"The present book gathers the catch-words ... of Samuel Richardson's landmark novel Clarissa"--Page 4 of cover. Includes a folded sheet entitled "Directions for Reading.
Summary:
Between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the assembly of printed sheets into ordered books had a textual aid: a few letters printed in the bottom-right margin of each page that anticipated the first word at the top of the following page. A quick glance could confirm that the catch-word matched the start of the next page's text, and therefore that the sequencing and pagination were correct. This book gathers the catch-words in the first edition of Samuel Richardson's landmark novel Clarrisa, or, the history of a Young Lady (1748). Their new arrangement follows the structure of its source: each catch-word becomes a line, each gathering a stanza, each volume a canto. The process repeats in the manner of a musical catch until, finally, all 883,716 of Richardson's words are gone.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.