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Not actually a bad photograph, but a badly printed page. Possibly what is known as a \u201cslur\u201d where the platen (we\u2019ll get into that later) moves during the printing process and causes the ink to smear. But more likely the platen was lowered twice on the same page, whether on a one- or two-pull press is open to debate.<\/p>\n
So far, so what. \u00af\\_(\u30b7)_\/\u00af<\/p>\n
Well, it occurred to me that there was only one mis-printed page. In the printing process there will always be a partner page printed on the same sheet, which is then folded. So, I checked the partner of our mis-printed page and found that it wasn\u2019t blurred. This book was a quarto which meant, as I\u2019m sure you\u2019re all thinking, that that was impossible.<\/p>\n
Okay, so a lot of jargon there. Let me break this down.<\/p>\n
This is a diagram of a hand-pulled press. Showing the frisket, tympan, forme, press stone and the aforementioned platen.<\/p>\n
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(Public domain image made available by Smithsonian Libraries (AE25.E53X 1851 Plates, t.7, \u201cImprimerie en caracteres,\u201d plate 15))<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The illustration above is actually a two-pull press. In this case the press is set up for a quarto sheet with four pages to be printed. The stone is rolled under the platen once, the platen is pressed down printing two pages, then it\u2019s lifted and the stone is rolled further in and the platen is lowered again, printing the final two pages.<\/p>\n In the case of a one pull press, the platen is lowered once. If it\u2019s a folio then one page is printed, if it is a quarto then two pages are printed. After it\u2019s printed, the forme is reset with the next page(s) to be printed.<\/p>\n Now the complicated bit.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about formats. Folio, quarto, octavo, etc.<\/p>\n The format of a book is determined by how many pages are printed on a sheet <\/em>and how many times that sheet is folded<\/em>.<\/p>\n So, for example, one sheet of paper is printed on both sides, then folded once.<\/p>\n This is a folio. It\u2019s folded once along the y-axis. Giving two leaves <\/em>or four pages.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Front of sheet<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Back of sheet<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n The Folger Library<\/a> has an interesting website that lets you play with Shakespeare\u2019s First Folio where you can assemble sheets into \u201cgatherings\u201d.<\/p>\n This is a quarto. It\u2019s folded twice. First the y-axis, then the x-axis giving four leaves <\/em>or eight pages.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Front of sheet<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Back of sheet<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/u> Check out this video<\/a> to see how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n Octavos are folded three times, giving you eight leaves <\/em>or sixteen pages.<\/em> And so on \u2026<\/p>\n Okay now that we\u2019re all experts on formats, let\u2019s stampede over to chain lines.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chain lines are formed during the paper making process. The mould used to make the paper is dipped into a vat of pulped linen and the water is sieved away leaving behind an impression of the mould.<\/p>\n Check here<\/a> to see the process.<\/p>\n The mould consists of wire sewn onto supports, it\u2019s these supports that leave the chain line impressions.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a paper mould.<\/p>\n The thicker, vertical lines you can see are imparted onto the sheet of paper during the paper-making process and will end up looking something like this.<\/p>\n Chain lines help to determine the format of a volume. With a folio the sheet is folded once along the y-axis, therefore the chain lines will be vertical on the page. If there is a watermark (and there isn\u2019t always!) it is placed on the right-hand side of the sheet.<\/p>\n In the example below there\u2019s a watermark on the right-hand sheet and a countermark on the left. When the sheet is folded the chain lines will be vertical and the watermark will be in the centre of the page.<\/p>\n Folio<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With a quarto the sheet is folded once along the y-axis, then once along the x-axis therefore the chain lines will be horizontal on the page. The watermark will be in the gutter, often difficult to see, especially in tightly bound books.<\/p>\n Quarto<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phew! Okay, we now have all that knowledge, so here\u2019s why that blurry page is so weird. The chain lines and watermarks in the book show that it is a quarto. And if you remember from before, quartos are printed either two or four pages at a time, so how can there be only one mis-printed page on a sheet? The conjugate page should be mis-printed as well.<\/p>\n When the platen lowered the mis-printed page should have had a mis-printed partner:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the red page is the mis-printed page, then the green page must be mis-printed because the platen would be lowered on the both at the same time<\/em>.<\/p>\n No such mis-printed partner existed.<\/p>\n Headaches ensued.<\/p>\n More headaches.<\/p>\n Much sighing.<\/p>\n Light-bulb!<\/p>\n This volume was printed before 1476, we know this because the rubricator (someone who would emphasise areas of the text with red ink) very kindly dated his rubrication. So, it\u2019s a very early quarto. What if the printer viewed printing a quarto like printing a small folio?<\/p>\n Possibly they used a half sheet and imposed the quarto as a folio, and then printed it a page at a time. That would allow for only one page to be mis-printed. We checked the watermarks and chain lines and established that these were indeed half sheets.<\/p>\n Calls went out on Twitter; colleagues were asked for their opinions. Robert MacLean at the University Glasgow put us on to Karina de la Garza-Gil at the University of Cologne who confirmed that the common practice for Cologne printers at that time was to print quartos in half sheets one page at a time.<\/p>\n All that was left was to work out how it happened.<\/p>\n There is no smearing of the ink, and the first printing is sharp if faint. This makes it unlikely that anything twisted or moved, so perhaps the printer lowered the platen once and changed their mind before lowering it with the required force a second time.<\/p>\n The final mystery: was it a one or two pull press? It would be pure speculation to decide either way. Arguments could be made for either. At this point you really need to be able to read the mind of a printer from five hundred years ago. What we do know is that printing quartos on full sheets on a two-pull press became common a few years after this particular book was printed.<\/p>\n In the end what this does show, is how much information can be gleaned from analysing the physical properties of a book. From one mis-printed page we established the printing practices in Cologne from five hundred years ago.<\/p>\n And that end\u2019s the tale of the blurry page!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes in rare book cataloguing you come across something that requires you to flex you analytical bibliography muscles. It can be amazing what you can gather from the study of the physical form of a particular volume. In the following … Continue reading \n
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