Approved:

 

Thesaurus: Printing and Publishing Evidence

Term: Blind impressions

Hierarchy: [Pressman's work]

Scope Note: Use for accidental impressions of uninked bearer type on a blank page or part of a page.

Use For: Impressions, blind

Broad Term: Accidental impressions

History Note: New term proposed from Lilly Library, Indiana University. Approved, January 2009

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 Proposed Term: Blind impressions

 

Thesaurus: Printing & Publishing Evidence

 

Submitted by: Elizabeth Johnson

 

catalog record with term: OCLC #6695474

 

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Term record as found in AAT (mandatory):

Blind impressions does not occur in AAT, but the following related terms do:

 

Printing Terms: 

 

Blind embossing:

(Creating raised letters or designs without ink, foil, or other color.)

BT <surface marking processes and techniques> - embossing

 

Blind stamping:

(Impressing an image into a surface using a tool that is cut intaglio with a complete design, resulting in a relief image. In bookbinding, distinguished from "blind blocking" in which a machine is used instead of a hand tool.)

BT <surface marking processes and techniques> - stamping (marking)

UF blind stamping; blind-stamped; blind stamped; blind-stamping; stamping, blind

 

Impressions (prints)

(Use when emphasizing the individual image produced by a single instance of printing. For printed images more generally, use "prints.")

BT prints (visual works)

 

 

Binding Terms:

 

Blind tooling

(Tooling, using implements which are usually hand-held and heated, without the addition of gold leaf, silver leaf, or color; often on leather or cloth.)

BT Tooling

 

Blind blocking:

(Blocking without the use of gold leaf, silver leaf, or color, usually involving a heated block or frame. In bookbinding, distinguished from "blind stamping" in which a hand tool is used instead of a machine.)

BT Blocking

 

Impressing

(Producing indented marks or decorations on a surface by pressing with a shaped tool; used especially with reference to decorations created by pressing a shaped metal or wooden stamp or a coggle wheel into soft clay before firing.)

BT <surface marking processes and techniques> 

 

 

Stamps (marks)

Impressed, printed, perforated,or embossed marks made by a hard object, especially a die, block, or other tool, on a softer material such as paper or wax.

BT <marks by process or technique>

 

 

Term record as found in LCSH (mandatory): 

Printing:

 

Not found

 

Binding:

 

Blind tooled bindings

UF Blind-stamped bindings

UF Bookbinding $x Stamped bindings

UF Stamped bindings, Blind

UF Stamped bookbindings

UF Tooled bindings, Blind

RT Bookbinding

RT Embossed bindings

 

Term record as found in GMGPC (mandatory): 

Blind impressions was not found, but the following related terms were:

 

Blind stamps

(Symbols or other devices embossed or impressed without ink onto paper or other material. Often used to identify the creator, printer, publisher, or owner. )

UF Stamps, Blind

BT Marks (Symbols)

 

Embossed prints

(Prints in which the image is formed largely by the paper being forced into relief by pressing it into the hollows of the printing plate or block, usually without ink.)

BT Embossed works, Prints

 

Inkless intaglio prints 

UF Blind Embossed Prints

(Prints made without ink; portions of the paper forced into relief create the image.)

BT Embossed prints, Intaglio prints

               

Term record as found in GSAFD (mandatory): 

Not found, but not really a genre of work.

               

Term record as found in MeSH (mandatory): 

Not found.

                 

Term record as found in MIGFG (mandatory): 

Not found, and not a motion picture.

   

Term record as found in the Oxford English Dictionary, 2^nd edition (mandatory): 

Not found as a compound term, but

 

blind a: III Transferred 7 d Bookbinding. Ungilt; cf. blind-blocking, -tooling in 16 

7 a. Dim, as opposed to bright or clear; dim, like faded writing; indistinct, obscure. Now mostly fig

 

blind v: 8. trans. In Bookbinding, to stamp in (a pattern) without gilding.

 

impression n: 1. The action or process of impressing, in various senses: esp.    a. The action involved in the pressure of one thing upon or into the surface of another; also, the effect of this.

  2. a. A mark produced upon any surface by pressure, esp. by the application of a stamp, seal, etc. Hence, any depression, indentation, etc. such as would result from pressure; also, the figure produced by stamping or sealing; a cast, mould, copy.

