Chapter V: Part II: England and Abroad (2)

In Prestwich Church the desk yet remains, together with the
_Book of Articles_, bound up with Jewel’s _Apology_, 1611; but
the chain has disappeared.

QUATT, SHROPSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

The Rector states:--

Although there is a circular reading-desk of very ancient
date in Quatt Church, supporting two volumes of Foxe’s
_Ecclesiastical History_ and Foxe’s _Book of Martyrs_, I
can discover no trace of a chain, nor could my friend Canon
Creighton, of Worcester.

ROCHESTER, KENT. ST. NICHOLAS’ CHURCH.

The Vicar supplies the following information:--

There is one book chained here--_A Collection of Cases and
other Discourses lately written to recover Dissenters to the
Communion of the Church of England_. By some Divines of the
City of London. London, 1717.

SALFORD, LANCASHIRE. CHURCH OF THE SACRED TRINITY.

Humphrey Oldfield, by will dated April 30th, 1684, left his Divinity books to be placed in the Chancel, with three pounds for the wood-work and chains that they might not be stolen. They became much dilapidated, and early in the present century, says Chancellor Christie, many were rejected and cast out as waste paper. The remnant, 72 volumes, are now safely housed in the Salford Free Library.

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.

The books here were chained long before printing was invented. One of the Canons named Thomas Cyrcetur, who died in 1452, gave some books to the Cathedral Library. In two of them occurs the following memorandum, written in a 15th-century hand upon the inside of the cover: “Cathenādꝰ in libraria noua eccłie ad dei honorē.”

SITTINGBOURNE, KENT. PARISH CHURCH.

The Vicar states:--

The only book here is a large one of Foxe’s _Martyrs_, bound in
wood, with leathern back. Very imperfect. It is now in a church
chest, and has been there for many years. There are no signs of
chains having been attached to the binding.

SOUTHAMPTON, HAMPSHIRE. ST. MICHAEL’S PARISH CHURCH.

The Vicar has sent the following statement:--

Foxe’s _Martyrs_. (=Black letter.=) 2 vols. Folio. With curious
wood-cuts.

_Commentary on Old and New Testament._ 2 vols.

_An Illustrated Bible._ Folio. Not very old.

All chained.

STANMORE PARVA. (_See_ WHITCHURCH.)

STANDON, ECCLESHALL, STAFFORDSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

The Rector has communicated the following:--

We have not a chained Bible at Standon.

Mr. Chancellor Christie says:--

The _Book of Martyrs_ (1583), which was chained to the pulpit
at Standon, has this inscription:--

_William Lovatt gave this book to the Church of Standon, there
to be kept to the use of the parishioners to read in before
and after prayers, on Sundays, holidays, and other convenient
times. That they may see the great happiness they enjoy in
having the free exercise of religion. And if_ GOD _gives them
grace to rise it is to his glory they will be happy whilst
they live here; to all eternity. That so they might do was the
hearty prayer of W. L._

Lovatt was Churchwarden in 1685.

STRATFORD-ON-AVON. PARISH CHURCH.

The Assistant Curate supplies the following information:--

We have a large folio (=Black letter=) Bible with brass
corners, chased and embossed, brass clasps and leathern hinge,
one clasp gone. A brass plate near the top of the outer cover
has the following inscription:--

“WILLIAM WRIGHT AND IOHN NOBLE CHVRCHWARDENS FOR Y^E BVROVGH
STEPHEN BVRMAN AND RICH: GIBES CHVRCHWARDENS FOR Y^E PARISH.
Anno Dom̄ 1695.” A chain is attached to the outer cover near
the back. It has 19 links, each about 2 inches long.

The book is in fair condition except that the title-page to the
O. T. and Dedication are wanting, and all after Revelations,
ch. xx., which is supplied in (=Black letter=) MS. on vellum
leaves. The date is 1611, being the first edition of the
authorised version. There is a remarkable misprint in St. Matt.
xxvi. 36. where the text reads “Then cometh _Judas_ with them,”
instead of _Jesus_. The Bible is usually kept in a cupboard,
but the lessons on Harvest Festivals are read from it.

SUCKLEY, WORCESTERSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

The Rector states:--

There is no chained book in Suckley Church. (See _Notes and
Queries_, 1st Series, VIII., p. 596.)

TAVISTOCK, DEVONSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

The Vicar says:--

Our chained book is Erasmus’ _Paraphrase of the New Testament.
Done into English by Nicholas Udall._ (=Black letter.=) Vol. I.
Folio. London, 1548. The Churchwardens’ Accounts show that it
was purchased for 15_s._ in 1561-62.

We have also a =black letter= volume of Jewel’s _Works_, 1560;
now, like the _Erasmus_, in a very dilapidated condition. This
was also once chained (though there are no signs of it left).
There was also an old Bible, as in the Churchwardens’ Accounts
for 1588-89 we have:--“_Item._ Paide William Trenaman for
Three chaynes of Ire with plates and for the fastenynge of
the Bible, Paraphras of Erasmus and Mr. Juell’s Booke in the
churche ... iij_s_ ij_d_.”

Jewel’s book is now kept locked up in a box and Erasmus in a
glass-covered case, also locked.

Extract from the Parish Registers 1588:--

“_Item._ Paide for a chayne and settinge in thereof, for the
fastenynge of the Dictionarrie in the Schole House ix_d_.”

No longer in existence.

TURTON, LANCASHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

In 1651 Humphrey Chetham, who frequently resided at Turton Tower, in the immediate neighbourhood, left by will certain books to be chained in the chapel of Turton.

The original Catalogue of the Chetham feoffees still exists, at the end of which is the following respecting the cost of chaining, etc.:--

ffor carriedg, casks, &c. 02 08 00

7 dossin and 10 chains and clasps, and fixing 01 03 07

There now stands in the Church of Turton an oak case, with shelves and folding doors, fitted with two iron bars, to which are chained the books; above the folding doors runs this inscription, “The Gift of Humphrey Chetham, Esq., 1655.”

In the year 1855, through the instrumentality of Gilbert J. French, Esq., of Bolton, who personally superintended the work, the books were restored (by rebinding) as nearly as possible to their original state, the chains being fixed, cleaned, and the oak case polished. It now stands in a conspicuous place near the chancel. Size of the chest, 7 ft. 6 in. long, 3 ft. 3½ in. high, 14 in. wide.

