General Remarks

Information on the quire structure is encoded in <collation>↗with a <list>↗ of <item>↗ elements for each quire. See this example from BAVet91:

                 <collation>
                   <list>
                     <item xml:id="q1" n="1">
                       <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                       <locus from="1r" to="8v"></locus>
                     </item>
                     <item xml:id="q2" n="2">
                       <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                       <locus from="9r" to="16v"></locus>
                     </item>
                     <item xml:id="q3" n="3">
                       <dim unit="leaf">10</dim>
                       <locus from="17r" to="26v"></locus>
                     </item>
                     <item xml:id="q4" n="4">
                       <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                       <locus from="27r" to="34v"></locus>
                     </item>
                     …
                   </list>
                 </collation>

Each <item>↗ has an attribute @xml:id with a value "q" followed by the consecutive number that indicates the physical position of the quire in the textblock. This allows to refer to each particular quire.

The element <dim>↗ with <@unit="leaf">↗ indicates here the total number of leaves comprised by the quire.

The <locus>↗ element contains information on the quire's boundaries with reference to the regular foliation.

Each <item>↗ can also have the attribute @n with a consecutive numeral as a value.

Encoding the quire structure

The leaves of the quire are counted from left to right, over the centrefold, and referred to with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

The number of leaves in the quire is normally even, but can frequently also be odd (1, 3, 5, etc.). In this case, it is necessary to indicate the positions of every single leaf and its stub (the short part of the single leaf that "hooks" it into the textblock), in relation to the other leaves of the quire. This is how stubs can look like in manuscripts:

This can be recorded in the following way:

• (number of the single leaf in the quire), stub before (number of the leaf in the quire following the stub)
• (number of the single leaf in the quire), stub after (number of the leaf in the quire preceding the stub)

• (number of the single leaf in the quire), no stub

            <collation>
              <list>
                <item xml:id="q1">
                  <dim unit="leaf">5</dim>
                  <locus from="1r" to="5v"></locus> 2, stub after 4 </item> … </list>
            </collation>
          

The quire can include two or more single leaves even if the total number is even:

          <collation>
            <list>
              …
              <item xml:id="q3">
                <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                <locus from="1r" to="8v"></locus>
                4, stub after 4
                8, stub before 1
              </item>
              …
            </list>
          </collation>

        

When you encode the structure of an unbalanced quire, that is, a quire with an uneven number of leaves in <dim>↗, you always need to add clarification. You have to indicate which leaf is single using the formulas for the single leaf and its stub as stated above. No quire structure will be visualized if only the following is given:

          WRONG ENCODING EXAMPLE
          <item xml:id="q2">
            <dim unit="leaf">9</dim>
          </item>
        

Flyleaves

If the manuscript contains flyleaf (protective) quires, their presence may be indicated by adapting the value of @n with the value "q" followed by the letters "A" for a flyleaf quire at the front of the textblock and "B" at the back of the textblock:

          <collation>
            <list>
              <item xml:id="q1" n="A">
                <dim unit="leaf">6</dim>
                <locus from="1r" to="6v"></locus>
              </item>
              <item xml:id="q2" n="1">
                <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                <locus from="7r" to="14v"></locus>
              </item>
                …
                <item xml:id="q14" n="13">
                  <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                  <locus from="150r" to="158v"></locus>
                </item>
                <item xml:id="q15" n="B">
                  <dim unit="leaf">2</dim>
                  <locus from="159r" to="160v"></locus>
                </item>
            </list>
          </collation>
        

To identify a flyleaf quire is frequently not as simple as it appears. Normally it is a quire of a smaller size, binion or quaternion, but it can be also just one single leaf. The flyleaf quires were meant exclusively for preventing the first and the last text pages from the contact to the coarse surface of the boards. The flyleaf quire can be left unruled or partly ruled. It can be of irregular size, or is made of reused leaves. Scribbles and pen trials, marginal notes or added texts frequently obscure the original function of the flyleaf quires.

