Bowers 1949

Bowers, Fredson. Principles of Bibliographical Description. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949.

Descriptive Bibliography

catalogue or handlist: compilation of titles on a given subject

descriptive or analytical bibliography: describing printed variations of a text

(some "bibliographical catalogues" exist between these two forms)

"The concern of the descriptive bibliographer ... is to examine every available copy of an edition of a book in order to describe in bibliographical terms the characteristics of an ideal copy of this edition, to distinguish between issues and variants of the edition, to explain and describe the printing and textual history of the edition, and finally to arrange it in a correct and logical relationship to other editions." (6)

See Belanger, "Descriptive Bibliiography."

bibliographies may help librarians and collectors identify the books in their possession, "but from the bibliographer's point of view this possibility should be only a by-product of his work. The facts, the distinguishing 'points' are the necessary main concern of the collector or librarian. these are of crucial importance in bibliography, too, but only as the penultimate step to textual and literary criticism." (8)

"true bibliography is the bridge to textual, which is to say literary, criticism." (9)

"The purpose, then, of the physical description of the book is twofold: to serve as a basis for the analysis of the method of publication, which has a direct bearing on the relations and transmissions of texts; to provide sufficient evidence for readers to identify books in their possession as being members of the precise state, issue, impression, and edition of the 'ideal copy' listed, or as being unrecorded variants requiring further bibliographical investigation." (23)

symbols must be standardized for bibliography to retain meaning (24-5)

"Analytical bibliography deals with books and their relations solely as material objects, and in a strict sense has nothing to do with the historical or literary considerations of their subject matter or content." (31)

Format and Collational Formula

Format

Quarter-sheet - 1/4° or q.s. or qs Half-sheet - 1/2° or h.s. or hs Broadsheet - 1° or b.s. or bs Folio - 2° or fol. Quarto - 4° or 4to or Q° or Q Octavo - 8° or 8vo Duodecimo - 12° or 12mo Sexto-decimo - 16° or 16mo Tricesimo-secundo - 32° or 32mo Sexagesimo-quarto - 64° or 64mo

sometimes double-size sheets were made, then probably cut in two before being printed;

• folio would then be the size of a bs, quarto the size of a folio, etc., but still takes the format name based on how it's folded
• Greg suggests adding a note such as: (2°-form) 4°

broadsheet has printing parallel to short side; if printing is parallel to longer side, should be called an oblong broadsheet; indicated by:

• 1°(obl.), etc.

if no figure is possible, oblong or otherwise, called single-piece

"the statement of the format is a statement of a number of leaves formed by a whole sheet of paper folded to make it ready for binding in the book along with other sheets" (196)

• whole sheet always considered a unit; cutting it to make a half-sheet is the equivalent of a folding
• so a half-sheet folded twice to make four leaves is not a quarto, but an octavo in 4's

Collational Formula

formula is that of an ideal copy; "the form in which sheets were meant to be issued, rather than as they were printed" (197)

"demonstrable divergences are usually recorded between the printing and the issue-formula, so that many collational formulas combine the two" (197)

to include leaves not printed -- i.e., portraits, title page engravings? or only material that went through the printing press?

• Bowers: exclude anything that didn't go through the printing press; but can include engraved leaves that are conjugate with printed leaves
• plate positioning often too variable to be included with any certainty
• if number of leaves includes plates, there's no easy way to know the number of sheets used to print the book

superior numbers (or index numbers) indicate the conjugate quired leaves in each gathering

• "the formula records analytically only the printing makeup of the book" (199)

Normal gatherings

23 letter alphabet, without "J" or "U" or "W"

• sometimes a "W" was used; if so, indicate in the signatures by adding it in as any other abnormal symbol
• if printer used brackets, often best not to replicate the brackets, since it can lead to confusion (square brackets are used as a sign of inference in bibliography) -- can avoid confusion by using italics for inferential brackets; parentheses cause less confusion

upper and lowercase letters are distinguished, but little else; e.g., even if signatures printed in Gothic, italic, etc., formula aways uses roman ("such variations in font have nothing to do with the construction of the book and are rpesented not in the collational formula but in a note on the book's typography," 204-5)

write 2A in place of Aa or AA; 3A in place of Aaa, AAA, etc.; if alphabet follows regularly, can simplify to e.g. A-7H

if printer duplicates the same symbol (i.e. uses "A" twice, instead of moving on to "AA"), indicate by a superior figure written before the signature

inferred signings enclosed in brackets, treated as separate items; superior figures go outside the brackets

• Greg prefers italic type (211); this is acceptable to Bowers

"pi" sign used for prefixed unsigned gatherings or leaves where the signing is uninferred; Greek letter "chi" used for unsigned and uninferred separate leaves or gatherings not prefixed

by "prefixed", Bowers accepts a liberal definition: anything unsigned before the start of a regular series; e.g., before "A", or before the second start of a series beginning with "A"

if prefixed gatherings begin with "A", then begin again with "A" at the start of the text, superior "pi" figure can be placed before the first "A"

additional or inserted gatherings prefixed witha superior "chi" (221)

(in general, problem with "prefixing" -- uses literary content as a marker for understanding bibligraphic content, violating rule that the formula should only describe the book's physical structure)

prefixed superior figure carries to every signing until a comma, although for clarity is sometimes repeated

isolated/identifiable missignings are "silently corrected in the collational formula" (222), although they may be noted elsewhere in the description

for Greg, index number must always be even, since its indicating regularly quired conjugate pairs of leaves in a gathering (226)

• conjugacy is essential; if the last two leaves are cut off in a duodecimo, it is not A^10, since two pairs are missing one leaf; if a fold is missing, though, it is
• put another way: A^2 would never indicate two non-conjugate/distinct leaves
• lack of conjugacy is an abnormality, must always be noted in a formula