None of the books bequeathed to the Parish Churches of Manchester or Bolton can now be found, nor does any trace remain of book-cases corresponding with those still in use at Turton and Gorton.

The old chapel at Walmsley, about three miles north of Bolton, was rebuilt in 1839; but long before that time the Chetham books had been dispersed and lost, and all that remained of the oak case was a portion bearing the inscription: this was removed to Manchester, and now forms part of an oak sideboard in the Chetham Hospital there.

It is supposed that about 20 vols. have been lost or removed from Turton, among them, probably, “a great Bible.”

This is inferred from the circumstance that just so many additional volumes could be conveniently placed in the book-case.

The length of the chains admits of the books being placed on the flat top of the oak case, which forms a desk where they may be conveniently read; but no book can be removed without the use of considerable violence.

It may be remarked as somewhat curious that the works of John Preston, D.D., a voluminous and exceedingly popular author of his time, though suggested for purchase by Chetham to his Executors, do not appear to have found a place in the Libraries of Turton, Walmsley, or Gorton.

WALMSLEY, LANCASHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

In 1651 Humphrey Chetham ordered certain books to be chained in the chapel, but the Vicar states:--

There are no chained books in this Church, which was built in
1839.

(_See_ under TURTON.)

WANTAGE, BERKSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

The Vicar:--

No chained books in Wantage that I know of.

The Vicar of Cirencester says:--I remember, as a boy, the
chained books in Wantage Church.

WELLS CATHEDRAL, SOMERSET.

The Dean sends the following remarks:--

Our Cathedral Library was a chained one, and many of the chains
are still hanging on the shelf, and one or two on the bar over
the book-shelves, but no book is at present in chains. I am not
able to inform you when the chains ceased to be used.

WHISSONSETT, NORFOLK. PARISH CHURCH.

The Clerk, failing the Rector, says:--

He has been 60 years in the parish, and has never known of any
chained books.

The antiquary Dawson Turner, writing to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ in 1846 says:--

My friend Mr. Hart, author of the _Ecclesiastical Records_,
tells me that ... he has seen Jewel’s _Apology_ in Whissonsett
Church, chained.

WHITCHURCH, LITTLE STANMORE, MIDDLESEX. PARISH CHURCH.

The Parish Clerk says:--

There are not any chained books here now; but there are many
chains on the pews where, at one time, people used chained
books.

Many of the Prayer-books given by the Duke of Chandos still
remain chained to the Pues, for the use of the poorer
Parishioners. (Sperling’s _Church Walks in Middlesex_, p. 104.)

WIGGENHALL. ST. MARY THE VIRGIN.

In _Notes and Queries_ for 1853 W. D. B. states:--

In this Church the following books may be seen fastened by
chains to a wooden desk in the Chancel:--

Foxe’s _Book of Martyrs_, in 3 vols., all chained to the same
staple.

_Book of Homilies._

_The Holy Bible._

_The Works of Bishop Jewel_, in 1 vol.

The title-pages are lost from all; in other respects they are
in a fair state of preservation.

WIGTOFT, LINCOLNSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

The Vicar writes:--

There is no book chained here, nor has been for 20 years.

Extracted from the Parish Accounts, 1549:--

Payd for the paraphrase of Erasmus 0 7 0
Payd for a cheyne 0 0 4

WIMBORNE, DORSET. THE MINSTER.

A copy of the Bible was formerly affixed by a chain in Wimborne Abbey; now removed to the Library.

About 240 books are chained in a room over the Vestry, being the largest collection of chained books in the United Kingdom, except that at Hereford Cathedral. The volumes occupy three sides of the chamber. _See p. 3 for account of this library._

WINDSOR. ST. GEORGE’S CHAPEL.

The Dean writes:--

I suppose the report to which you refer has reference to a
large copy of the _Bishops’ Bible_, which has been placed by me
in the niche of St. George’s Chapel, formerly occupied by a
chained Bible; and at an earlier date by some book or books of
devotion, as recorded in an interesting inscription below the
niche.

R. W. Hackwood, writing to _Notes and Queries_ in 1857, says:--

There is a =black letter= Bible chained in St. George’s Chapel,
Windsor. Originally, in an arch opposite the Tomb of Richard
Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, a Breviary of the Catholic
Church was deposited by his order for the service of both
clergy and laity. The Bible now supplies its place and the
original inscription remains.

WISBEACH, CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

The late Dawson Turner mentions four or five volumes, all chained, but reduced by time to covers, and nothing but covers. (_Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1846, I., 151.)

WOLVERLEY, KIDDERMINSTER. PARISH CHURCH.

The Vicar writes thus:--

We have in the Vestry of our Church _A Defence of Jewel’s
Apology_, with a chain attached to it. It is in a very decayed
state. I had a box made for it some years ago.

WOOTTON WAWEN, HENLEY-IN-ARDEN, WARWICKSHIRE. PARISH CHURCH.

Communicated by the Vicar:--

The following books are chained, and placed on a desk in the
Church for reading:--

_Bishop Andrews’ XCVI Sermons._ 1632.
_Bishop Jewel’s Works._ 1611.
_Homilies._ 1673.
_Book of Common Prayer._ 1683.
_Marlorat on St. Matthew._ 1570.
_Calvin’s Institutes._ 1573.
_Topsell on Joel._ 1599. }
_Dod and Cleaver on the Commandments._ 1612. } In one vol.
_Byfield on St. Peter._ 1617. }
_Vicars, John. God on the Mount._ 1641. } In one vol.
_Sermons before the Commons._ 1641-42. }
_Hammond’s Practical Catechism._ 1646.

All rebound and in good condition.

The books were given to the parish by George Dunscombe, Fellow
of King’s College, Vicar, who died 1652, but not chained till
1693.

WORCESTER. ALL SAINTS’ PARISH CHURCH.

The Schoolmaster writes:--

There is a chained Bible in the Parish Church, imperfect at
beginning and end. It is dated 1603. It was rebound some years
ago, retaining, however, the two original covers, embossed
knobs, with centre one for chain.

WRINGTON, SOMERSET. PARISH CHURCH.