 3. a. The process of printing. Now rare.     b. The result of printing; a print taken from type or from an engraving or the like; a printed copy.

 

 

Term record as found in Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary of the English Language (mandatory): 

Not found as a compound term, but

 

 

blind a: 5 defective, incomplete, abortive; 6 lacking in light or brightness; 6d impressed or tooled without gilding, inking or coloring; 7 difficult to discern, make out, or discover

 

impression : 2 the effect of product of an impression a an indented stamp, embossed, form, or figure resulting from physical contact usually with pressure

Term as found in Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2^nd edition (optional): 

Not found as a compound term, but

 

 

blind: 17 Bookbinding. (of a design, title or the like) impressed into the cover or spine of a book by a die without ink or foil

 

impression: 5 a mark, indentation, figure, etc., produced by pressure

     

Term as found in source/hierarchical displays/definitions, other sources, &c.:   

 

ABCs for bookcollectors, 8th ed.: "Blind impression, a term invented by incunabulists but now more widely used, refers to the impress of bearer type on a blank page, or part of a page, which sometimes throws light on the circumstances of the book's printing or on the identity of its neighbor in the press."

 

 

Ronald B. McKerrow. An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, second impression with corrections, (Oxord: Clarendon Press, 1928): "When the edge of a frisket sheet is caught between the type and the paper, the frisket is said to 'bite'. Blades (Caxton, p. 318) instances a case of 'bite' in the Speculum Vitae Christi [c. 1487], and also cases of small blocks of disued type-matter being used as bearers(1) and giving a blind impression (op. cit., p. 130)" p.46-47

 

Footnote (p. 47) "1 When a page happens to consist of only a few lines at the top, the rest being blank, it is evident that unless something of a height equal to the type is placed in the lower part of the page the platen, when brought down on the type, will be subjected to a very unequal strain. To remedy this, blocks of wood of type-height called 'bearers' were generally placed in blank pages. Occasionally, however, blocks of type which had been printed from and which were waiting for distribution were used for the same purpose. These naturally would be prevented from printing by the frisket through which they would give a faint 'blind' impression. If no frisket was used such 'bearers' of type would, if they were perfectly clean and were not accidentally inked, equally give a blind impression, but this would probably be sharper than those which we usually find."

 

 

David F Foxon. English Verse 1701-1750: A Catalogue of Separately Printed Poems with Notes on Contemporary Collections. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1975) p. 106 "Most copies have the words 'Candour' and 'abuse' on the title apparently painted in red over a blind impression." (C26, from 1739)

 

 

ISTC:

ib00058500 The Hague RL (acquisition 1993. On f.1 verso the blind impression of a woodcut, Conway 38.6:1) 

ib00933200 Blind impression of two lines of type at the foot of 10b

ia00205600 Traces of the frameline of Device A have printed out on 1 verso; in the copy Cambridge UL a blind impression of this device is distinguishable (BMC)

ie00102050 Blind impression of a woodcut on the title-page, see BMC

ig00298350 Imperfect, wanting the first leaf. A blind impression of 229b (dd 5) is distinguishable on the blank page 242b

ig00628500 The blind impression of two lines of type 175G. is distinguishable on 18a

in00243200 Blind impression of heraldic stamp on the title-page

ip00108000 The blind impression on the title-page is made up of parts of text on 2b

ip00402900 The BL copy has a blind impression from Thomas Aquinas, De articulis fidei which belongs to the tract volume H 8589. 

ip00404600 BSB-Ink dates 1478 on the basis of a blind impression of type from H 6737

ip00997000 The blind impression of bearer type is distinguishable on 1b

is00471000 IA.49023 is a variant copy with leaves 21, 22 (d3,4) in a different setting up. On leaf 1a, in IA.49022, a blind impression in type 145G. is distinguishable

iv00332000 A blind impression of type 175G is distinguishable on 1b

 

 

OCLC #266812696 CUD copy: " In some copies, the page number on p.65 was covered when printed, leaving only a blind impression."

#47246350 :"In t.1., the inner form of the first gathering has been struck off without ink, so that the letterpress appears in blind impression on both t.-ps. and on p. vi-vii."

#29782136 :"Leaf 2A2 has a blind impression, preceding printing of recto and verso, from type of the inserted preliminary leaf (containing the bookseller's dedication to the Archbishop of Cologne). The puzzling implication is that the sheet was on the press three times, the first time receiving a bearer impression from the type of the insert."

