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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]
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