The Rector gives the following information:--

I send you a list of the books now in the Vestry, which were
once attached by chains to a desk in the South Chapel of the
Choir. The chains are still affixed to the backs.

When the Church was restored in 1857, they were removed from
the Church and placed on a shelf in the Vestry.

_The Bible._ (=Black letter.=) (James I.) 1617. (Imperfect.)

_Foxe’s Book of Martyrs._ 3 vols. (? date.)

_Roberts, Fras., D.D. Clavis Bibliorum._ 1650.

_Roberts, Fras., D.D. (Rector of Wrington, 1675.) God’s Holy
Covenant._ London. 1657.

_Bishop Jewel’s Apology._ (Imp.)

YORK. ST. CRUX PARISH CHURCH.

The Church of St. Crux has been removed, and the old lectern is preserved in the neighbouring Church of All Saints’ Pavement. It has chained to it the old edition of Jewel’s _Reply to Harding_, which is in fair preservation.

THE USE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SIGNATURES IN BOOKS.

Signatures are the sign or mark which Printers place beneath
certain pages for the convenience of the Binder, and to
distinguish the sequence of the sections (sometimes styled
quires or gatherings) which they print.

The doctrine of development and the survival of the fittest has thrown floods of light upon many dark places in the natural history of plants and animals, and I believe the same doctrine may be made equally useful in the study of bibliography. The halfpenny newspaper of to-day, with its rotten material and blurred impression, seems, at first, to have nothing in common with the beautiful vellum manuscripts of the middle ages; and yet the one is the true descendant of the other, and it was only by slow degrees that the printer’s progeny parted with their family likeness to the aristocratic products of the professional scribe.

The survival of the fittest is plainly shown in the development of signatures. The simple consecutive number which is used by modern printers to indicate the sequence of the sheets, is the true survivor of various ways of signing books from the 9th to the 19th century. It has been customary among bibliographers, especially the older writers, to consider the idea of signing sheets at all as the invention of printers. M. de Marolles says that signatures were first used by the printer Jean de Cologne in 1474; and that among all the ancient MSS. which had passed through his hands, he had not found one with signatures. He declares that many other bibliographers, even more conversant with MSS. than he was, were of the same belief.[8]

De la Serna corrects Marolles, but only as to date, which he takes back to 1472, in which year he says that J. Koelhoff, of Cologne, first used signatures.

Meerman runs wild in his _Origines Typographicæ_; believes in Corsellis, the first Oxford printer, and that he was earliest in using signatures, referring to the well-known _Expositio_ of 1468-(1478) as a proof.

Fischer, in his _Beschreibung typographischen Seltenheiten_, devotes forty-two pages to the question, coming to the same conclusion as De la Serna, and, like him, was quite unacquainted with the use of signatures before the invention of printing.

In England, Conyers Middleton, T. Hartwell Horne, and others discuss at length their origin and first appearance. Middleton, indeed, describes a copy of _Baldi lectura super Codic._, in the University Library of Cambridge (of which he was chief), in which there are no signatures to the first half of the book, but regular signatures through the second half. Although the worthy librarian was sadly out in considering this volume as showing the earliest use of signatures, the fact that we here find the first instance of printers removing signatures to a place close up to the text is a curious instance of the transition from one custom to another, and adds great bibliographical interest to the book. Its teachings will be still further considered later on.

The chief use of signatures was and is for the binder. Binding is certainly as old as books. Signatures are certainly as old as binders. It is conceivable that the early monastic scribe, who made his own parchment, concocted his own writing-ink, copied leisurely, with his own hand, the Bible or Psalter, and, lastly, bound them _propriâ manu_, might complete his work without wanting any signatures to help him; or, at any rate, might be satisfied with placing a catchword at the end of each section as a guide to their sequence. But when the manufacture of books passed from the monk’s scriptorium into the hands of trade guilds, and the increased demand for books caused a great subdivision of labour; and when, instead of one, a manuscript would pass through a dozen workmen’s hands before completion,--then signatures became a necessity, as much for the scribe as for the binder, as necessary for the collation of the early MS. as for the steam-printed novel of to-day.

Let us then begin with the professional scribe, and consider the use of signatures to him. In commencing a book he had first of all to calculate how many pieces of parchment or vellum he would require, which he would then get from the “parchmenier,” who made it his business to cure, dress, sort according to quality, and cut up skins to size ready for his customers. The next process was to rule the down margin lines and the cross lines, between which the text was written, allowing for two pages on each side of the vellum sheet, and leaving space in the middle, between the pages, for the folding. He would then determine how many pieces should go to a section, and counting out his vellum sheets in fours or fives, he would sign each piece at the extreme bottom edge of the right-hand corner. If in quaternions, his signatures were _a j_ for the first, _a ij_ for the second, _a iij_ for the third, and _a iiij_ for the fourth sheet, and so on with every four sheets, through the alphabet. Everything being now ready, the scribe would take the piece marked _a j_, and having written that page and its verso, would lay it aside, and do the same with _a ij_; and not until he had passed the middle of the section would he return to and complete the earlier written pieces, the signatures on which would guide him as to sequence. Thus proceeding from signature to signature, he would finish his manuscript, and hand it over to the binder, whose first duty would be to carefully fold each piece in the centre, and then, having got all his sections in order, he would scrupulously check the sequence by the signatures before beginning to sew them on the bands.

The intention of writing the signatures at the extreme edge of the paper was that, being unimportant to the bound book, and impertinent to the text, they might disappear under the knife of the binder. All the workmanship of that period being honest and thorough, the binding was expected to last as long as the book itself, so that the possibility of a book being rebound and requiring the signatures a second time was never thought of. This position of the signatures is why so few manuscripts show them plainly; although they are still to be found, half cut away, in many books, if the student knows how to look for them.

It is by no means uncommon to find in early books, both manuscript and printed, which have all the rough edges, and have certainly never been under the binder’s plough, that the signatures have altogether or partially disappeared. This, at first, is very puzzling, but, in fact, both parchment and paper varied somewhat in size, and often when the sheets were sewn on the bands by the binder, the irregularity of the edges would be so obtrusively ugly, that the shears were used freely, and the redundancy, often including a part or the whole of a signature, disappeared; yet, to the eye, the volume appears _uncut_. Uncut by the binder’s plough it certainly was, for although the exact date when the plough first came into use is unknown, there is evidence that it was not used in the 15th century. In Jost Amman’s _Book of Trades_ (Frankfurt, 1534) we have the earliest representation of a binder at work. He has a book securely fastened between two strong pieces of wood, by means of screws, and holding it between his knees, he is “ploughing” with a sharp knife through the edges. This, of course, would make the leaves perfectly even, a characteristic never, I believe, found in any “fifteener” which retains its original binding.

