| Introductory page | Main forme work page | Page numbers | Press figures | Vol. | Signatures | Catchwords |
This is a guide to encoding forme work elements, including page numbers, catchwords, signatures, etc.; similar information can be found in the FileMaker Pro Encoding Resolutions Database.
From Bold Stroke For a Husband by Hannah Cowley (pictured on the introductory page to this tutorial):
<pb n="401"><milestone n="Ddr" unit="sig"><mw type="pageNum" rend="align(right)">401</mw>
As shown, the page number should be recorded on
both the <pb> element's n= attribute and as content of the
<mw>. To learn more about the
<milestone> part of the example, see the Main Forme Work page.
If parentheses, brackets, etc. appear around a page number in your OT, you should ignore them and not transcribe them. (18.3)
If your page number looks like "40I" instead of "401", you should not transcribe this as a capital "I" but should transcribe it as a numeral 1 (one). This is because it is a numeral; it is inappropriate to attempt to simulate the appearance of a character by using a different character which happens to look similar. Our transcription reflects the meaning, not the appearance, of individual characters. (6.4.3; Resolution 002)
Ignore completely blank pages which you encounter at the very beginning or very end of your OT, unless they are part of the pagination or collation of the document.
If you encounter two sequential, completely blank pages which do
not occur at the very beginning or very end of your OT, these should
simply be recorded via two <pb> elements:
<pb n="54"><pb n="55">
Since the pages are
totally blank, there is nothing to encode with <mw>. This example assumes that the non-blank,
numbered pages before and after the blank pages are numbered "53" and
"56" respectively. (18.3)
The reference system for a given work is the system a user can use to refer to a given page in the work (for instance when citing the work). Today we always use page numbers, but in the WWP texts, signatures are often more reliable for scholars as a reference system, because they are less prone to error. At the WWP, we encode both systems.
We record the page number as printed on the page in an <mw>. We record the
idealized page number on the n= of
<pb>:
<pb n="401"><milestone n="Ddr" unit="sig"><mw type="pageNum" rend="align(right)">401</mw>
The idealized number is important, because the actual number in the
<mw> may be in error, and so could not be relied
upon for referencing.
Remember that each <pb> starts a
page. Thus the n= attribute with the value
"6" goes on the <pb> before the content of the page that has
the number "6" printed on it, even if the number is printed at the
bottom.
If a document has a different numbering system in the front or back matter, it should be recorded in the same manner as is on the page; e.g., a work that has pages i-vii before the body which is numbered 1-200 should have:
<pb n="i"><pb n="ii">etc.
If a document has multiple sets of numberings (e.g., 1-30 for the first play, 1-25 for the second, 1-34 for the third...), then each set should be encoded as
<pb n="1"><pb n="2">etc.
That is, it is not necessary that each n=
value be unique.
Pages that are not numbered, but are accounted for in the explicit
numbering of the OT (i.e, there simply is no ink on the page, e.g., 1,
2, 3, , 5, 6, ...) should not have an <mw>, (since no page number is printed on the page) but should have the appropriate value
for n= on the <pb>. (In this case "4".)
Pages that are not numbered and are not counted in the OT page
number reference system (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, , , 5, 6 ...) should usually be referred to by the word "facing" and their facing page's
number. (In this case "facing 4"
and "facing 5".) Typically these
will be extra leaves tipped in, such as illustrations. Note that
unnumbered, tipped-in pages of this sort will necessarily come in pairs
(since they constitute the two sides of a leaf of paper), with the odd-numbered page first.
However, note that if you find an unnumbered leaf that continues the flow of the text (rather than something like an illustration), it's less likely to be tipped in, and it's more likely that the page numbering is in error. In this case, follow the instructions for encoding sequencing errors (see below and also entry 81 in the markup database).
If a page number is in error, the correct value should be placed on
n= of <pb>, while the
number as it appears in the OT should be transcribed as the content of
the <mw>, and should have a
<sic> around it:
[an error occurred while processing this directive]<pb n="401"><milestone n="Ddr" unit="sig"><mw type="pageNum" rend="align(right)"><sic corr="401">410</sic></mw>
This document last updated Thursday, 18-Nov-2021 14:09:57 EST