Particularly Red, by a Woman: Anne B. Poyntz and the Printing and Digitization of Her Je ne sçai quoi

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article recovers Anne B. Poyntz’s Je ne sçai quoi (1769), a collection of letters and odes, as a case study for identifying junctures during printing and digitization where an author’s stated vision for her work is compromised. Poyntz printed her wishes for her book within the text itself, including two unique bibliographical features. She wanted her by-line to read “by a Woman.” She also states in the dedication that it should be “particularly red,” that is, printed in red ink. No existing copies, print or digital, contain the by-line “by a Woman.” While print copies and some digital editions do have a red dedication, most facsimiles fail to accurately represent color, which is central to the book’s meaning and the author’s identity as a woman writer. An understanding of how Poyntz’s book was printed in the eighteenth century combined with its digital histories reveals that the initial loss of control at the proposal stage was the first of several that ultimately produced an inconsistent plurality of surrogates that do not reflect Poyntz’s original vision for her book, in which visual design features are part of her story.