Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Oh fun. So analogous to what's happening at the front.

1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Oh wait—looked at your pagination statement. Looks like it's just 1 leaf and not an 11-leaf monstrosity.

1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Oh, incidentally—I'd avoid superscripted 1s. For those single-leaf deals, just so a regular ole "1". Tell me about that final gathering? 11 leaves? What is the actual structure of it? Where does the non-conjugate leaf fall?

2

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

OK, so I'd probably do Aaaaa1 "5A"-"5E"². (You could even do 5A1 "5A"-"5E"².) I don't employ quotation marks in collation statements lightly, but this is an instance where conventional shorthand creates ambiguity about what's on the sheets.

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Sorry, I'm seeing your other reply now. Actually "5A". And everything from leaf forward has "5" prefixed rather than five actual letters?

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Or, wait: is it that you have one system, where alphabets double by adding minuscules, and another, where alphabets are all caps? Aaaaa vs. AAAAA? If that, I'd avoid doing any xA and just expand 'em.

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

If there are two leaves signed "Aaaaa," I'd go this route: ᵡ5A1 5A-5E². An alternative would be to do 5A1 ²5A-5E², but since you're just looking at a single leaf, it'd be a little odd to have it count as a whole alphabet.

2 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Actually, the $1(+[pi]2) bit could just be $2 depending on whether you think the main signing count should reflect structural modifications—or something else entirely, of course, depending on how the rest of the book shakes out.

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

Or if you’re not a Tansellean stickler like I generally am:

π²(π1 + a²) [$1(+π2); π2 = ‘b’]

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16d

That slash notation is unfamiliar to me.

A situation like this one is why collation formulas should be coupled w/ signature statements: you can deal w/ structure & odd signing separately. I’d do:

π²(π1 + 1.2) [$1(+π2); π(1) = ‘a’; π2 = ‘b’]

(if a2 is signed, then add “π(2) = ‘b2’)

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 18d

Such a cool book. I got a bit overzealous at an auction a few years ago after losing the lot I really wanted and ended up with a 1613. Glad I did!

2

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Sep 9

Here's the label:

Biblia latina (Mainz: Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust, between 1454 and 1456). 603 verso and 604 recto

Today, we expect the text in most books to be black. To navigate pages, we rely on variations in typography and layout: display fonts, centered text, indents, and other creative uses of white space. These design elements signal chapter, paragraph, and other content divisions. When Gutenberg and his team were developing their new printing technology, though, color often did this work. Aware of readers’ expectations, they developed a two-pass process for including red text alongside black but quickly judged it too time-consuming. After only five pages with red print, they began leaving blank spaces for customers to fill in later, by hand.

For initial capitals, chapter numbers, and running headers, the scribes who helped turn Gutenberg’s black-and-white sheets of print into readable pages needed to be reasonably familiar with the Bible and fluent in Latin. In the leftmost column, for instance, the scribe had to know that “dmone” calls for an “A” in front. Admone illos. Admonish them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, mistakes with initials were not uncommon. Here, the red “P” beginning “Philemoni” appears on top of a blue “T.” A scribe had originally written the letter that begins “Thytum” in the preface to Titus, which is on the previous page.

Gutenberg’s team did try, at least, to eliminate guesswork when it came to the longer text marking transitions between books and prefaces: they printed all of it in an eight-page guide that survives today in only two copies. If followed, each space would be perfectly filled. The Carthusians who first owned the Ransom Center’s Bible, though, frequently misjudged what to write, suggesting that they didn’t have the guide at hand. Here are the four pieces of transitional text that should appear in this opening: [image showing the lines as they appear in the guide].

1 3

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Sep 9

Here are the two pages on display from our cover-to-cover digital facsimile:

603v: hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

604r: hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

Pages 603v and 604r in the Ransom Center's Gutenberg Bible. They contain the end of Titus, all of Philemon, and the beginning of Hebrews.

1 1 5

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Sep 9

New Gutenberg Bible opening @ransomcenter.bsky.social. Partytime excellent.

The Harry Ransom Center’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible open to the end of Titus through the beginning of Hebrews on a plexiglass cradle behind glass with a printed label in front.

4 6 34

Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

NPR @npr.org · Aug 15

Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.

A lock of hair may have just changed what we know about life in the Incan Empire

Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.

n.pr

7 83 450

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 14

Can’t escape DesBib:

Diagram of a sheet of a long 24mo in 8s with a cut and gathered version of the same.

3

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 13

Yeah, I think the best approach would be to do what we do when there are too many authors: throw in an "etc" (as opposed to an "et al.," since places aren't people) unless a full list is needed to disambiguate very similar bibliographic entities.

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 13

Ugh.

1 1

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 13

Does the Zotero implementation at least have a rule to apply places to < 1900 pubs?

1 1

Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

Rebecca Baumann @arkhamlibrarian.bsky.social · Aug 11

As far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong!) the only pulp paperback to have been printed with fuzzy textured elements on the cover. #DailyPaperback

Two Much by Donald Westlake. Title is in pink fuzzy textured lettering. Two blonde white women are wearing bikinis made of the same pink fuzzy textured lettering and a white man in a suit lounges on the ground beneath them.

7 26 94

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 11

Here’s what appears to be a nail/brad head in the @ransomcenter.bsky.social’s lone Catholicon leaf, from the Galliziani impression (or, if you insist, issue):

4

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 11

Essential viewing.

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · Aug 11

Rare Book School has posted a lecture by Paul Needham on his most recent work on the Catholicon Press: youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?... Paul is in good form and his presentation of the evidence is clear, whether you're on board with the theory or not.

#bookhistory

"The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads"

YouTube video by Rare Book School

youtu.be

1 3 12

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 9

Format woes action shot (eventually figured it out):

9

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Aug 9

On my way back to Austin and @ransomcenter.bsky.social after running a seminar on descriptive bibliography @calrbs.bsky.social.

Books were collated. Formats were determined—and in some cases deemed undeterminable.

Join me next year!

1 15

Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · Jul 27

Absolutely. Had seen it was happening but just realized I’ll be in LA during the run.

3