University of Virginia Library

IV. Analysis of Quires

In what follows I offer as a sample analyses of four quires, B through E, excluding for lack of space much of the data upon which the examination is based.[16] Each quire is examined in turn except Quires C and D which, for reasons that will be obvious, are taken together. Evidence pertaining to presswork and revealing information about the order of printing is first considered, then evidence from types recurrences and spelling, which bears on the way in which type was composed and distributed and the identity of the compositors doing the work. For each quire but B, the first, it has been convenient to summarize the type recurrence data and the spelling evidence on graphs organized like those in previous sections of this study, but with these differences:

One last matter pertaining to the evidence deserves mention: the effect of proof-correction upon the pattern of type recurrences. As Hinman discovered and as has been found in previous sections of this study, most recognizable types reappear because they have been distributed and reset in routine fashion, but a few do not, having become dissociated from their fellows in some extraordinary manner. These are aberrant types. One way in which a type can become aberrant is through press-correction. Collation of fifteen copies of the Folio has turned up press-variants on two dozen pages of Section 1, some of which were heavily altered in as many as three rounds of correction. None or these variants involves any of the types represented on the graphs, but some may have become aberrant through press-corrections that have not been discovered.

QUIRE B The Mad Lover I.i-II.ii

Presswork

In Skeleton I Rule 14 was replaced by Rule 15, which continues into subsequent quires, an indication that B2v:3 preceded B1v:4.[17]

Composition and Distribution

The following types and rules appear in B2v and B4v:

and the following in B3 and B4: The reappearance of type from both pages of B2v:3 implies that this forme was printed and distributed before either B4 or B4v was set and hence before either B1v:4 or B1:4v was machined. That it shares no types with B2:3v suggests that B2:3v was run either immediately before or immediately after B2v:3 and the fact that B2:3v was not distributed until Quires C and D were in progress (C graph, lines 3, 4, and 6; D graph, line 4) indicates that B2:3v followed B2v:3 through the press. There is no way to prove that it was not composed before B2v:3, but its later machining clearly suggests that its composition also followed. Since B4 type reappears before B1 type (C graph, lines 5, 9, and 11), B1v:4 must have preceded B1:4v. The order of printing was thus:      

Skeleton:	I	II	I	II
Forme:	B2v:3	B2:3v	B1v:4	B1:4v
Center-rule:	29 28	30 36	32 28	-- 29

Because B2v type is found only in B4v and B3 type only in B4, it is unlikely that both type pages of the forme were distributed into the same type case, and spelling evidence indicates that two compositors were at work in the quire, Compositor A setting B1-B2v and B4v and Compositor B setting B3-B4. The two runs of pages are distinguished by the following variant spellings:

We may conclude that the quire was set from two typecases by two compositors, their division of labor pretty certainly indicating that they worked more-or-less simultaneously for most of the quire:        

Case:	A	A	A	A	A
Compositor A:	B2v	B2	B1v	B1	B4v
Case:	B	B	B
Compositor B:	B3	B3v	B4

The fact that Compositor B left A alone to set B1:4v suggests that he was temporarily off the job, and there are signs in Quire C that his attention may have been given briefly to other work.

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 C2:3v types simultaneously distributed, would be expected to reappear in D2v 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 B4va was distributed into Case B between the composition of C3va and C3vb (line 7). Because the sequence given above would have B4v on the press while C3v 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 C2v (lines 1 and 2), work must have begun with this page, perhaps after the partial distribution of B3v (lines 3 and 4). The B3v 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 B3v, however, reappear sporadically from the first, even though of the sixteen types recognized on B3v fourteen reappear somewhere in Quire C. Had the B3v 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 B3v 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 B3v was left standing for a while is not apparent, but it looks as though the remainder was not returned to the case until after C2v 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 B3v) and sent to press. While Compositor B was engaged with C3 or C3v, Compositor A set C2, so

that C2:3v was the second forme ready for the press. From this point on, Compositor B seems to have set C1v:4 and C1:4v without significant irregularity, the priority of C1v:4 being indicated by the fact that C2va types only reappear on C4b (line 12) whereas C1 and C4v contain types from C2va as well as types from C2vb 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 C2:3v CRs (32 and 29) and C2 types (lines 7 and 8) in D2v: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 C3v, 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.

