What structural anomaly is occurring when a bibliographer discovers a 'signed leaf' that features an uppercase signature letter followed by a number, but positioned where it should normally be unsigned?
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Correct answer: The sheet is an added insertion or cancel leaf the binder had to identify explicitly
Printers typically signed only the first few leaves of a gathering (such as the first 2 leaves of a quarto) because that was sufficient to guide the bookbinder in folding. If an unexpected leaf deep inside a gathering is signed, it often signals an irregularity. This usually indicates a late textual emendation, a structural insertion, or a replacement leaf.
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