I should say "[11] leaves of plates (3 folded)".

Would you agree? It seems to me to be one of those things that's technically correct and yet misleading. I expect most non-specialists would describe the book as having 6 plates (2 folded).

The book is on Hathi<https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/dbyECM8K3XtQ3gmhwHN3G?domain=babel.hathitrust.org> and Google books but you can't really see how the plates are folded so it may not be very useful for figuring out what I'm trying to describe.

Thanks for your help.
 -Noah

--
Noah Sheola
Senior Special Collections Cataloging Librarian
John J. Burns Library
Boston College
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