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Notes
Respectively, these collating machine descriptions are: Vinton A. Dearing, "The Poor Man's Mark IV or Ersatz Hinman Collator," PBSA, LX (1966), 149-58; Richard Levin, "A Poor Man's Collating Machine," Research Opportunities in Renaissance Drama, IX (1966), 25-26; Gerald A. Smith, "Collating Machine, Poor Man's, Mark VII," PBSA, LXI (1967), 110-113.
With any copy substitute of the original text page the chief problem is one of achieving uniformity within the page, a matter that is discussed thoroughly in George R. Guffey's "Standardization of Photographic Reproductions for Mechanical Collation," PBSA, LXII (1968), 237-40. The term "reprography" is rapidly gaining currency and familiarity in discussions of modern photoreproduction methods, and I use it here to indicate any reproduction process in facsimile by simple photographic or by electronic-photographic process. See: Julius J. Marke, Copyright and Intellectual Property (1967), pp. 72ff.
Very recent information on the progress in electronic computerized instruments (for instance, an electronic scanner coupled to a computer) that will "read" book text and so be applicable to textual bibliography may be found in this source: R. S. Morgan, "Optical Readers," Computers in the Humanities, III (1968), 61-64.
For a report on a computer collation project that has been in progress for some time, see Vinton A. Dearing's Methods of Textual Editing (1962), pp. 18-20; 27-30. See also Vinton Dearing's review of Dom Jacques Froger's La Critique des texts et son automatisation (1968) in Computers and the Humanities, IV (1969), 149-54.
Although there are perfectly ordinary recommendations for users of instruments employing the principles I describe, there are presumably only beneficial effects to be derived from the eye exercise involved. Manuals for users of U.S. Army stereoscopes — which employ for an entirely different purpose the optical principle of my Mark I Comparator — state that the experience of non-convergent viewing, or looking into infinity, will not produce eyestrain for anyone having normal eyesight, whether natural or corrected. In fact, it is suggested by these manuals that operating this kind of instrument develops and strengthens the eyes. One ought, however, to place a restriction on the number of hours of operation at the instrument without interruption or rest (as must be done with most optical devices), depending on individual factors affecting efficiency.
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