Question about odd obsolete layout
(Apologies if this isn’t the right forum. This is my first post here.)
I’ve noticed some books from the 1700s, for example this one,
http://books.google.com/books?id=sAoPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3
put part of the first word from the next page at the bottom of each page. I’d never seen this before!
Usually to learn more about something I type it into Google and see what pops up but I have no idea what this technique is called.
What was this next-word preview for? Something to help people who had trouble turning the page quickly?
This book also has codes like A2, B etc on the last line of most pages. What was this for? Something help binders put the sheets together? How did it work?
17.May.2008 7.49am
Books used to be sold as loose leaves (actually in the form of folded ones) and one had to have them bound.
The “preview word” you mentioned were meant to help the bookbinder to put the pages in the correct sequence.
Don’t know about the A2, B etc.
. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO
17.May.2008 9.11am
What was this next-word preview for? Something to help people who had trouble turning the page quickly?
I think particularly when texts are made to be read aloud. See John Hudson’s contribution at the end of this thread. Don’t know if there’s a name for it.
This book also has codes like A2, B etc on the last line of most pages. What was this for? Something help binders put the sheets together?
Yup, that’s a signature mark.
17.May.2008 10.57am
This is called a “catchword.” The phenomenon appears in both manuscripts and printed books.