Encoding of further features

Further features of the quire structure can be encoded with the help of the following terms:

• replaced
• missing
• added

For instance, to show that a quire of 9 leaves represents originally a 10-leave quire (five bifolios, "quinion") that lost one leaf, you write as follows (indicating not the real but the reconstructed number of leaves in <dim>↗):

            <collation>
              <list>
                …
                <item xml:id="q2">
                  <dim unit="leaf">10</dim>
                  1 missing, stub after 9
                </item>
                …
              </list>
            </collation>
          

A descriptive explanation concerning any further feature of the specific quire can be introduced in <note>↗ which should be placed after the information on single leaves:

        <collation>
          <list>
            …
            <item xml:id="q22" n="22">
              <dim unit="leaf">3</dim>
              <locus from="175r" to="177v"></locus>
              2, stub after 1
              <note>Leaves 1 and 3 of irregular shape</note>
            </item>
            …
          </list>
        </collation>


      

It is also possible to use <locus>↗ elements in such further descriptive notes, like in this example from Washington, D.C., Howard University School of Divinity, Tweed Codex 043

         <item xml:id="q3" n="2">
           <dim unit="leaf">10</dim>
           <locus from="11" to="20" facs="014"></locus>
           <note>
             Two folio stubs are visible between
             <locus target="#11 #12" facs="015"></locus>
             and
             <locus target="#18 #19" facs="022"></locus>
             .
           </note>
           Quire 2: 2, stub after 8 9, stub after 1
         </item>
       

Quire marks

Precise information on the quire signatures/marks written by the scribes can be provided using the element <num>↗ with @value:

         <collation>
           <list>
             …
             <item xml:id="q26" n="25">
               <num value="20">፳</num>
               <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
               <locus from="195r" to="202v"></locus>
             </item>
             …
           </list>
         </collation>

       

The presence, absence and further properties of quire marks (Ethiopic numbers assigned by the manuscript-makers to quires, to keep their sequence) such as location, structure, decoration or scribal hand can be described in the <signatures>↗ element in <collation>↗, summarily or one by one:

          <collation>
            <signatures>Undecorated quire marks are written in the main hand, in the middle of the upper margin of <locus target="#3r"></locus>,
              <locus target="#11r"></locus> ….</signatures>

            <list>
              <item xml:id="q1" n="A">
                <dim unit="leaf">2</dim>
                <locus from="1r" to="2v"></locus>
              </item>

              <item xml:id="q2" n="1">
                <num value="1">፩</num>
                <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                <locus from="3r" to="10v"></locus>
              </item>

              <item xml:id="q3" n="2">
                <num value="2">፪</num>
                <dim unit="leaf">8</dim>
                <locus from="11r" to="18v"></locus>
              </item>
              …
            </list>
          </collation>

        

Composite manuscripts

In composite manuscripts, <collation>↗ can be added to the first <physDesc>↗ that pertains to the entire manuscript, directly descendant of <msDesc>↗, or to the <physDesc>↗ of each individual <msPart>↗. If needed, nothing prevents to have <collation>↗ in both places, it is up to the encoder to decide which <physDesc>↗ is more appropriate.

General or fragmentary information on the quire structure

Many catalogues do not contain any information on the quire structure. Sometimes it is only possible to provide general information or fragmentary observations on the quire structure. Sometimes the information is imprecise and can be ascertained only using a direct check of the physical manuscript. In any case, all available data of whatever kind can be summarized in a <note>↗ inside <collation>↗, as in this example from BDLaethf7:

          <collation>
            <note>
              The textual sequence of the manuscript is disturbed, see <ref target="#ms_i1.1"></ref>.
            </note>
          </collation>
        

Visualisation (diagrams and quire formula)

Here the ways in which the correctly encoded quire structure is currently visualised on the web application are explained. As always, please do not try and "adapt" your encoding to obtain a specific visualisation. Although this section of the guidelines is strongly related to the visualization tools in the portal, it uses standard TEI and formal text content which is based on previous projects (Ethio-SPaRe especially). If you wish for another visualisation for your purposes you should have all the needed information. If you encounter problems while encoding that are not covered by these guidelines, please open an issue.

All information encoded in the way described here will be visualized in the Beta Masaheft application using VisColl. Added leaves are shown with hyphens, replaced leaves are dot-hyphen lines (stubs are not shown currently). In addition to that, the same information expressed in the Ethio-SPaRe formula will appear below.