In a splendid copy of an early 15th-century Missal at the Mazarin Library, Paris, the scribe has adopted the unusual plan of placing all the signatures in the very back of the sheets, where they could not offend the eye; but, as the binding is loose, they can be collated with little trouble throughout the volume, each signature consisting of four sheets or eight leaves, the first four having bold signatures.

Dr. Ginsberg tells me that signatures are common in early Hebrew MSS. and printed books, although, of course, they run the reverse way.

When printing was invented, no new method of signatures was at first adopted. The Mazarin Bible, for instance, which is a large folio, was printed page by page, and signed by the pen at the foot of the first four rectos of each signature, just as if it had been a manuscript. In the Perkins copy these signatures are visible throughout. When the first printers wanted a smaller size than folio they treated their paper at first just as the scribe treated his skins, cutting it up in half sheets and printing their quarto pages one at a time. We must remember that the first printing-presses were very small in the “platen,” which is the flat surface lowered by the screw to squeeze the paper upon the type; so small, indeed, that although a whole sheet was put in the press, only half could be printed by the first, and half by a second “pull.” Moxon, who in 1693 wrote the first book on the Mechanics of Printing, gives the size of the platen in his “improved” presses as 14 inches by 9 inches, which is much smaller than a sheet of foolscap. This double pull was the source of much bad printing, and made it easier to print single pages than two pages by a double pull.

Returning to the manuscript signatures on printed books, we note that Caxton’s early books show the same treatment. The first book from his Bruges Press, _The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, a fine copy of which is in Her Majesty’s library at Windsor, is signed throughout at the very foot of the pages. So is another book from Caxton’s press, the _Quatre Derennieres Choses_, and a fine copy of _Gulielmi de Saona Rhethorica_ in the Upsala library. Before me is a Cologne-printed book, _Eusebius de morte sancti Jeronomi_, from the press of Ulric Zell, circa 1470, and here the signatures are in MS. throughout, although many of them are half cut away in binding. Perhaps the most interesting instance is the work at Cambridge, already mentioned as quoted by Middleton, who, while noticing the printed signatures, which are not used till the work was partly printed, seems entirely to have overlooked the manuscript signatures, which are all at the foot and run through the work, the MS. signatures being correct, when those that are printed are occasionally wrong. Perhaps nothing will be found to show the transition more forcibly than this; for the printer blundered over the plan of printing the signatures, which was new to him, and had to fall back on the old system. We must here note that the printers could not, without difficulty, copy the custom of the scribes, and print their signatures at foot, because two or three types at a distance from the body of the page would certainly be broken off by the pressure; so finding the MS. signatures troublesome and often hard to read, they tried the plan of stamping them in with types by hand at the extreme edge, nearly always at foot, though sometimes at the fore-edge. This development was scarcely an improvement, and is only found in a few books from the Italian press of the years 1475-76. Then the printers, instead of hand-stamping, tried printing them at the very foot, and by the same pull of the press. This plan had no life in it, and it was then that the bright and bold idea struck a Cologne printer to ignore the ugliness and place his type signatures close up to the solid page. The custom soon spread and became general, and curious it is to notice how this slight development has given rise to numerous mistaken arguments on the so-called “invention of signatures.”

_We may now safely conclude that the idea of books without signatures is a bibliographical delusion._

* * * * *

The following is a list of books in several of our public libraries, by which the reader may, if he so please, verify for himself the foregoing statements. They show the various steps in signature development.

CLASS I.

MSS. WITH WRITTEN SIGNATURES AT FOOT OF THE PAGE.

1.--_Latin Theological Treatise._ XIII cent. (Bod. MSS. No.
1840.)

In quaternions. The sections are all numbered at foot of last
page, but have nearly all been cut away. The leaves were all
numbered _i_ to _viij_ in each section; see especially for a
plain instance section 8. This plan is also seen in Bod. MS.
1841 and others.

2.--_Bible in Latin_, with French illuminations. Early XIV
cent. (Bod. MSS. No. 1848.)

A small thick volume, made up in quinternions. The
illuminations are all deficient in the ornamental flourishes,
which are cut off at foot. The sections were all numbered on
the first recto, but some are gone. The first rectos of each
section are signed at foot _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_.

3.--_Wicliff’s Commentary on St. Luke._ English MS., XIV cent.
(Bod. MSS. No. 1913.)

The sections are all signed on the first folio, at top, in
red numerals, and signatures, letters with numerals, appear
throughout, at foot.

4.--_Prayers, etc._ Small vol., XIV cent. (Bod. MSS. No. 1851.)

Cut in binding, but some signatures left, which appear thus,
the top numerals showing the sequence of the sections, and
the bottom, the first four rectos of the section, the former
changing, and the latter the same in every signature:--

5.--_Poor Caitiff._ English, XIV. cent. (Bod. No. 1843.)

All the quaternions signed on first four pages at extreme
bottom corner.

6.--_Hannapes, N. de. Exempla Virtutum._ Small volume, written
about 1400. (Bod. No. 1860.)

Signatures throughout at extreme bottom corner.

7.--_The Old Testament and Apocrypha._ Englished by John
Wicliff. Written about 1420. (Sion Coll., London.)

Signatures nearly all cut away, but plainly visible at
signature _g_ and onwards, when the following notation is
adopted:--

8.--_Psalterium._ Large folio, dated 1327. (Sion Coll., London.)

This splendid XIV cent. MS. is now nearly deficient in
signatures, although they are still visible at _s_ and _t_.

9.--_Biblia._ 2 vols. large folio, dated 1360. (Guildhall
Library, London.)

A beautiful MS. with a few of the signatures remaining in the
second volume. All those in the first volume have been cut away
in the rebinding.

10.--_Albertus Magnus._ Large vol., XV cent. (Bod. No. 1897.)

Signatures throughout at extreme bottom corner.

