Definitions 

bifolium  A sheet of parchment or paper folded in two to make two folios, one on each side of the fold.  A stack of bifiolia sewn together forms a quire; if there are four bifolia (making eight folios, or sixteen sides) then the quire is a quaternion, the most standard size of gathering (although most manuscripts include quires of varying sizes, so 'standard' does not imply uniformity).  back to list of terms
 
booklet  A booklet can be equivalent to a quire (see bifolium), or a booklet can consist of two or more quires sewn together as a unit (and possibly circulated independently first) now within a larger manuscript. back to list of terms

call number  The identifying code for a particular manuscript used by its library.  We're used to standardized call numbers in the Library of Congress or Dewey system:  all libraries also use idiosyncratic systems for designating each of their manuscripts (and sometimes alter their entire systems, what's more).  The call number often encodes details relevant and irrelevant such as who gave the manuscript to the library, what collection it's part of, or where it used to sit on the shelf:  the important thing to remember is that (if you want the right manuscript) you need to cite the EXACT number and words with no abbreviations unless they are ones used by the library itself. To cite a manuscript in full give the city, library, and full call number, then if applicable the relevant folios.  Manuscripts are usually alphabetized first by country, then city, then library, then call number. back to list of terms
 
catchword  On the last folio of a quire at the bottom right hand corner a scribe will often give the FIRST word that should appear on the next folio of the following quire.  Along with signatures, catchwords are designed to assist the binder:  they can also assist scholars by providing evidence that the manuscript was bound (or rebound) wrongly, or that material was added to or removed from the manuscript. back to list of terms
 
codex  The manuscript book made up of folios (or rather bifolia) sewn together in quires then bound:  a codex resembles a modern book (in that one can leaf through it page by page) whereas a roll (which, logically enough, takes the form of a big continuous roll of parchment or paper) does not. back to list of terms

collation  How the manuscript is put together:  the formula for describing how many folios there are in each quire, how many quires there are, how many flyleaves (see flyleaf) there are on each side, any unexpected disturbances to the standard pattern.  Paying attention to how the manuscript is put together can be useful if you're trying to work out which bits of it came from where at what times and what might have been added or removed.  How the formula works:  each lower case roman numeral is a flyleaf.  Each mainscript number is a quire number.  Each superscript number indicates how many folios there are in that quire.  If that superscript number is odd (and sometimes even when it isn't) something weird has happened to the quire:  someone added a single sheet (sewing it in so there's a stub on the other side, just long enough to secure it to the rest of the quire) or possibly removed a sheet, maybe because it had an illustration on it.  Example of a collation formula:

                                i + ii + iii + 1⁸ + 2⁸ + 3⁷ + 4¹² + i + ii + iii

Three flyleaves on each end; four quires; quires 1 and 2 have 8 leaves, quire 3 has 7 leaves, quire 4 has 12 leaves.
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colophon  A 'signing off' note after the text giving some or all details such as the title, author, scribe, date of production, patron.  Colophons may be authorial or scribal.  In either case the information they give is unreliable with regard to the specific manuscript copy when they have been recopied word-for-word later. back to list of terms
 
columns  Many manuscript books are copied with two or more columns to a page; in specifying which column they're referring to scholars will use either lower case roman numerals (i, ii, iii) or lower case a, b, c.  So folio 3, column 2 would be f. 3 ii (and see folio for more info). back to list of terms

explicit  The final words of a text as it appears in a given manuscript, usually a sentence or a complete long phrase.  These are usually given in the library catalogue's manuscript description as an aid to research:  they show you whether the copy is complete, and along with the incipit (that is, the first few words of the text) they are especially useful in working on untitled and/or anonymous works, because they are sometimes the only means of identifying the text and version.  Indices of incipits and explicits can help with this sort of thing too. back to list of terms

flesh  One side of a parchment folio plainly used to be the flesh side when the skin was on the animal (generally it is smoother, paler, and perhaps shinier) whereas one side used to be the hair side (there are tiny holes where the hairs were, and it's darker).  Binders thought it looked bad to have a hair side next to a flesh side when you opened the manuscript to two facing pages, so they generally folded folios so this would not happen.  A hair/flesh disturbance, where a hair side and a flesh side do appear next to one another, usually indicates that something has been added or removed after the folding of folios and binding were completed. back to list of terms

flyleaf  Before and after the main text in a manuscript appear flyleaves, blank or scrap sheets of parchment or paper which are sewn between the whole collection of quires and the binding back and boards so as to protect and encompass the whole manuscript.  Where the flyleaves consist of scraps, they can give clues as to provenance:  Dominican letters of fraternity would suggest production by Dominicans, for example. back to list of terms

foliation  A system of page numbering whereby each manuscript leaf, or folio, receives one number.  The front side of the folio is called the recto, whereas the back (rather than receiving its own number, as in pagination) is called the verso.  To refer to the front side, say (for folio 3) f. 3.  To refer to the back, say f. 3v.  The abbreviation for recto is r, but it is not generally included except where there is some possibility of confusion. back to list of terms

pastedown  Usually the outermost flyleaf sewn to a bound manuscript is called a pastedown, because it is pasted right onto the front or back board of the binding. back to list of terms

pecia  Where parts of a manuscript were farmed out for separate copying quire by quire on a piecework basis, the separate portions that were distributed were known as pecia.  Sometimes quires are numbered as pecia to make it easier to keep track of the copying then binding:  where this numbering system appears, the manuscript was probably copied by this method. back to list of terms
 
scribe  A scribe is the person who copies a manuscript; often several professional scribes may be involved in the copying of a single manuscript.  As I explain in my lecture, some manuscripts are produced by students or other nonprofessional scribes for their own use, whereas others are produced on commission by scribes for patrons, and there's a range in between.  But remember that the scribe or copyist is usually distinct from the original writer or author -- except in the unusual case of some autograph manuscripts copied by their own writers. back to list of terms

signature  On the front right corner of each folio in the first half of a quire, there may be a small notation designating where the bifolium belongs in the quire and where in order the quire should appear in the manuscript.  These signatures are designed to assist those involved in production of the manuscript in keeping everything in the right order:  they can help scholars to determine whether anything has gone wrong, or whether anything has been added or taken out.  Here's the form they usually take:  ai aii aiii aiiij () () () () bi bii biii biii bv; that would mean the first quire has eight leaves, or four bifolia, whereas the second quire (b) has ten leaves, or five bifolia. The four empty parentheses indicate four leaves with no signature (since they're the other sides of the first four, or the second half of the first quire). back to list of terms