A cancel is a

bibliographic Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

term for a replaced

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ...

in a printed book.Bibliographical Notes and Queries - Volumes 1-2 - Page 11 1935 - Normally, a cancel leaf is of course later than what I may call an integral leaf. The technique for this is usually to tear out the rejected leaf and paste a new one to the

stub Stub or Stubb may refer to: Shortened objects and entities * Stub (stock), the portion of a corporation left over after most but not all of it has been bought out or spun out * Stub, a tree cut and allowed to regrow from the trunk; see Pollard ...

left on the cognate leaf. Alternatively, a false stub (known as a " fold") may be added. The cancelled leaf may be rejected on account of spelling or typing errors, a wording change or addition, or need to suppress

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

lous or otherwise offensive text. Leaves have been cancelled from around the dawn of

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

in the mid-15th century, peaked from about 1600 to 1800, but the practice is less common today, since it is now cheaper to replace the whole sheet. If the replacement is made before

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Con ...

, the book can exist in two states (i.e. with and without the new leaf). If after sale, from a new leaf supplied by the binder to the purchaser, it is termed an ''alternative

issue Issue or issues may refer to: Publishing * ''Issue'' (company), a mobile publishing company * ''Issue'' (magazine), a monthly Korean comics anthology magazine * Issue (postal service), a stamp or a series of stamps released to the public * '' ...

''. Cancels are not always easy to detect, if the stub or fold they are attached to is small; however, often there will be a difference from other leaves in matters such as paper thickness,

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

s, chain-lines, etc. Whether the old leaf had a

signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

or not, the new one usually has one added. It occasionally occurs as an error that the old leaf is not excised, or even that the wrong leaf is removed. To obviate this, the old leaf is sometimes partly slit.

Terminology

The terminology, coined by R. W. Chapman in 1930, is: English: ''cancel'' (pl. ''cancels'') or ''cancel leaf'' (pl. ''cancel leaves''); Latin: ''cancellans'' (pl. ''cancellantia''): The new (or replacement, or corrected leaf. English: ''cancelland'' (pl. ''cancellands''); Latin: ''cancellandum'' (pl. ''cancellanda''): The leaf intended to be replaced, or removed, but when this has not yet been done. English: ''cancelled leaf'' (pl. ''cancelled leaves''); Latin: ''cancellatum'' (pl. ''cancellata''): Refers to the cancellandum after it has been removed.

References

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Terminology

References

Further reading

See also