11.--_The Chronicles of England._ Folio, XV cent., on vellum.
(Lambeth Palace.)

Sections in quaternions, signed in MS. at bottom right-hand
corner.

12.--_Speculum Vite Cristi._ Folio, early XV cent. (Brit. Mus.,
Arundel, 112.)

Sections in quaternions, signed in MS. with Arabic figures, at
extreme edge of bottom right-hand corner. On the first recto of
each section the number of the quaternion is also given thus:
_ij q_, _iij q_, _iiij q_, and so on, _q_ meaning “quire” (?).

13.--_Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiæ._ Translated into
English. Vellum, XV cent. (Brit. Mus., Harl., 2421.)

Sections in quaternions, signed in MS. on the first four
rectos, at bottom right-hand corner.

14.--_Oriental Manuscript._ “Markemath Pettrī,” “Making wise
the simple.” Arabic, vellum, XI cent. (Brit. Mus., No. 2568.)

Each quaternion is signed with letters and Arabic figures on
the first four leaves.

15.-- _Opus Bedæ_, and other pieces. Vellum MS., IX cent.
(Brit. Mus., 15 B xix.)

The sections, but not the leaves, signed with the Greek
alphabet.

16.--_Joh. Scolastici Scala cœli._ MS. on Vellum, dated 1473.
(Sold at Sotheby’s, Feb. 25, 1889.)

Signed throughout, at the extreme foot of the page, and often
thus, _1 d_, _2 d_, _3 d_, _4 d_, instead of _d j_, _d ij_, _d
iij_, _d iiij_.

CLASS II.

MANUSCRIPT SIGNATURES IN EARLY PRINTED BOOKS.

17.--_Biblia_ (_Fust and Schœffer_). Large folio. Mentz, 1462.
(Bod. Show Case.)

Signed throughout in plain MS. at the extreme corner of the
first five rectos in every section.

18.--_Plinius Secundus. Historia Naturalis._ Jenson, Venice.
Large folio, 1472. (Bod. Auct., N. 1, 2.)

Signed in MS. at extreme edge all through. A copy at the
University Library, Cambridge, is the same.

19.--_Platea, F. de. De restitutione._ Large 4to. Venice, 1472.
(Bod. Douce, 147.)

MS. signatures throughout at extreme corner, although many have
been cut away.

20.--_Plinius Secundus. Historia Naturalis._ Large folio. Rome,
1473. (Bod. Auct. Q. I 1.)

Much ploughed, but remains of MS. signatures plainly visible.

21.--_Gerson, J. Super Magnificat._ (Types of Fyner,
Esslingen.) Folio, 1473. (Bod. Auct. VI Q. III 43.)

A few MS. signatures left.

22.--_Sermones notabilis Magistri Alberti._ Folio. Coloniæ,
Arnoldus Therhoernen, 1474. (Cam. Univ.)

The peculiarity of the signatures here is that they are not
quite at the foot, but written about half an inch from the
bottom.

23.--_Repertoriū Milis de Verona._ Folio. Impressū ꝑ Nicolaū Gotz
de Sletzstat, 1475. (Cam. Univ.)

Signed at extreme corner in MS.

24.--_Panormitanus._ Louvain. Folio, 1475. (Bod. Auct. III Q. V
10.)

MS. signatures at extreme foot.

25.--_Gerson, Joh. Opuscula._ Folio (Strasbourg?) 1475. (Bod.
Auct. .)

MS. signatures throughout at extreme bottom corner.

26.--_The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye._ Folio. Printed
at Bruges by Caxton, c. 1475. (H.M. Lib., Windsor.)

In quinternions, with MS. signatures at foot of every first
five rectos.

27.--_Les Quatre Derennieres Choses._ Folio. Printed at Bruges
by Caxton, c. 1476.

Signed throughout at foot in MS. (Sold at Messrs. Sotheby’s a
few years ago, where I examined it.)

28.--_Epistola Sācti Jeronomi Presbiteri ... de Libris
Salomonis._ Folio. No place or date, but with the types of C.
de Homberch of Cologne, c. 1475. (Cam. Univ.)

Volume II only in the library, which begins at Proverbs.
In quinternions, the book beginning with signature _JJ_,
written at the extreme bottom corner. A peculiarity worth
noting, although by no means uncommon, is the use of a +
upon every fifth recto, to show the middle of the section.
Another peculiarity, not noticed by me in any other book,
is the originality displayed by the scribe who added the
signatures. They run through the alphabet of double capitals,
then follow the double small letters, as usual, up to zz, ⁊
and ꝰ; but instead of then commencing the alphabet afresh,
with another series, the scribe beat his brains as to what
he should do next. _ZZ_ (which was really a duplicate) did
for one, and then a sign like the Greek letter ξ, thus:
| ξj | | ξij | etc.,[9] followed by the words “est” and
“per.” His imagination now exhausted, he bethought him of
the Lord’s Prayer, the use of which I should never have
imagined, till the sequence of the words forced itself upon
me. It is used thus, with contractions: _p’ter j--p’ter
ij--p’ter iij--p’ter iiij_--four leaves unsigned; _qui j--qui
ij--qui iij--qui iiij_--four leaves unsigned; and so on
through--_es--Jn--celis--sāficet’--nomē--tuū--adūerat--r’gnū
--tuū--fiat--volūtas--tuā--sicut_--and here the book ends.

29.--_Aristotelis Ethica._ Folio. Louvain, 1476. (W. B., from
the Klemm Sale.)

Plain MS. signatures through every quaternion.

30.--_Platea, F. de. De restitutionibus._ 4to. Venice, 147-.
(Bod. Auct., Q. inf. I 15.)

In Roman type. Signed throughout in MS. at extreme bottom
corner. Many cut away.

31.--_Quatuor Novissima._ Folio. Cologne. P. de Olpe, n.d.
(Cam. Univ.)

Signed at extreme corner in plain MS.

32.--_Legenda Sanctorum._ Large folio. Printed at Toulouse
about 1480. (Sion Coll., London.)

Signed throughout in bold MS., beginning with _a_, and ending
at _mm_.

33.--_Historia Scholastica._ Folio. Sine ullâ notâ. Types of
Homberch, Cologne (?), no date. (Cam. Univ.)

