In my experience, catchwords are well in use in manuscripts even as far as the
1830s. I have worked with correspondence (mostly American and European) in
manuscript form and have found that they are not consistently used but the
relative frequency is quite high. I suspect that like now, often it would have
been difficult for the reader to ascertain the page order of lengthy documents
if catchwords were not used and the flow of thought was not particularly clear.
This is true for both private correspondence and clerical work done for the
government. Catchwords are especially useful when the original manuscript has
been microfilmed--if not, I find myself trying to read the bleed through text
to figure out page order . . .
Hope this helps
Bradley
Bradley J Daigle
bjd2b@virginia.edu
The Papers of James Madison
Alderman Library
University of Virginia
-----Original Message-----
From: John Renjilian [SMTP:jrenjilian@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 01:44 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: catchwords
I am interested in knowing whether or not it was ever a common practice to
use catchwords in manuscript. I am looking at a 1783 German edition of
William Lewis' New Dispensatory (Neues englisches allgemeines
Dispensatorium)in which the front fly leaf has been filled with a numbered
list, which appears to be a list of steps for preparation and use of a plant
called Astragalus excapus {A. exscapus in Hortus 3), attributed to Professor
Carminati (Bassiano Carminati, Italian physician and medical writer,
1750-1830); my literacy in German script is quite low, I'm afraid, there are
only a few terms I can make out. The item in question is lower right recto,
in usual catchword position, where the writer has inscribed "7.)", serving
as a catchword for the first item verso. Since this list is only two pages
long on a single leaf, already bound in, and presumably for the writer's own
convenience and use, I can see no practical reason for such catchword
useage. I am not well acquainted with manuscript practice of the period
(the list is dated 31 July 1790), but I don't recall seeing this use before
and am curious as to whether this is something I've overlooked, simply a
idiosyncrasy of the writer, common practice generally or specifically in c18
Germany, or some other explanation. I have always thought that catchwords
were the practice in printing rather than manuscript; the newly posted Roger
Gaskell glossary agrees that it was a printing practice.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
John Renjilian
The Pages of Yesteryear
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