Archaeology of a Book: An experimental approach to reading rare books in archival contexts

Signature

"A small capital letter or numeral usually placed by the compositor in the white line (tail margin) immediately below the text of the first page of each section of a book. Letters or numerals are assigned in sequence and serve three purposes prior to publication of the book. The compositor and machine manager find it easier to identify a forme by its signature mark than by page numbers; the warehouseman is guided by them when folding sheets to form sections; and the machine binding operator follows the sequences when laying out sections in the stations of an insetting or gathering machine for subsequent stitching." (Glaister, 445)

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