In double columns, signed in MS. throughout at extreme foot.
The leaves are also numbered in MS. in a peculiar way. The
first 100 folios are numbered 1 to 100; the second lot _a_1
to _a_100; the third _b_1 to _b_101, which ends the volume.
Another copy has MS. signatures also, but well up on the page.

34.--_The earlier Prophets._ A printed Hebrew book. Folio.
Soncino, 1485. (Brit. Mus.)

Signed throughout in quaternions in Hebrew MS.

35.--_Balbi de Janua Catholicon._ Folio. Gutenberg. Moguntiæ,
1460. (Sold at Sotheby’s, Feb. 25, 1889.)

About half an inch having been ploughed off the foot, only
portions of the signatures are here and there to be traced.
In the original state a bold MS. signature, at the bottom
right-hand corner, went through every section.

36.--_Calderini, J. Filii Consilia._ Folio. A. Rot, Rome, 1472.
(Sotheby’s, Feb. 25, 1889.)

MS. signatures throughout at extreme foot.

37.--_Joh. de Imola._ Folio. Venice. J. de Rubeis, 1475.

MS. signatures throughout at extreme foot.

CLASS III.

MS. AND PRINTED SIGNATURES IN THE SAME BOOK.

38.--_Aquinas, Thos. Summa Angelica._ Per Albert Standael.
Folio, 1473. (Bod. Auct. I Q. IV 30.)

Ploughed, but MS. signatures at _b_ 1 and _b_ 5. On _c_
signatures stamped in by hand begin.

39.--_Horatius Flaccus._ Folio. Milan, 1474. (Brit. Mus. C 3, b
3.)

Up to _d_ the signatures are all inserted by the pen, after
which printed signatures are used, both being at the extreme
edge. There are manuscript catchwords.

40.--_Panormitanus._ Folio. Venice, 1475. (Cam. Univ.) Printed
by Johannes de Colonia.

Both MS. and printed signatures run on together through the
volume, and their capricious character must have troubled
the binder. The printed signatures are close up to the text,
and the MS. signatures quite at the foot of the paper. The
printed signatures have Arabic figures, thus _a_ 2, and the
MS. signatures Roman numerals, thus + ij. The two sorts run
together thus:--

Printed MS.
Sigs. Sigs.
a +
b _a_
c _b_
d _c_
e _d_
f _e_
g _f_
h _g_
i _h_
k _i_
l _k_
m _l_
n _m_
o _n_
p _o_
q _p_
r _q_
s _r_
t _s_
u _t_
w _u_
x _w_
y _x_
z _y_
aa * _z_ *
bb ⁊
cc ꝰ
dd ∴
ee _est_
ff _amē_
gg _aa_
hh _bb_
ii _cc_
kk * _dd_ *
ll _ee_
mm _ff_

* = _wanting_

Note the curious custom often seen in manuscripts, where,
instead of sig. _z_ being followed by a series of capitals or
duplicated small letters, certain contractions and signs are
interpolated, and then the new alphabet is begun. The most
common are ꝰ the contraction for “us,” ∴ an algebraical mark,
and “et” or “est,” both very common words in Latin books. The
abnormal use of the letter _w_ in both, as a manuscript and
printed signature, is certainly against typographical custom,
which has always followed the Latin usage.

41.--_Baldi, Ubert._ Lectura super 123 Cod. Folio. Venice, J.
de Colonia et J. Manthen de Gherez, 1474. (Sold at Sotheby’s,
Feb. 25, 1889.)

Manuscript signatures _A_ to _J_; _K_ to _N_ have normal
printed signatures; _O_ to _U_ have signatures in MS.; while
_X_, _Y_, _Z_, ⁊, ꝰ, _aa_, and so on to _nn_, which is the
last, have printed, with occasional MS. signatures.

42.--_Augustinus. Cita d’ Dio._ Without place, printer, or
date, but c. 1478. (Bodl. AA. c 7.)

Normal signatures throughout, but supplemented by MS.
signatures, which are placed at extreme foot.

CLASS IV.

SIGNATURES STAMPED IN WITH SEPARATE TYPES.

43.--_Platea, F. de. De restitutionibus Usurarum et
Excōicatorum._ Folio. Venice, 1473. (Bod. Auct. II Q. inf. I
40.)

The signatures to _De restitutionibus_ are stamped in by hand
with single types. They are at the extreme edge of the sheet
and always close on the “point holes,” the position of which
at that time was always at the extreme top and bottom of every
folio, making four holes for each sheet. At signature _g_ the
plan is altered, and signatures written in by hand, in the same
place, supersede the hand-stamp. Many signatures have been cut
away.

44.--_Horatius Flaccus._ Folio. Milan, 1474 (?) (Brit. Mus. C
3, b 3.)

Here there are MS. signatures up to _d_, where the stamping
begins at the extreme edge of the paper, many having
disappeared under the binder’s knife.

45.--_Seneca. Tragœdiæ._ (_Ferrariæ_), Per Andream Gallicum.
Large Folio. 1474 (?) (Cam. Univ.)

Stamped signatures at the extreme edge of the bottom corner,
rugged, uneven, sometimes upside down, and plainly stamped
in by hand. Signature _a_ is all there; _b_ is all cut away;
_c_ is omitted; _d_, which follows _b_, is all there; _e_ is
signed 2 _d_ on the first recto, and _dd_ on the third recto;
_e_ all cut away; _f_ all there; _g_ all there, and so on up to
_n_. Upon _n_ 3 for the first time the signature is raised up
to the line beneath the text, and so continues to _u_, which
is the last. Brunet notices the copy in the National Library,
Paris, thus: “Nous y avons remarqué, à l’extrémité inférieure
des feuilles des 12 premiers cahiers, et d’une partie du
13^{me} cahier, des signatures qui y ont été apposées après
l’impression, avec des caractères d’imprimerie.”

46.--_Propertius._ Folio. Milan, 1476 (?) (Brit. Mus. C 19, a
9.)

Signatures plainly stamped in.

47.--_Horatius Flaccus._ Folio. Venice (impensis P. de Lavagnia
civis Mediolanensis), 1476. (Bod. Auct. O. 2. 2.)

The signatures begin with cap. _A_, stamped in, and this plan
is pursued through all the quaternions. The signatures are at
various distances from the foot of the text, and all at extreme
edge, many being cut off.