#136360872 UBY copy: "Blind impression of prelim. leaf 4."

#42732771 "In the New York Public Library copy a blind impression of this sentence is visible on the t.-p., and the cognate leaf, a₈, has on its recto a repetition of the text of a₇ verso."

#151767309 "Blind impression of five lines of text on t.p.;"

 

 

William Blades. The biography and typography of William Caxton, England's first printer (London: Trübner, 1877)

"In sig. e [gothic] there are several instances of the side notes having been blocked out in the printing. Pressmen call it "a bite." "(p. 314)

"In short pages we often find a few lines of matter put at the bottom, which was blocked out by the frisket, and answered the purpose of a "bearer." Several instances occur in the "Godfrey," at the Public Library, Cambridge; and also in the "Life of Our Lady" at the British Museum.  In "Speculum vitae Christi" we actually find "a bite," half of the bottom line remaining unprinted." (p. 130)

 

Binding related:

 

 

Raymond John Prytherch. Harrod's Librarians' Glossary of Terms Used in Librarianship, Documentation and the Book Crafts, and Reference Book (Brookfield, Vt.: Gower, 1990) 

Blind: lettering on a book or other article without using gold leaf or colour

Blind blocked: lettering on book covers ...

Blind embossing: Raising paper in a pattern

Blind stamping: Embossing lettering or a design on to a book covers whether by hand or in a press, without using gold leaf or color.  Also called 'Antique', "Blind blocking' and 'Blind tooling.'

 

 

 

 

Matt T. Roberts and Don Etherington Bookbinding and the Conservation of books (online: http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/don.html )

blind impressions

Virtually the same process as BLIND BLOCKING , except that it generally applies to hand tooling. In blind impressions, there are generally two impressions of the tool or letter, the first made through the design or lettering on paper with a warm tool and a second done directly on the impression. This second step assures an evenness and straightness of the impression, and, because the impression through the paper is larger, the second makes the final impression the correct size. (Hewitt-Bates, James Samuel. Bookbinding. 8th ed. Leicester. Dryad. 1967.)

 

 

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Heading:

 

 

Bearer-type impressions

 

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Hierarchy:  

 

Printing and Publishing Terms

 

SC rbpri Printing Terms

 

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Proposed SN: 

 

Use for uninked impressions of type that was used as a bearer.

 

Warrant (if necessary): See discussion

 

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UF: 

 

Blind impressions (Printing)

Impressions, Blind (Printing)

 

or

 

Blind impressions (Presswork)

Impressions, Blind (Presswork)

 

Warrant (if necessary):

 

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BT: 

 

BT Bearer impressions

 

Warrant (if necessary): 

 

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NT:

 

Warrant (if necessary):

 

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RT: 

 

Bearer impressions.

 

Warrant (if necessary): 

 

Although, Bearer impressions does not seem to be consistently a BT, it is frequently an accurate description of what the Blind impressions are doing on the piece.

 

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HN:

 

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Comments: 

 

James, initial comments: I wrestled with the broader term and scope note and am eager to hear input. Carter clearly states that Blind impressions are used for the uninked impressions of bearer type only, and there is a good deal of usage to support this, but there is also a fair amount of usage to support the a more general definition. In particular McKerrow seems to use it to refer to the result of the bearer impression, and Foxon seems to use it to refer to something intentional. 

 

Furthermore, determining that uninked impressions are bearer impressions requires the visualization of the ideal copy of the book, a task which might be impossible for some books, and which might prove challenging to inexperienced catalogers. Allowing post-coordination with Bearer impressions allows the more precise usage, but avoids a stumbling block associated with Blind impressions.

 

The current scope note and BT also seem to follow the pattern of Blind embossing from the AAT and "Blind intaglio prints" (actually Inkless intaglio prints) from the GMGPC, and it seems reasonable for the term Blind impressions to follow the same pattern.

 

 

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_________________________________________________________________

AAT [Getty’s Art & Architecture Thesaurus]

GMGPC [Library of Congress’s Thesaurus for Graphic Materials]

GSAFD [Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, etc. (2nd ed.)]

LCSH [Library of Congress’s Subject Headings]

MeSH [National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings]

MIGFG [Library of Congress’s The Moving Image Genre-form Guide]