Descriptive Bibliography, RBS (July 2010)

Introduction to the Principles of Descriptive Bibliography, Rare Book School (Charlottesville, VA) July 26-30; Richard Noble, David Whitesell

Bibliography

pagination: omit detailed records of routine omissions (chapter headings, etc.), because disguises actual interesting bits of omission (don't make something simple look complicated, or something complicated look simple); pagination should always come out even (foliation should generally come out even); use commas to separate sections

use commas sparingly

put number of unnumbered pages in italics in brackets

Paper

pre-1820, almost certain to be handmade; post-1840, almost certain to be machine-made 1820-1840, transitional phase

laid and wove can be handmade or machine-made

in Western world, all paper up to 1760 is laid

handmade laid paper: around chainlines, paper pulp gathers more, creating bar shadows -- 1/4in. darker area -- incicates handmade paper

white/light spot on paper -- created from a drop of paper that forms a depression (vatman's tears)

mold side: meets the paper mold; has a kind of grid line characteristic felt side: meets the felt; flatter, smoother

shadowless laid paper: modern handmade laid paper that doesn't produce bar shadows

Brits leaders in machine-made paper; by 1820s, very rare to find handmade paper in London

in German-speaking territories, handmade paper used well into 1840s

some early wove papers, you still get chainline-like impressions -- rib marks

machine-made paper: two ways -- pulp spread on continuous belt (Fourdrinier), or on revolving drum of wire mesh (cylinder and vat machine); other impressions can be made on it by running it under a dandyroll (e.g. fake chainlines, watermarks

deckle edge can be found on cylinder vat machine; usually cylinder creates continuous web, but if dropped onto rubber belt with felt shapes on it, pulp sticks to felt but runs away from rubber; can create different shapes

watermarks:

• originally identified the papermill;
• by 1830, indicates paper size and quality
• by c18, find paper with no watermark at all
• location of watermark varies
• identifying watermarks not exact

describing paper:

• dimensions
• watermarks, countermarks
• thickness of paper
• thickness of book / number of leaves
• chainline patterns and widths
• number of wirelines in 3cm space

paper as bibliographical evidence:

• anomalies
• deckle edges, cut edges

Printing

type is not an abstraction, not the printed impression, but an object - something you pick up in your hand

diagram of type: page 9 in Gaskel, page 31 in RBS workbook

Phillip Gaskell, "A nomenclature for the letter-forms of Roman type," The Library 5.29 (1974): 42-51.

comparing typefaces:

• x-height; also relative relation of ascenders to descenders
• axis or stress; draw vertical line through "o" -- is it vertical or oblique?
• weight: thin and light letters, or thick and heavy?
• contrast (difference bw thick and thin spaces -- greater diff in 19c on)
• set -- how much relative space does the font take up?
• serifs

point size introduced in 18c; 72 points in an inch; measured ascender to descender

ascender and descender between two lines; if space between them, lines have been leaded to create space between them

list of common type sizes of hand-press period: pg 35 in RBS workbook

paper is printed wet; shrinkage may change height of type impression

some type may not be set solid (ascender hits bottom of body / descender hits top of body), but leaded (space between top of ascender / bottom of descender and body) -- i.e., body size is different from font size