English and Medieval Studies [faux printed signature]

It is on Deagol's web site in his article "Facsimile Signatures
(Nasty Tricksy Hobbits)". There is a faux printed signature under the Pamela Chandler picture.




http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/tricksy.php

Heh! I was just on his website and found your reply waiting for me when I got back here. Thanks to both of you!

Interestingly (to me) there is actually an indentation of the signature to the verso of the frontispiece on the copy I just got, and it is uneven (deeper on some strokes than others). Makes me wonder what sort of printing process they used - were these stamped on? Or did someone trace the signature off of this particular copy?

According to Scull (Christina Scull, that is; aka Mrs Findegil) - the signature was

'printed by letterpress, and is indented into the paper, as if it might have been written by a pen. In fact the practice of printing signatures below frontispiece portraits is quite old...'
('Signatures, labels and values', by Christina Scull, The Tolkien Collector no.15, Feb. 1997. p.18)


I seem to have a rare, un-indented copy. Oh, well..

Thanks for that quote garm. Makes me wish those two would get cracking on those old back issues of TC!

Incidentally, I see Trotter is even editing your posts for you too Urulókë *chuckle*

BH

i had a look at my copy and the signature is the rare, un-indented copy, like garms.

I also had not noticed the original price on the book until now, 50 shillings in 1962, this was a very expensive book when it came out.

In our two copies, the impression of the signature on the plate is very shallow, but can be detected by touch, if a finger is sensitive enough, or by looking at the back of the plate with a raking (sideways) light. In letterpress printing, in which inked letters and images are pressed into the paper, the depth of impression will vary according to the preference of the printer -- some like a deep indentation, others only what is called a 'kiss', and everywhere in between -- and the depth may vary slightly also through the course of the print run as a result of wear of the printing materials or mechanical variations in the press.

Wayne

I also have two copies. In one, the impression of the signature is very clear when looked at from the other side of the page. The other is quite different. Only the upper branch of the 'K' and the underline appear as a raised area on the other side of the page. There is no other difference between the two volumes that I can discern, although the copy with a weak signature impression is somewhat more used. There is a little foxing and the dustwrapper is missing.

The other Tolkien books with facsimile impressions that I have checked (all the Tree and Leaf versions) do not show this impression, but of course they are not printed on this glossy high quality paper.

I have the print on demand edition, and it included a printed version of Tolkien's signature on the title page, much like how the grey collector's / cloth edition of The Hobbit from 2013 does as well.