University of Virginia Library

This note derives from investigation for a Bibliography of Restoration Drama under grant from the Research Council of the Richmond Area University Center.

For various examples, see my "Bibliographical Evidence from the Printer's Measure," Studies in Bibliography, II (1949), 153-167.

If we reject this, we are forced into the alternate hypothesis, which has its difficulties, that though the Q9 printer had access to an example of Q4 he could not obtain it as printer's copy, and so contented himself with making notes of its title-page and of its F2 abnormality. But as Dr. Hamilton points out, such a case would be very odd indeed; moreover, it would force us into accepting Q1 as the quarto used for collation to provide the variant readings.

For running-title evidence applied to the size of an edition, see Charlton Hinman, "New Uses for Headlines as Bibliographical Evidence," English Institute Annual (1941), pp. 207-222.

Dr. Hamilton's evidence, available in complete form in her University of Virginia dissertation on the text of The State of Innocence, leaves no doubt that in the pages in question Q8, and not Q4 or any other edition, served as copy for Q9, even though annotated by a few revisions from an earlier edition. The two exceptions noted are the change of was to is on G1r, noticed by Dr. Hamilton, and the correction on C4v of Q7-8's "And that fair light which glides this new made orb" to the Q1-6 reading gilds. Neither correction would seem to be beyond the capabilities of the Q9 compositor.

If the proof-reader were the collator, there is some difficulty to assigning the reason why he stopped so early, whereas a reason may be adduced for the compositor. Moreover, a check on seven copies of Q9 does not disclose correction of these formes in press. However, such proof-corrections could have been managed, albeit with delay, before printing the formes. If there is indeed a relation between the printing of C(i) before C(o) and the isolation on C1v of these revisions, the compositor was probably casting off copy and setting by formes, which in this case would mean no more for him than making a paginal reprint of the inner forme of C in Q8. But it is as possible to suppose that he started regularly with C1r and found no variants worth marking until he came to C1v.