48.--_Aquinas, T. de. Summa Angelica._ Per Albert Standael.
Folio. No place. 1473. (Bod. I Q. IV 30.)

The volume has been ploughed, but MS. signatures remain at
signatures _b_ and _b_ 5. On signature _c_ the signatures are
stamped in by hand, many, however, being cut away.

49.--_Conradus de Allemania. Concordantiæ bibliorum._ Folio.
Strasbourg. Mentelin. No date. (W. B.)

This volume is very peculiar in its method of signature, and
shows in an interesting manner the transitional period between
the manuscript and printed methods of signing. The book is a
large folio, and the sections are quinternions. On the margin,
at the foot of the first recto of each section, the number
of the section is written boldly in black ink, thus: 1^{us},
2^{us}, 3^{us}, etc. = primus, secundus, tertius, etc. Lower
down, in Arabic numerals, is the number of the sheet, which
runs from 1 to 5 in each section, there being five sheets to
each section. Thus, the first sheet of each section has its
specific place plainly marked upon it, while the succeeding
four sheets have a figure only, and nothing to identify them
with any particular section. There are type signatures also,
but these do not assist in this respect, for they are all
stamped in by hand at the extreme edge of the paper, and
consist of four varieties only. Thus all the first quarter of
the _Concordance_, occupying 12 sections, are stamped _a_ 1,
_a_ 2, _a_ 3, _a_ 4, _a_ 5, leaving five leaves unsigned; all
the second quarter, from 13 to 24, are _b_ 1, _b_ 2, _b_ 3,
_b_ 4, _b_ 5; the third quarter, from 25 to 32, are all _c_;
and the fourth, 33 to 42, all _d_. These stamped-in letters
are not true signatures, for, with the exception of the first
sheet of each section, which bears its rotation number, there
is nothing to discriminate them. The type-letters are stamped
very carelessly, often quite omitted, often so close to the
fore-edge that there was no room for them on the sheet,
varying in position with every leaf, and sometimes half an
inch and sometimes two inches from the bottom line. This
irregularity may account for the sheets having MS. numbers,
identical with what are, or should be, the type numbers.
Occasionally, at the extreme foot, is also a third repetition
of the numbers in bright red ink, evidently added by the
rubricator. It is difficult to perceive what particular use
either the MS. or type numbers could serve in this instance.
There is certainly no difficulty in concluding that the
printer’s plan was useless, in case the sheets became mixed, to
himself as well as the binder.

CLASS V.

SIGNATURES NOT STAMPED IN BUT PRINTED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE
TEXT, A LONG DISTANCE BELOW IT, LIKE THE MS. SIGNATURES.

Every one practically acquainted with Typography will see the difficulty of printing one or two letters standing alone at a distance from the page of type; they were certain to be battered from want of support and the wonder is that any printer ever tried the plan.

[Sidenote:

Text.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+-----+
| Sig.|
+-----+
]

50.--_Uberti, Fazio degli, etc._ Folio. Vincent. (Lyons?) 1474.
(Brit. Mus. C 6, b 7.)

There are type signatures throughout, but all at the very
bottom of the page, and at the distance from the text here
given. The exactitude of the distance in consecutive pages
points to the signatures being printed at same time as text.

51.--_Catullus. Opera._ 4to. Venice, 1475. (Brit. Mus. C 19, d
9. Cracherode copy.)

The third book in this volume is _Propertius_, and here,
although they might easily escape the eye, are bold signatures,
printed so near the corner that only a few have escaped the
binder’s knife. They are _B_ 1, _B_ 2, _B_ 3, _C_ 1, _C_ 3, _D_
2, _D_ 3, _D_ 4, _E_ 1, _E_ 2, _E_ 3, and _F_ 1. In the first
two and last books there are no signatures remaining.

[Sidenote:

Text.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+-----+
| Sig.|
+-----+
]

52.--_Uberti, Ditta._ Folio. Rome, 1474. (Brit. Mus.)

The signatures are all printed at this distance from the bottom
of the text, and all at the same distance. If they were stamped
in, they would certainly show some variation.

53.--_Nider, J. de. De contractibus._ 4to. Homborch, Cologne.
No date. (Bod. 2 Q. VI 25.)

Signature _a j_ is blank; _a ij_ is without signature; _a iij_
is signed in type, but at a distance of two full lines below
the text. Type signatures also appear at signatures _b j_, and
_b iij_. The volume has been ploughed.

[Sidenote:

Text.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+-----+
| Sig.|
+-----+
]

54.--_Uberti, Ditta._ Folio. Rome, 1474. (Bod. Auct. II Q 3,
50.)

This is a copy of the same book noticed above, and agrees in
all respects with it; the distance of the signatures from the
bottom line of the page being always the same.

CLASS VI.

THE NORMAL SIGNATURE, PRINTED IN THE LINE JUST BENEATH THE TEXT.

55.--_Mamotrectus._ Folio. Printed at Ergow (Switzerland),
1470. (Bod. Auct. V Q. V 41.)

A book quoted as the earliest known instance of printed
signatures; but this is a mistake, for the numeration of
the various columns of text by a series of letters under
each column has nothing in common with signatures. The MS.
signatures, if any, have been cut away.

56.--_Nider, Johann. Expositio Decalogi._ Folio. Lubeck.
Printed by John Koelhoff, 1472. (Brit. Mus. C 14, b 2.) Also in
the Bodleian.

This is a puzzling book, for it is at least two years earlier
than any other book so signed. In this city, too, many works
were issued with MS. signatures with a later date than this. It
is dangerous to assert that a book is wrongly dated because you
cannot make it fit into a bibliographical theory; but I feel
inclined, from the general aspect of the book, to date it as
1482, rather than 1472.

57.--_Platea, F. de._ Folio. Cologne, 1474. (Brit. Mus. 1275, d
5.)

Here the signatures are printed close up to the text in the
usual way.

58.--_Lucan’s Epigrams._ Folio. Venice, 1475. (Brit. Mus. C 16,
i 9.)

Here the signatures are printed close up to the text in the
normal way.

