Wednesday, December 26, 2012

74. The signatures of In the key of blue

Last week I wrote about the signatures of the gatherings in a proof copy and compared them to the signatures in the regular copies of the first edition of John Addington Symonds's In the key of blue and other prose essays (1893). The first edition was published in late January 1893 and the gatherings are lettered from 'A' to 'T', but a proof copy has them lettered: 'A*' to 'T*'.

After removing the asterisks and before printing the entire edition, the signatures were  moved to the right. The 'A*' is below the letters 'na' in the word 'cinnabar'. In the regular edition the 'A' is below the letters 'ab', whether copies have a blue or a cream coloured binding.
Signature A* in a proof copy of J.A. Symonds, In the key of blue and other prose essays (1893)
Signature A in J.A. Symonds, In the key of blue and other prose essays, first edition, regular issue (1893)
This separates proof copies from the regular ones. However, there are more copies with the signature placed more to the left (under 'na'). Fifty copies of a 'Large Paper Edition' were printed on Arnold unbleached handmade paper, dated 1891. There is a limitation statement on the verso of the title page. In these copies the 'A' is also positioned below 'na' in 'cinnabar'.
Signature A in J.A. Symonds, In the key of blue and other prose essays, first edition, large paper issue (1893)
The book was reprinted in the Summer of 1893 with an edition statement on the verso of the title page: 'Reprinted July 1893'. Copies of this edition have the 'A' below the letters 'na' as well. This is true for all later editions. There was a third edition in 1896 and another reprint was issued in 1918.
Signature A in J.A. Symonds, In the key of blue and other prose essays, reprint (1893)
However, one can see that there is a small difference between the position of 'A' in the reprints in comparison with the other editions: all the reprints have the 'A' slightly more to the right than in the proof copy or the large paper edition and more to the left than in the regular copies of the first edition.

From the correspondence of J.A. Symonds we know that the publisher had stereotypes made after the first edition had been printed. On 20 March 1893 Symonds wrote: 'Since the type is moulded, there will be no question of making additions or alterations in a second edition; & the book can be printed without my seeing proofs'. James G. Nelson, in his book The early nineties. A view from the Bodley Head (1971) mentions that 'molds' were listed in a transcript of the final inventory sheets of the firm (c. 1894).

We can deduct from this that the later editions were all printed from moulds. For these the signatures of the gatherings were adjusted: the 'A' was moved slightly to the left - it should be pointed out that the signatures of all gatherings underwent these small changes.

The regular edition had been printed from type that had all signatures more to the right. It was usual to print the large paper copies after the regular edition, and this means that the signatures were adjusted three times: 
1. the asterisk was removed after the proofs had been corrected and the signature was moved to the right (below 'ab'), and the regular edition was printed; 
2. the signature was moved to the left (under 'na'), and the large paper edition was printed;
3. the signature was moved to the right (under 'na'); the plates were stereotyped.

And there is more...