6

diately after the sentence These discoveries are sufficient to 'raise hope and instigate inquiry', which will be found on p. 147, 11. 7-8, of Dr. G. B. Hill's edition of the Letters, vol. i, and is as follows:

'One hint more may deserve to be added, though it is not very likely that you will have any opportunity of turning 'it to profit. It is recorded by those that have with the greatest diligence examined the first essays of typography, and particularly by Naudaeus the Librarian of Cardinal 'Mazarine, that the stamp or insigne by which Fust marked ' his editions were Horns, and I have read an advertisement of 'a Book offered to sale in Holland that was so stamped: 'For these horns I have looked to no purpose in the books printed by Fust which are commonly known, yet since it cannot be doubted but that there are yet in the world books so marked I believe you may consider them, if ever you 'should find them, as printed before 1458, for those printed 'after that year I think, always want the stamp.'

The following is a list of corrections, made with reference to Dr. Hill's edition of the letters, as being the most generally accessible text :

p. 145, 1. 1.

1. 6.

For

In every place' read 'Try every
place,'
For connected' read' collected'. (N.B.
Rightly printed by Barnard, and in the
Committee Reports, etc., but wrong in
Croker's ed. of Boswell, 1848, p. 196).

1. 15. For books' read 'loads '.

11. 18-19. For prevails' read' prevail'.
1. 20. The word 'Italy' is actually omitted in
the MS.

p. 146, 1. 12. 1. 20.

1. 24.

1. 27.

1. 28.

p. 147, 1. 8.

After inquiry' insert passage printed above.

1. 10. For edition 'read' editions'.

ERIC G. Millar.

BLANK LEAVES OR ALTERNATIVE TITLES

6

BY GEORGE WATSON COLE, L.H.D.

N the Huntington Library is a copy of The Second Comedie of Pub. Terentius, called Eunuchus, 1629. This, of itself, would mean little, as Miss Palmer in her English Editions and Translations of Greek and Latin Classics (p. 104) records a copy in the British Museum (press-mark, 833, f. 30/2), and Another impression' in the University Library, Cambridge (Syn. 7. 62. 2492). The peculiarity of the copy in the Huntington Library lies in the fact that it has two titlepages printed on the same sheet (¶). In the first of these the imprint reads: LONDON, | Printed by A. I. and are to 'be fold by Nicholas Bourne at the | South entrance of the Royall Exchange. 1629.' The imprint of the second titlepage reads: reads: LONDON, | Printed by A. I. for Philip Waterhouse, and are to be fold at his | fhop at the figne of 'St. Pauls Head, in Cannin ftreet neere | London stone, 1629.' The recto of leaf ¶3 contains The Speakers of "[this] | Comedie'; its verso and leaf ¶4, C. Sulpitius 'Apollinaris | his fummarie argument | vpon the Eunuch.' Both of these leaves are printed in triple columns. The volume collates as follows: ¶4, A-ZA, Aa-Ff'; Gg (the last, probably blank, lacking); total 124 leaves. That the last leaf is probably blank is presumed from the fact that Gg3

contains on its recto and verso Errors to be corrected."

This copy is unusual, if not unique, as it has two title-pages with different imprints printed upon a single sheet. In an examination of some six or seven thousand volumes printed prior to 1641, this is the only example we have met with so

printed. The explanation appears to be quite simple. The book bears prima facie evidence of having been printed for two stationers. The printer, when he came to print the preliminary leaves, found that he had a leaf which otherwise would remain blank and printed upon it the title-page with the second stationer's name in the imprint, leaving the binder to cancel one or the other when the quota of copies for each was being made up. In this copy the binder neglected to do this, hence its unusual character. These title-pages are printed from the same setting of type with the exception of the imprint. This was easily done, as the first was printed on the outer form, and the second, with the imprint changed, on the inner form.

We have just seen what the printer did. Let us now follow the sheets of this book a little further and see what was done with them. When Bourne sent his quota of the edition to the binder, he would naturally instruct him to carefully remove or cancel the title-page containing the name of his fellow stationer. Whitehouse would likewise give similar instructions to his binder.

This discovery raises several interesting questions. When the bibliographer finds a copy with the Bourne imprint, he of course collates it and decides that sheet A lacks the second leaf, which he naturally assumes has been cancelled, as is indeed the case; but he will almost certainly infer that the leaf was blank, or contained a suppressed dedication or some other printed introductory matter, and will so describe the book, never suspecting that it contained a second title-page.

If, instead of a copy with the Bourne imprint, the bibliographer picks up one containing the Whitehouse imprint, he will find the first leaf lacking and naturally jump to the conclusion, as he has done in numerous other instances, that the missing leaf was probably blank and lacking.

This discovery in the Huntington copy leads us to pause

and think. Are we at all absolutely sure that any copy of a book lacking one of the leaves of the first or preliminary sheet can be satisfactorily and accurately described until a copy has been found which contains all of the leaves, and especially if copies are known with differing imprints containing the names of two or more stationers, as in the case of the book here described? Both title-pages are printed on the original sheet A, in neither has the title-page been cancelled and a cancel printed, as is often the case where the original title-page has been cancelled and another, printed on a separate leaf, tipped in to take its place.

Finally, are we to consider this a sporadic example, or were the Elizabethan printers accustomed to follow this hitherto unsuspected practice? I am much interested to know if any one has discovered a similar example of a duplication of title-pages.

In the same volume and before the Eunuchus is bound The First Comedy of Pub. Terentius, called Andria. This closely follows the typographical style of Eunuchus, but is from the press of a different printer, though it was printed for one of the same stationers, as shown by the imprint which reads: LONDON, | Printed by Felix Kyngston for Philip 'Waterhouse, and are to be fold at | his fhop at the figne of 'St. Pauls Head, in Cannin streete neere London-Stone. 1629.' This has but one title-page, which is printed on leaf [¶2], and is followed by leaf ¶3, both showing portions of the watermark. It would be interesting to know if leaf [¶] was originally left blank or contained a second title-page.