Smith 2000

The manuscript incipit, colophon and occasionally title-page

is "misleading to suggest that oboks without title-pages are in need of reform, as if there were something wrong with them" (25) -- points to remakrs by Pollard 1891

some people claim it would have been a waste of expensive parchment in mss -- but "the explanation for the lack of title-pages in manuscripts lies in the circumstances of its production and use" (27)

scribes focused on opening of texts -- used 1st sentence, incipit, and decorated first page

colophon at end of text; not always used; may contain author's name, title, scribe's name, date and place of completion; rarely on a separate page

explicit: simple statement that the text is finishing -- explicitus, "unrolled"

some early 9th-century title pages, on verso of first leaf -- see Harley Golden Gospels for an example of a proto-title page

latter 15c, luxury humanist mss with title pages, often associated with Florentine ms entrepreneur Vespasiano da Bisticci (produced for Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino) -- 2 different layouts; rectangular, like monument, inscription on sarcophagus -- close in time to printed title page but often on verso and sometimes includes incipit; "it seems necessary to conclude that its principal contribution to the title-page of the printed book relates to the decorative characteristis of the later title-pgae, rather than its origins. If, as the theory of title-page development argues, the printed book's title-page is a response to mas production, the title-page of the one-off luxury manuscript can only be remotely connected to the forces that lay behind the development of the title-page in the printed book." (34)

Three famous examples of early title-pages

Gutenberg Bible follows manuscript practice

hand-supplied incipit and rubrication on the decline during incunable period

1463 papal Bull, Peter Schoeffer, often cited as the first "real" title-page -- a kind of label title; Schoeffer did not follow up on this and begin using title pages; "At least one commentator has likened him to an inventor who did not realise the importane of his invention, but the analogy would only be apt if we could fathom his reasons for its use." (40)

1470 title-page for Rolewinck's Sermon; also thinner pamphlet, and also didn't follow up on the practice

1476 Regiomontanus, Calendar; poem sets out title, author, city of printing

there are a few other pre-1480s examples: Conrad Fyner's 1473 edition of Exhortatio de celebratione missae; Hans Folz in Nuremberg, four small books printed in 1479 with title on verse of first leaf (46)

The blank at the beginning of the book

examining 4200 editions from the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke; shows distribution of different types of opening (incipit + text, blank, title, other) -- just over 40% have titles, "a large minority"

when broken down over time, it's clear that use of titles soars toward the end of the century

most common was incipit, whether or not after a blank -- before 1470, incipit often meant to be added by hand

blank pages surprisingly common early on (just over 30% of incunables) -- well over half of editions; possibly protective role; but then why don't blanks persist after rise of title page?

blanks at end may be unintentional, but blank at beginning seems intentional, decision made at beginning of production process 953)

some blanks with titles continued to be called blanks by their printers; others have irrelevant other text on them, possibly bearer type, suggesting the leaves were intended to be cut away

blanks accrued owner's marks, pen trials, bookplates, library shelfmarks, collations (57)