QUIRE E The Spanish Curate I.i-II.ii

Presswork

Skeleton I imposed E1v:4 and E2v:3; II imposed E1:4v and E2:3v. E1v, properly page 26, bears the page number 28 which also appears correctly and set in the same type on E2v, the numerals evidently having been carried with the running-title from the latter page to the former. In addition, a bend at 16.05 in Rule 20 is more pronounced on E4 and subsequently than on E3. These details show that E2v:3 was printed before E1v:4. A nick in Rule 28 at 1.20 appearing on E4v but not on E3v indicates that E1:4v followed E2:3v. E3, page 29, is misnumbered 27, but because the types are different from those appearing on E2, the true page 27, this fact has no significance for the order of printing.

Composition and Distribution

Within Quire E some types are found on both E1v and E2 (line 11) and since E2:3v was printed early and E1v:4 late, the following order is implied:

     

Skeleton:	II	I	II	I
Forme:	E2:3v	E2v:3	E1:4v	E1v:4
Center-rule:	35 29	36 33	-- 31	34 32

Because in previous quires the first forme set and machined was $2v:3, this sequence seems quite odd; moreover, part of the typographical evidence in Quire E is garbled in such a way as to suggest that the ordinary affinity between presswork and composition was lacking. Two graphs are shown, the first constructed on the assumption that for some reason not apparent E2:3v was set first and the second constructed on the assumption that, as usual, E2v:3 preceded. Since E2b type appears only on E1v, E1v:4 is shown in both as the last forme, although the only obvious advantage accruing from the prior composition of E1:4v would have been the temporary gain of a little time, for E1 bears a head-title and only about two-thirds the text found on full pages.

Both graphs indicate that E1-3v were set from Case A by Compositor A and that E4-4v were the work of a new man, Compositor C, who in this quire is most readily distinguished from his fellow by a preference for

I'l(l) and an aversion to the short forms do-go which A sometimes admits. That Compositor C was working at Case B is not demonstrable, although for the reasons given above (p. 141) it seems likely that he was. The one D1a type on E4va (line 16) probably must be regarded as aberrant and discounted. It is thus troublesome to find no link between E4v and E4 established by D1v:4 types carrying over into E4 (lines 12-14) because the possibility is thereby opened that E4 was set from a third case to which Compositor C would have moved after the completion of E4v. This is not impossible, but it is simpler to suppose that no D1v:4 types appear in E4 because they were thoroughly covered by new types from D1. We discover next to no evidence for the distribution of D4a (line 15) because that column contains only two identified types in its sixteen lines of text.

If we take it that E2:3v was first composed and machined, it would follow that since D1:4v was imposed in Skeleton II some time would have elapsed between its printing and the imposition of E2:3v in the same skeleton. During this interval D3, C4v, and D2:3v could have been distributed, so that our first graph shows types from these sources reappearing in a way that suggests no very pronounced relationship with the sequence in which the pages were printed, except that D3va would have been last distributed (lines 1 and 2). The intermingling of these types might have occurred if they were used in intermediate work, but three other anomalies remain difficult to account for: the apparent distribution of C4v after D3v (lines 3 and 4), the very early reappearance of aberrant types from D1v and D1 (lines 13 and 17), and the absence from E1 of all previously recognized types but one (line 4).

The assumption that E2v:3 was first composed and machined has different consequences. In this event the order of printing would have been

     

Skeleton:	I	II	II	I
Forme:	E2v:3	E2:3v	E1:4v	E1v:4
Center-rule:	36 33	35 29	-- 31	34 32

Here the discontinuation falls between E2:3v and E1:4v, and at least one of our earlier anomalies subsides. E1 in fact contains a good many types which show up later in the section; their initial appearance on E1 suggests that non-Folio matter was distributed into Case A just before that page was set, an assumption that accords with the presumed interval at that point. In addition, as the second graph shows, the aberrants from D1v and D1 fall in a more acceptable place, and the distributions of D3 (lines 1 and 3) and D2 (lines 5 and 6) appear in the sequence of their machining. C4v (lines 2 and 9) remains rather awkward unless we suppose that most of its distribution was delayed until E3va, but on the whole the second graph tells a more orderly and more reasonable story than the first. What seems to have happened, then, is that Compositor A, having completed Quire D, continued with E2v:3 and E2:3v. At this point work was interrupted. Before it resumed, A distributed some non-Folio material in preference to E2v:3, which was to remain standing until Quire F's composition, and then fell to work on E1 and E1v as Compositor C set E4v and E4. By the time E1v was reached, E2v:3 and E2:3v were equally available for distribution, and A happened to choose E2b first.