TYPOGRAPHIA, or the Printers' Instructor: Including an Account of the Origin of Printing, with Biographical Notices of the Printers of England, from Caxton to the close of the Sixteenth Century
London: Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, 1824. First Edition. Hardcover. 32mo, two volumes: xii, 610, [12] + [8], iv, 663, [1], [18] p. with two wood-engraved title pages, three wood-engraved plates, and numerous wood-engraved textual illustrations and vignettes. Full brown morocco bindings, with decorative gilt and blind stamping, three raised bands, pale yellow endpapers, and a ribbon marker. Occasional light foxing, with an ownership inscription, dated March 1836, from scholar Robert John Blesard on a prefatory blank leaf in each volume. The bookplate of American type and book designer Jackson Burke appears on each front pastedown. The boards are rubbed along the extremities; otherwise very good. Housed in a custom chemise and one-quarter red morocco slipcase.
"Of the few standard works on the art of printing in the English language, this is perhaps the most familiar…It has long since become, and deservedly, a printer's classic" (E.C. Bigmore and C.W.H. Wyman's A Bibliography of Printing). While primarily focusing on the history of printing in Great Britain, including a list of productions through 1599, this work is also valuable for its information on printing in different countries and foreign alphabet. The first volume is generally regarded as historical, whereas the second volume offers practical information on types, composition, and the actual work of a press. Very good. Item #75609
Price: $500.00