Members of this list are in an excellent position to introduce a English-language term. All we need is for at least three people to agree on a term, and use it in a publication, right?
This is exactly how the word “boojum” became a standard term in fluid dynamics, or so I’ve been told by physicist friends. A major scholarly journal didn’t want to accept “boojum” in an article that N. David Mermin wrote about the phenomenon. The editors argued that you can’t just declare there’s a term for something if no one else has used it, so Mermin would have to use one of the various round-about descriptions of the phenomenon instead. Legend has it Mermin contacted colleagues around the world, convinced a few of them to use “boojum” in papers submitted to more lenient scientific journals, then successfully used those publications as supporting evidence in his battle.
Possible candidates:
I’ll be teaching “The History of Printed Book Illustration in the West” at Rare Book School this coming summer, so if list-members could come to a consensus on terminology before, say, May 2021, that would be great :)
Best wishes,
Erin.
______________________
Erin Blake, Ph.D. | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare
Library | 201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003 |
[log in to unmask] | www.folger.edu | Pronouns: she/her/hers
From: Ad Stijnman <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: October 1, 2021 10:56 AM
To: Announcement list for BlocksPlatesStones <[log in to unmask]>;
Erin Blake <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: English term wanted
Thanks, Erin,
I now remember the word 'factotum' indeed, but wasn't aware it was only used for the smaller border blocks for initials.
Checking my dictionaries for the printing trade I find: factotum initial (English) = initiale encastrée (French) = Kassetteninitiale (German). This would be the combination of the surrounding block (= factotum) and the inserted initial.
Perhaps 'one-piece border block' might be suited?
Best wishes,
Ad.
Op 01-10-2021 16:20 schreef Erin Blake <[log in to unmask]>:
I’ve also never come across a specific term in English. For me, it usually comes up when I want to distinguish the one-piece kind from the kind made up of four pieces (or eight, if it has corner blocks) so I’ll say “one-piece border frame” rather than “separate border blocks arranged to make a frame.” The advantage of mostly talking about them rather than writing about them is that I can then say “It’s like a factotum initial, but instead of a little space for a piece of type, there’s a big space for another block.”
Cheers,
Erin.
______________________
Erin Blake, Ph.D. | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare
Library | 201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003 |
[log in to unmask] | www.folger.edu | Pronouns: she/her/hers
From:Announcement list for BlocksPlatesStones <[log in to unmask]>
On Behalf Of Elizabeth
Savage
Sent: October 1, 2021 10:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: English term wanted
Ines, this is one English term we all might might spend a very long time searching for!
I’ve seen 'passe-partout' used for (fairly small) woodblocks with a (fairly small) hole for type, for example to allow a serial number in moveable type or an initial. I don’t believe I've seen the term used for a larger border, with a larger hole.
I’ve seen ‘frame’ used for a woodcut intended to surround another, and ‘border’ when a woodcut surrounds text. I don’t know if this is standard, though, and ‘frame’ in this context might imply the imitation of a physical frame.
I don’t know if there is a specific term for the woodblock(s) used to print a border, or if there needs to be. Would a descriptive approach, something like ‘woodblock for a border’ or ‘woodblock for a frame’, be appropriate?
--
All best
Elizabeth
On 1 Oct 2021, at 14:52, Ines Vodopivec <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I would be most interested in the final result of this debate. Being of Slavic origins I am searching for English terms very often...
Best,
Ines
---
doc. dr. Ines Vodopivec
2021-10-01 15:48, je Ad Stijnman napisal
Thanks, Armin,
I think title-border / Titeleinfassung would be the term for a decorative border around the letterpress text of a booktitle; zie example. This would be the term used after printing, i.e. for the image as it eventually appears on paper. However, I'm looking for the name of the cut woodblock itself.
Best wishes,
Ad.
Op 01-10-2021 15:03 schreef Armin Kunz <[log in to unmask]>:
German book people usually use the term "Titeleinfassung"
In English I would use "title-border"
Greetings from NYC
Armin
From: Announcement list for
BlocksPlatesStones <[log in to unmask]>
On Behalf Of Ad Stijnman
Sent: Friday, October 1, 2021 8:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: English term wanted
Dear All,
Could anyone help me out, please? What would be the English term for what I call a 'border decoration block'? It concerns a 16th/17th-century decoratively cut woodblock with a hole in the middle into which fits another woodblock, the whole to be printed together; see examples attached. The 16th-century French term is escarreur. Any German term would also be appreciated.
Best wishes,
Ad Stijnman.
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