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Notes
Fredson Bowers, "An Examination of the Method of Proof Correction in Lear," The Library, Fifth Series (1947), II, 35 n.1.
This paper is a part of a larger study of Nicholas Okes' printing practices upon which I am engaged. Dr. Greg and Professor Bowers agree that in reconstructing the method of printing employed in Lear "we are bound to explain the peculiarities as the necessary outcome of some normal method of working" (W. W. Greg, The Variants in the First Quarto of "King Lear": A Bibliographical and Critical Inquiry, p. 45, as quoted in Bowers, op. cit., p. 40).
Charlton Hinman, "Principles Governing the Use of Variant Spellings as Evidence of Alternate Setting by Two Compositors," The Library, Fourth Series (1940), XXI, 78-94.
So far as I know, the only published examples of the extensive application of the spelling test are those offered in Professor Hinman's article.
Evidence supplied by the running-titles proves that printing started with B gathering, and that A1-A2v (containing the title-page and preliminary matter) was printed with M1-M2v by full sheet imposition. After printing, the sheet was divided. I have, therefore, arranged the pages in order of composition: A1-A2v follows M2v.
The evidence in certain pages is insufficient, and in five cases, somewhat ambiguous. The appearance of a single final y on the title-page is certainly insufficient evidence for assigning the page to A; but as A composed the two following pages, it seems reasonably likely that he set the title-page too. This suggestion becomes even more likely when we note that the pages immediately preceding the title-page (in order of composition) were also set by A. On pages E1, F2v, G1, H2v, and I2v we find a single final ie spelling conflicting with a preponderance of final y spellings; and on F2v, G1, and H2v conflicting with I'le forms as well. On E1, the form bodie appears as the final word of a full line, and the unexpected spelling may be explained as the method adopted for justifying the line. The spellings on G1, H2v, and I2v seem to be inexplicable exceptions to A's normal spelling habits. The conflict on F2v, however, is capable of explanation, and suggests a third characteristic that may be of some use in distinguishing the two compositors. The word merrie appears on the fourth line from the bottom ofthe page. In the preceding line, the word do appears three times, each time spelled do. On the last line of the page the word appears spelled doe. A tabulation of the occurrence of do/doe forms throughout the book reveals that B shows a marked preference for the doe form; A is predisposed toward the do form. It would, therefore, seem probable that Compositor A set the first 33 lines on F2v, and was then relieved by Compositor B who set the remaining four lines and the three following pages. (A similar case is cited by Professor Hinman, op. cit., p. 90).
As in the previous tabulation, words invariably spelled with a final y by both compositors are not included.
The evidence provided by the running-titles proves that printing began with text gathering A. As in The White Devil, the title-page and preliminary matter, consisting of two pages signed a, were printed along with the final two-page gathering by full sheet imposition. The running-title appearing on the versos reads "The History(ie) of the two". Four such running-titles are used. Two read "Historie", and were, I believe, set by Compositor B. The other two, reading "History", were probably set by Compositor A.
On certain pages the evidence is inconclusive, and on others, somewhat ambiguous. The one ie form on the title-page is hardly sufficient evidence to assign the composition of the title-page to B. On A4, one ie spelling (curtesie) conflicts with twenty y spellings. The same word, this time spelled "courtesie", appears on H3v, where it conflicts with ten final y spellings. On B4v, the form "weie" (for weigh) appears twice. I believe "weie" may have been A's normal spelling. On D4 and F3v, the spelling "busie" occurs; and on D4, we also find "obloquie". On the strength of these two ie forms on D4, plus the single Ile form and the one spelling doe, the page should probably be assigned to Compositor B. To do so, however, upsets the quite regular alternation that precedes and follows. On G3v, G4, and G4v, the single ie spellings seem to be inexplicable variations from A's normal habits. On B1 and D1, pages clearly composed by B, we find the form Il'e. A possible explanation may be that B, attempting to follow his copy closely, misplaced the apostrophe in setting the word.
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