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The Collation

It's the details thnt matter

There were two odd things happening in last week’s crocodile mystery, which featured an opening from the first English edition of Nicolàs Monardes’s Joyfull newes out of the newe founde worlde (STC 18005). The first was the easier to spot, assuming you paid attention to the information at the top of the page that we don’t usually pay attention to. In the headline (that bit of text that runs across the top of a page usually identifying the book or section of the book being read), there was a “thnt” instead of “that” on the left-hand side of the opening.

"thnt" (sig. C1v)

“thnt” (C1v)

What should the text read? Not “thnt” but “that,” as this correct headline reads:

"The first part of the things that they bring from the West Indias" (A3v || A4r)

“The first part of the things that they bring from the West Indias” (A3v || A4r)

  1. Actually, that’s not quite what the headlines do: there is a section identified as “A Letter” in the midst of the second part—O4v-S1v—that creates problems and the transition from the second section to the third section doesn’t go smoothly either.

Comments

Clever post title, and excellent diagrams as always! Thnnks Sarah 🙂

Simran Thadani — July 8, 2013

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skeleton formes — my favourite! <3

Simran Thadani — July 8, 2013

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