QUIRES C AND D The Mad Lover
II.ii-V.iv
Presswork
In Skeleton I the foot of the T in RT I is nicked on C1,
D4 and subsequently but is whole on C3 and C4; Rule 18 is bent at 5.90
cm. on C4v and subsequently but not so bent on
C1v and C2v;
Rule 12, which appears on C3 and C4, is replaced by Rule 13 on C1 and
D4. These details show C2v:3 and C1v:4
to have been machined
before C1:4v and D1v:4. Rule 24 is bent
on C1 and C4 but not so
bent on C3; Rule 16, which appears on C3, is replaced by Rule 17 on C1
and C4. Thus C2v:3 was machined before
C1v:4 and C1:4v.
In D1v:4 the The of RT III is reset at
D1v and Rule 24
is bent out at 1.30 on D4. D1v:4, then, must have been
machined after
all the formes of C imposed in Skeleton I; and the evidence, taken together,
proves that these formes were worked in the order
Skeleton: |
I |
I |
I |
I |
Forme: |
C2v:3 |
C1v:4 |
C1:4v
|
D1v:4 |
Center-rule: |
28 36 |
33 28 |
28 36 |
32 -- |
In Skeleton II Rule 3 is nicked at 7.80 throughout D but not so nicked
on C2, and Rule 4 is bent left on D1 but not so bent on C2.
C2:3v was
thus first printed. Rules 7 (nicked at 14.85), 8 (nicked at 15.40), and 9
(bent right at the top) all appear damaged on D3v but not
on D2v,
showing that D2v:3 preceded D2:3v. The
appearance on D2 and
D3 of Rule 5 (which may be the imprint of the foot of another rule)
suggests, though it does not prove, that D2:3v was run
directly after
D2v:3. The order of printing of these formes was either
Skeleton: |
II |
II |
II |
II |
Forme: |
C2:3v
|
D2v:3 |
D2:3v
|
D1:4v
|
Center-rule: |
32 29 |
29 32 |
33 29 |
28 -- |
or
Skeleton: |
II |
II |
II |
II |
Forme: |
C2:3v
|
D1:4v
|
D2v:3 |
D2:3v
|
Center-rule: |
32 29 |
28 -- |
29 32 |
33 29 |
Composition and Distribution
As shown by the graphs, types reappearing in Quires C and D fall
into two quite distinct clusters. One embraces all Quire C but C2 and is
linked by B3 type (C graph, lines 1 and 2) with the typecase from which
Compositor B set his pages of Quire B. The other embraces C2 and Quire
D (where D4 is a part-page and D4v a blank) and is linked
by B2v
types (D graph, line 1) with Compositor A's previous work. That all the
aberrant types discovered in Quire C (that is, types that should be found in
material set from Case A rather than Case B) are C's
suggests
the borrowing of some
of these italic letters from Case A, and that all the aberrant types in the
Case A pages come from C3a may indicate that the column was distributed
primarily into Case A rather than into Case B as indicated on the Quire C
graph (line 14), although if this were true the C3a types, unless covered by
C2:3
v types simultaneously distributed, would be expected
to reappear
in D2
v rather than D3.
The two clusters of reappearing types accord well with the two
spelling patterns which in Quire B served to distinguish Compositor B's
work from Compositor A's, making it generally clear that Compositor B set
all Quire C but C2 and that Compositor A set C2 and Quire D. The two
near(e) spellings in C4a, where five unusual
dye spellings also occur, are found in the song, set in italics,
on
that page; they could possibly indicate another hand but are, I think, more
likely to be an uncharacteristic response on Compositor B's part to copy of
a different nature from that of the text. The one B1b type appearing on C4a
(C graph, line 9) is in the song; if it is correctly identified, the song would
at least have been set from Case B.
Although there are a few inevitable obscurities, the Quire C graph
allows us to follow Compositor B's work with some precision. If we
suppose that B began work on C2v immediately after he
completed B4,
we can roughly represent the temporal relationship between the activities of
the two workmen as follows:
While Compositor A set: |
B1 |
B4v
|
C2 |
Compositor B set: |
C2v
|
C3 |
C3v. |
The graph, however, clearly implies that B4
va was
distributed into
Case B between the composition of C3
va and
C3
vb (line 7).
