Origins<\/a><\/p>\n Introduction<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The publisher\u2019s page of Edmund Dana\u2019s <\/span>Geographical Sketches of the Western Country<\/span><\/i> is a paratextual \u201csight to see.\u201d \u00a0Some seventeen seventeen lines of text before a typographical\u00a0<\/span>page breaker, exhibiting numerous fonts, all variations of roman and italic typefaces. \u00a0The first line, \u201cGeographical Sketches\u201d seems almost proto-fat face<\/a>, an early development in the predominant styling of the advertisement in 19th century in America\u4e00the kind you<\/p>\n picture dotting town squares and old western saloons. \u00a0It\u2019s exactly this type of insight that the additions beyond that of Dana\u2019s own text in Geographical Sketches <\/i>can provide in understanding the books place on the frontier of early America. In understanding the paratextual elements of Dana\u2019s work then, we can understand his own relationship with the publishers, and gain insights into the audience of such a work in early 19th century America.<\/div>\n The publisher\u2019s page acts as a nice catalog of the typeface that is found throughout <\/span>Geographical Sketches. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>The serifs in this line and the other of this font, \u201cEmigrants and Settlers\u201d are bold and thick, contrasting the modest serifs of the typical roman \u201cA List of Principal Roads\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0This, again, is a bold, and I use that word literally, assertion of audience. Reading it one finds that \u201cGeographical Sketches\u201d, \u201cWestern Country\u201d, and \u201cEmigrants and Settlers\u201d jump off the page, as to catch the attention of any emigrants and settlers who may pick it up. This, given what I\u2019ve researched about Dana\u2019s history as a land proprietor, makes sense. \u00a0The publisher\u2019s page works in cahoots with the idea of selling the Western Country to the folks back east.<\/p>\n There is also the frequent use of italics, which is seen throughout the book and seems, in the body of the book, to have a very specific function. \u00a0There is no table of contents or formalized pattern to the sections of the book, and in lieu of this, italics can be found at the beginning of sections to provide an overview of that sections contents, as well as throughout the section to further specify what a subsection of text is about. \u00a0This is reflective of the intended audience interaction with the book. The italics catch a reader’s eye and allow for <\/span>one to jump from section to section, acting as a pragmatic addition to the utilitarian purpose of the book in the sight of potential settlers.<\/p>\n Included in the sections on official states are also tables of towns and populations which further add to the textual description of the then new states. \u00a0These include principle towns and their growth from 1810 to 1815. The largest in\u00a0<\/span>Ohio being where this book was published, Cincinnati, with a whole 18,700 \u201csouls\u201d as Dana would call them (75). \u00a0These published tables again act in a utilitarian way that mirrors the nature of the book. To a potential settler, it is an easy quantification of who\u2019s moving where, and, importantly, where there is land and jobs. \u00a0Interestingly, these tables are not found in the sections which sketch territories (as opposed to states), an indication that those lands truly were on the Western frontier of the burgeoning nation, unincorporated and all.<\/p>\n Geographical Sketches <\/span><\/i>also contains page numbers for 312 pages, starting with \u201cThe Author\u201d, Edmund Dana\u2019s preface all the way to the end a list of public roads. \u00a0Each page number is set in arabic numbers, and occupies the upper right hand corner on the recto side of each leaf, and upper left on the verso. \u00a0For each section, a running head is printed in the center of each page, in the same typeface as the initial section title, but a different typefont (that is, smaller sized). This reproduction is seen in the book for non-typical roman typefaces too. \u00a0The \u201cGeographical Sketches\u201d section beginning with the exact font seen on the publisher\u2019s page, denoting that the publisher used the same typecase. <\/span><\/p>\n Substantive paratexts as I will call them, that is, bodies of text added by someone other than the author, are fairly minimal in <\/span>Geographical Sketches<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n The most notable being the publishers page and the copyright page on its verso. \u00a0The copyright page is by the \u201cclerk of the district of Ohio\u201d, and is quite extensive. \u00a0It also bears<\/span> The other substantive paratext is the corrections and additions page that follows Dana\u2019s concluding remarks on page 307.<\/span>\u00a0While it is pretty short, its printing on the same leaf as the public road section that follows makes me think that the body of the text may have been printed before this list of roads that makes up the end of the work.\u00a0\u00a0The list of roads also bears no quire marks, which throughout the book are marked without fail and denote a book that contains folios in 8vo. I speculate that this may mean that the list was done not by Dana himself, and thus constitute paratext. (for more on the quire structure of the book: Joseph Dane, What is a Book? Chapter 1 File<\/a>) \u00a0The list serves the work though, again pointing to it\u2019s utilitarian nature for those headed east to west and north to south to the lands sketched out. \u00a0The fairly limited additions of Dana\u2019s Geographical Sketches<\/i>, and the \u201cTo the Reader\u201d and substantial \u201cPreface\u201d indicate that Dana himself may have had a close influence on the additions to his book. \u00a0This would be logical, as it was to serve his commercial enterprise as a land proprietor.<\/p>\n The variety of typeface and extensive usage of tables that may have been authored by someone other than Dana show an enthusiasm for the Western Country shared in addition to the profit that it would bring any proprietor. \u00a0From publisher\u2019s page, to the copyrights explicit grant under the \u201cAct of the Congress of the United States of America\u201d, <\/span>Geographical Sketches <\/span><\/i>acts as a book which reflects a then young nation\u2019s cautious pride in establishment and desire to expand. \u00a0It beckons, serif, italic, quire mark, page number, table, large font, and small, to head west. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Other Posts on Edmund Dana\u2019s Geographical Sketches of the Western Country: Use Origins Introduction The publisher\u2019s page of Edmund Dana\u2019s Geographical Sketches of the Western Country is a paratextual \u201csight to see.\u201d \u00a0Some seventeen seventeen lines of text before a typographical\u00a0page breaker, exhibiting numerous fonts, all variations of roman and italic typefaces. \u00a0The first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7713,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[399560,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7713"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3028,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions\/3028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/files\/2018\/03\/IMG_2316-e1521433543660-225x300.jpg\")
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\nthe only seal in the work, that of the court of Chillicothe, OH<\/a>. \u00a0 Both\u00a0my edition of the book, and a digital facsimile online<\/a> I found use this page as a space for their own additions as well. Mine bears the shelfmark found throughout the opening pages of my book \u201c+F396D3\u201d and also the date \u201cOctober 31st, 1941.\u201d This latter mark is the mark of the date that the copy of Dana\u2019s Sketches <\/i>in the Colby College collection made its way from the old campus in downtown Waterville, ME, to its current location at the newer Mayflower Hill campus, also in Waterville, ME.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/files\/2018\/03\/IMG_2366-e1521432965801-225x300.jpg\")