* * * * *

From these examples, it appears that (1) the scribes, who made books before the rise of printers, used signatures; that (2) the printers began by signing like the scribes, at the very foot of the pages; that (3) for some years they used both MS. and stamped signatures; which (4) gave way to stamping the signatures in by hand; then (5) by printing them in at extreme corner; and, lastly, in 1474, by placing them up close to the page, where they have remained ever since.

We have seen how every book had its signatures, and that the law was to sign the leaves of the first half of every section. We will now trace the development of signatures caused by printing more than one page at a time, and its effect upon the size notation of books.

Paper, although invented many centuries before the discovery of printing, was little used for library books, being looked down upon as inferior in every way to vellum. It was used for school-books such as Donatuses and Cato’s distichs, but not for good books. With the advent of the press this was soon changed. Even if the expense had not been too great, all the skins of Europe could not have supplied the rapacious jaws of the new giant book-maker. So it is that the use of paper for standard books is synchronous with the invention of printing. But with sheets of paper a new development arose: the scribe writing on, page by page, section by section, required his vellum already cut to size, and in this the early printers followed suit--from necessity where the pages were large, and from old custom where small; but paper, being made in moulds, differed from parchment in being always regular to certain fixed sizes; and being easily folded, a new nomenclature for the various foldings became necessary.

Until the invention of printing there appear to have been no particular names for the sizes of books. There are numerous catalogues extant of large manuscript libraries, especially those of Burgundy and France in the 14th and 15th centuries; but although the catalogue writers are minute as to certain particulars, such as the character of writing and the ornamental binding, there is never any mention of size beyond the vague “ung grand liure” for a big History of the World, or “ung petit liure” for a diminutive Horæ. With the use of paper, however, subdivision came in the natural course of events, and sheets folded in half were called folio, in half again, quarto, and in half again, octavo,--a nomenclature as precise as it was novel. Another development was printing two pages at a time, followed soon by four pages. This was done by an arrangement which allowed one half of the sheet to be printed by a first pull, and the other half by a second pull, without lifting the sheet from the press. It also required a special arrangement of the pages of type, which had to be placed head to head, in order to make them read aright when folded.

We have seen how, with folio books, the various sheets were placed inside one another like a quire of paper, and now with the printing in quarto a system of signatures arose which has puzzled bibliographers, viz.: where the first recto of a section is signed _a j_, the second recto blank, and the third signed _a ij_, with all the rest blank. Let the reader take two sheets of common note paper, and folding each, separately, in half, make a representation of quarto. Now mark on the first recto of the first sheet the signature _a j_, leaving three leaves unmarked, and on the first recto of the other sheet _a ij_, and then place the second sheet inside the first, and at once you have a quaternion, with the following series: sig. _a j_--none--sig. _a ij_--none--none--none--none--none. This was really an excellent plan: it answered all the purpose of the binder in collating, and was a natural development It did not, however, take deep root, and the old plan of signing the first four leaves prevailed long after its usefulness had vanished. The octavo size was treated in a similar manner. It is common to find 16th and 17th century books printed in the whole sheets octavo, and signed like the folios and quartos on each of the four first rectos. We may here just notice another peculiarity of signing, and that is where, although the sections have eight leaves only, they are signed upon the fifth as well as the first four rectos, leaving only three rectos unsigned. This had a slight use in telling the binder which was the central sheet of each section, and that he need look no further. It was also a distinct imitation of the scribes, who used a + mark for the same purpose, as already noticed. The Aldus family did not print smaller than 8vo, but the Elzevirs and Plantins used 16mo and 32mo abundantly, the old custom of signing still surviving, and the small alike with the large sections consisting of eight leaves, of which four were signed and four not signed.

The tendency to print small books developed another practice which ought to be understood. Say that it is decided to print a volume in 24mo; this, of course, is 24 pages on one side of the sheet and 24 pages on the other. Take now a sheet of any size, a sheet of note paper will show the working of it as well as any: folded once it is folio, making 4 pages; now fold carefully across into three, that makes 6to, with 12 pages; fold into half again, and that is 12mo, with 24 pages; and again in half is 24mo, with 48 pages. Here the back is too thick and clumsy for binding, so cut the paper into three even parts where you made the second fold, and then treating each third part as if it were a distinct sheet, and signing each on the first four rectos, you have 16 pages to each third. Thus, three complete signatures were printed on one sheet, and then cut up into thirds when bound, with the result that the 32mo book, if judged only by the visible signatures, ought to be classed as 8vo, all the signatures having four signed and four unsigned leaves.

_We now see that all sizes being signed alike, the signatures
cannot with early printed books be any guide as to size._

So much for signatures. There are many other peculiarities which might be noticed, but when the above are understood, other variations explain themselves.

THE EARLY SCHOOLS OF TYPOGRAPHY.

The celebrated cause of “Mayence _v._ Haarlem,” which has occupied more or less the attention of all the literary courts in Europe for the last three centuries, has still to wait for anything like a unanimous verdict. German writers listen with contempt to any argument in favour of Coster’s claims; and, shutting their ears, keep shouting, like the Ephesians of old, “Great is Gutenberg of the Germans.” On the other hand, our Dutch friends hold fast to their “beloved” but shadowy Coster, and, while admitting that Gutenberg’s efforts were successful, raise after him the cry of “Stop thief!” Let me, then, as one who claims neither nationality, suggest that it may be just possible--nay, probable--that the invention was truly but independently made in both countries.

With regard to the claims of Haarlem, it appears to me that Dutch bibliographers place too much reliance upon the _external_ testimony, such as the historical evidence of Junius and the old bookbinder, the occurrence of the name of Coster in old records, old portraits, _et hoc genus omne_. All these are open to doubt, or even to denial. It is possible that the story of Junius is entirely fictitious: there is certainly no evidence to establish the identity of the Coster who figures in certain contemporary documents with Coster, the asserted inventor of movable types. In fact, the denial of Coster’s very existence may be accepted, even by his friends without any real damage to the claims of Holland, because the _internal_ evidence, as it seems to me, is unassailable. Some one printed those early specimens of the _Speculum_ and _Donatus_, and printed them with Dutch-cut letters, in the Dutch language, and with a rudeness which no one who had learnt in the far superior school of Gutenberg would have adopted. Whatever his name may have been, the relics of his workmanship remain; so, if only for the sake of precision, let us call him Coster.