Because the sequence given above would have B4
v on the
press while
C3
v was composed, it is probable that the relationship was
more like
the following, where X represents an interval in Folio composition:
While Compositor A set: |
|
B1 |
B4v
|
C2 |
Compositor B set: |
X |
C2v
|
C3 |
C3v. |
Since B3 types reappear in C2
v (lines 1 and 2), work must
have begun
with this page, perhaps after the partial distribution of B3
v
(lines 3 and
4). The B3
v types reappear in a peculiar way. When types
were
distributed and reused immediately to set the material under scrutiny, we
most often find a spate of recognizable letters followed by the occasional
and rather isolated reappearance of other letters from the same source (as
in lines 5, 6, and 7). Types from B3
v, however, reappear
sporadically
from the first, even though of the sixteen types recognized on
B3
v
fourteen reappear somewhere in Quire C. Had the B3
v
types gone into
non-Folio matter whence they were later distributed for reemployment in
Section 1, we would expect a group of them to show up in a subsequent
quire. Here it seems instead that the distribution of B3
v
began and was
suspended, an insufficient number having been returned to the case to cover
up the layer of B3 types already
in the boxes. Why much of B3
v was left standing for a
while is not
apparent, but it looks as though the remainder was not returned to the case
until after C2
v was completed and before C3 started,
whereupon the
types were blanketed by the further distribution of B4 (lines 5 and
10).
[18] The composition of C3 ensued,
following which the forme was imposed in Skeleton II with CRs 28 (from
B4) and 36 (from B3
v) and sent to press. While
Compositor B was
engaged with C3 or C3
v, Compositor A set C2, so
that C2:3
v was the second forme ready for the press.
From this point
on, Compositor B seems to have set C1
v:4 and
C1:4
v without
significant irregularity, the priority of C1
v:4 being
indicated by the fact
that C2
va types only reappear on C4b (line 12) whereas
C1 and
C4
v contain types from C2
va as well as
types from C2
vb and
C3 (lines 13-15). So far the evidence points to the following order of
printing:
Skeleton: |
I |
II |
I |
Forme: |
C2v:3 |
C2:3v
|
C1v:4 |
Center-rule: |
28 36 |
32 29 |
33 28 |
When other evidence relating to the order of printing was examined
earlier, it was concluded that of the formes imposed in Skeleton II either
D2v:3 or D1:4v must have followed
C2:3v through the press.
Because D2v type reappears in Quire D (D graph, lines 13
and 14) but
D1:4v type does not[19], we may
be sure that the first of the two possible orders is correct and that
D2v:3 was the next forme after C2:3v to
be machined in Skeleton
II. Moreover, the reappearance of D2v type later in Quire
D indicates
that it was the first forme of the quire to be printed, and the earlier
reappearance of its type than type from C1 (lines 15 and 16) shows that
D2v:3 preceded C1:4v through the press.
Thus the scheme for the
order of the printing may be continued as follows:
Skeleton: |
I |
II |
I |
II |
I |
II |
Forme: |
C1v:4 |
D2v:3 |
C1:4v
|
D2:3v
|
D1v:4 |
D1:4v
|
Center-rule: |
33 28 |
29 32 |
28 36 |
33 29 |
32 -- |
28 -- |
Insofar as composition is concerned, however, it is obvious from the
reappearance of the C2:3
v CRs (32 and 29) and C2 types
(lines 7 and
8) in D2
v:3 that Compositor A did not begin setting Quire
D material
immediately after he completed C2. Although the text contained in the two
quires was divided between the workmen more-or-less evenly, Compositor
B being responsible for seven pages and Compositor A seven and roughly
a half (D4, on which the play ends, contains thirty-one lines of text
followed by a prologue and an epilogue, both brief), it seems that
composition was rarely simultaneous. Compositor A probably set C2 at
about the same time that B set C3
v, but the compositors'
singlehanded
work on so many formes must have been necessary because both were from
time to time engaged in other pursuits, returning to Quires C and D as
occasion permitted.