University of Virginia Library

Unsigned Gatherings

Many music books, even as early as from the press of Ottaviano Petrucci,
used the same title-page for each part, with the minimal adjustment of
changing the part-name. This was eminently practical, saving not simply
the labour of setting up the type each time, but also the more time-consuming
work of centering each line, and arranging the whole into a standardised,
possibly pleasing ensemble. By early in the seventeenth century, this practice
was sometimes extended from a simple title-page to a complete bifolio, with
title on the first recto, and perhaps a dedication, a Letter to the Reader, or
a table of contents on the other three pages. Very frequently, these two
folios, which needed no change except for the part-name, could be printed
as a separate gathering. Then, this initial gathering need not be signed, so
that even the signature would not need to be changed.

• 30. Graziani: Hinni Vespertini, Op. 21. Rome: successori ai Mascardi, 1674.

• RISM G3690. Copy at Lucca, Seminario Arcivescovile.

• Quarto: [C1:] π2 A-E8; [C2:] π2 F-I8; [A:] π2 K-M8 N6; [T:] π2 O-R8; [B:]
  π2 S-V8; [Organo:] π2 X-Z8 &12.

In the next example, Muti's compositor allowed for the unsigned gatherings
of lower partbooks in his signing pattern:

• 31. Graziani: I Messe à 4-5, Op. 18. Rome: Giovanni Angelo Mutii, 1671.

• RISM G3685. Copy at Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale.

• Quarto: [C1:] π2 A-D4 E6; [C2:] [F]2 G-H4 I6; [A:] [K]2 L-P4; [T:] [Q]2
  R-T4 V6; [B:] [X]2 Y-Z4 Aa-Bb4; [BC:] [Cc]2 Dd-Ff4 Gg6.

• Signatures: No signatures in any first gatherings, then $1-2, +E3, I3,
  V3, Gg3.

• 32. Istas Alias Sacras cantiones, ed. Sylvestris. Bologna: Ignatio de Lazzari,
  1664.

• RISM 16641. Copy at Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale.

• [C:] π2 A-E4 F6; [T:] π2 a-e4; [A:] π2 1-3C4; [B:] π2 D4, 2D6; [Organo:] π2
  A-K4.

• Signatures: C,T,Org:] A2 [$1-2, + C:F3, B:D3. C:C2 signed E2; T:d2
  signed d.

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211





• A:] C, C2; Ci, Cii; Cj, Cij.

• B:] D, D2; Di, Dij, Diij.

• Note. This book illustrates one situation where music in parts benefits
  from a slight modification to standard practice. The conventional
  pattern, for example $1-2, is fine for single books (such as choirbooks),
  and works well when all gatherings are of the same size, as
  in many examples above. If only one or two gatherings are anomalous,
  the pattern can still be followed with an entry such as "$1-2,
  +C3, F3", or as for this example. But there are many books, as in
  Example 2 above, where each partbook has the same pattern, of
  four-folio gatherings signed to folio 2, and a final six-folio gathering
  signed to 3: and there are others, such as Example 21, which
  include gatherings of two sizes. In these cases, the compositor normally
  signed the longer gatherings to folio 3. Then, it is simpler to
  use the formulation "$1-2, 1-3", with the implication that the different
  signing patterns correspond to the different gathering sizes.
  This is a valuable modification of Bowers' practice, not so much
  because his pattern causes problems in understanding what happened,
  but because this formulation makes clear that the signing
  patterns are completely straightforward and normal.

In this case, it is certain that two craftsmen were involved, and that
there was little contact between them. One man set the Cantus, Tenor and
Organ books, using the common pattern in which each partbook was signed
sequentially starting with A: it is interesting, too, that he seems to have
intended to use a different form of the letter for each book, in the manner
shown in Examples 34-36. As was customary, the Organ was signed as if
independent of the rest of the parts. The second man set the Altus and
Bassus according to the pattern I have just been describing, and assumed
(without checking) that Cantus and Tenor would be signed A and B respectively,
therefore beginning the Altus with the letter C.

The following book shows a common extension of this seventeenth-century
practice of an introductory gathering, one that implies a certain lavishness
in presentation and the use of white space, a lavishness often at odds
with the poor quality of type, paper, and workmanship.[19]

• 33. Cazzati: Salmi di Terza, Op. 53. Bologna: s.n., 1669.

• RISM C1654. Copy at Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale.

• Quarto: nine partbooks, signed sequentially A-I.

• Note. In each partbook, a preliminary gathering of four folios is taken
  up with preliminary material, in the following manner: A1r, blank;
  A1v, blank; A2r, Half-title; A2v, blank; A3r Title; A3v, blank; A4r,
  Dedication; A4v blank.

This was obviously laid out so that it could be used in every partbook,
with only the part-name changed. Despite the extravagant use of paper, a
large number of seventeenth-century musical books seem to have had half-titles,
and quite a few also had a blank folio, preceding that or the title. In
many cases, of course, these blank folios have subsequently become lost, or
(more probably) used for some other purpose. Yet it is an aspect of describing
these books that we determine whether what looks like a fly-leaf was not
in fact a blank first folio of the book itself.