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Half-Sheet Imposition of Eight-Leaf
Quires in Formes of Thirty-Two and Sixty-Four Pages
by
Oliver L. Steele
This note is an attempt to identify some of the physical characteristics that may be used to determine the imposition of modern books printed on sheets at cylinder presses. The characteristics with which I shall be concerned are those of the paper in the separate quires of books — the folds and edges of partially unopened books and the side and bottom edges of partially uncut books. The interpretation made of these characteristics and its application will be illustrated by an analysis of two American impressions of novels by James Branch Cabell.
The first American impression of Jurgen (1919) illustrates a common imposition scheme for work-and-turn of eight-leaf quires in formes of thirty-two pages.[1] The significant characteristics of the quires of this book are: (1) the sides of the first and fourth leaves of each quire have smooth machine-cut edges; (2) the sides of the second and third leaves of every quire have rough uneven edges;[2] (3) a comparison of the side edges of the last four leaves of quires shows that the fifth and sixth leaves and the seventh and eighth leaves were once joined in folds at the sides;[3] (4) in the first and every odd-numbered quire the four outer leaves of the quire (leaves 1, 2, 7, 8) are approximately 5 to 8 mm shorter than the inner four leaves, and the bottoms of these outer leaves have smooth machine-cut edges; (5) the bottoms of the four inner leaves of odd-numbered quires have rough edges;[4] (6) in the second and every even-numbered quire the four inner leaves of the quire (leaves 3, 4, 5, 6) are approximately 5 to 8 mm shorter than the four outer leaves, and the bottoms of these inner leaves have
These characteristics can be explained only by assuming that the sheets were printed by half-sheet imposition of two eight-leaf quires in a forme of thirty-two pages. The folds that joined leaves five and six and leaves seven and eight, together with the four short leaves in each quire, show that the quires were folded and, thus, imposed as normal octavo formes — in this case sub-formes. The smooth side edges of the first and fourth leaves of each quire show that the sides of pages 1 and 8 in the outer forme and of pages 2 and 7 in the inner forme were on the machine-cut edges of the sheet. Similarly, the smooth bottom edges of the outer four leaves in odd-numbered quires show that, in those quires, the bottoms of pages 1, 4, 13, 16 (and those corresponding to them in later quires) in the outer forme and of pages 2, 3, 14, 15 in the inner forme were on the machine-cut edges of the sheet. The smooth bottom edges of the inner four leaves of each evennumbered quire show that, in such quires, pages 21, 24, 25, 28 (and corresponding pages in later quires) in the outer forme and of pages 22, 23, 26, 27 in the inner forme were on the machine-cut edges of the sheet.
All of these interpretations may be brought together in the imposition
scheme illustrated for a sheet printed work-and-turn in thirty-two
pages.[5]
The most obvious features of the quires of the first American impression of Jurgen can be explained only by this scheme of imposition. The alternation of short outer leaves with short inner leaves in odd-numbered and even-numbered quires can be explained as the result of printing on sheets too narrow to produce margins in those pages at the long outer edges of the sheet as wide as those established internally by the long cross of the forme.[6]
A clear case of half-sheet imposition of quires of eight leaves in sixty-four page formes is the first American impression of Cabell's Gallantry (1907).[7] The significant characteristics of the quires of this book are: (1) the bottom edges of the four outer leaves of each quire are smooth machine-cut;[8] (2) the bottom edges of leaves three and four and of leaves five and six either are or at one time were joined in a fold; (3) the side edges of the first four leaves of the second and of every fourth quire thereafter have smooth machine-cut edges; (4) the side edges of the last four leaves of the second and of every fourth quire thereafter and the side edges of all leaves in other quires have rough uneven edges.
The basic unit of the imposition, the eight-page sub-forme, can be
deduced from the fold of the quires. Some experimentation with sheets of
paper will show that only the following sub-forme will explain that fold.
These are by no means the only possible imposition schemes for eightleaf quires in modern books; indeed, the possibilities are numerous enough to keep bibliographers busy for a long time. The two schemes described here are, I think, fairly common, and the method of analysis applied may be useful to others who want to attack the problem of imposition in modern books.[10]
Notes
The six copies of Jurgen examined are those listed by Matthew J. Bruccoli, James Branch Cabell: A Bibliography (Charlottesville, 1957), pp. 32-33. Another book using this scheme of imposition is Ellen Glasgow's The Wheel of Life, Doubleday, Page, 1906.
Exceptions to this rule appear to be the first and seventeenth quires in which the second and third leaves seem to have smooth edges at the sides. I assume that the knife cut cleaner than usual on these quires since no other explanation will account for the other features of the quires. Imposition in formes of 128 pages, which looks like a plausible explanation, is out of the question because it will not even explain the exceptions. The last quire of Jurgen is an exception to all the rules because it is made up of only four leaves; its imposition is not considered in this note.
Irregularly spaced indentations along the side edge of leaf five correspond exactly in position to projections along the side edge of leaf six, and vice versa.
There are a few exceptions to 5 and 7. The explanation adopted to cover them is stated in note 2.
This scheme is described by Theodore L. De Vinne, Book Composition, ed. J. W. Bothwell (1918), pp. 159-160. For evidence that the leading edge of this kind of forme was the long edge, see my "A Note on Half-Sheet Imposition in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Books," Gutenberg Jahrbuch, forthcoming 1962.
Imposition in formes of sixty-four pages could not have produced this alternation. It would, instead, have produced four quires, two of which would have shown no difference in the length of leaves. Imposition in sixteen-page formes could not have produced alternation at all.
The seven copies checked are those listed in Bruccoli, pp. 40-41. Another book whose quires were imposed in this scheme is Frank Swinnerton's R. L. Stevenson, George H. Doran, 1923.
There are a few exceptions to his rule. Since they cannot be explained as part of a scheme other than the one suggested, they are not considered significant. The initial quire of the book is a four-leaf fold and is, therefore, an exception to all the rules. Its imposition is not considered in this note.
It should be noted that the quires cannot be explained as the result of imposing four outer sub-formes together in the same forme and perfecting with the four inner sub-formes in another forme. This would have produced quires 5, 9, 13, etc., with smooth machined edges at the sides of the last four leaves. A book which was printed by this method is Cabell's The King Was in His Counting House, Farrar & Rinehart, 1938.
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