TYPOGRAPHY

[The Curwen Press, Plaistow.] Two keepsakes: [Basil Harley, James Shurmer] ‘Unicornucopia: A study of the Natural History of the amazing Unicorns living at The Curwen Press’ and [Basil Harley, John Miles] ‘The Curwen Press / A Short History’.

Author: 
The Curwen Press, Plaistow [Basil Hurley, John Miles, James Shurmer]
Curwen
Publication details: 
Unicornucopia: Dated in text to 1973. 'Booklet designed by / James Shurmer / printed at / The Curwen Press / London E13 9HJ'. 'The Curwen Press / A Short History' with final section dated 'August 1970'.
£120.00
Curwen

Two attractive pieces of Curwen Press ephemera. 'Cornucopia' is scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only two copies on JISC at Lancaster and Aberystwyth. The 'Short History' is better represented. ONE: 'Cornucopia'. 12pp, landscape 12mo. Stapled into illustrated wraps. Printed in brown on cream paper. Booklet designed by James Shurmer, with text by Basil Harley. Many illustrations of unicorns arranged in eight 'plates'. Internally in good condition, but front cover grubby, and blank back cover stained. TWO: 'The Curwen Press / A Short History'. 39pp, small 4to.

[Oxford University Press: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London.] Prospectus, in the form of an illustrated printed pamphlet, for ‘The Oxford Bible for Teachers’.

Author: 
[Oxford University Press] Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, London; The Oxford Bible for Teachers [Church of England, Authorized and Revised Versions]
Publication details: 
No date [circa 1893]. London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, E.C.
£100.00

A nice piece of OUP ephemera, and a memorial to the lost art of letterpress printing. Stitched pamphlet of 24pp, 12mo. Wraps not called for. In good condition, lightly aged, with outer pages a little grubby. A couple of sources help establish the date: on p.13 it is announced that ‘the most recent discoveries, especially in Egypt, have been inserted, down to March, 1893’, and the second of the ‘Extracts from Opinions’, pp.21-23, from ‘Nature’, dates from 5 October 1893.

[World War One.] Handbill with ornate coloured decorative border, headed ‘ROLL OF HONOUR’, intended for ‘A Record of Friends and Relatives who answered the call of King and Country in the Great War: 1914-1915.’

Author: 
[World War One] Geo. Newnes Limited, London; Hudson & Kearns Limited, lithographic printers
Publication details: 
Circa 1915 or 1916. ‘Published by Geo. Newnes Ltd., Southampton St. Strand [London]’. Printer: ‘Hudson & Kearns, Ltd., London, Litho, London, S.E.’
£100.00

A nice piece of First World War ephemera, from the period of transition from volunteering to conscription. Newnes was a leading British publisher of the period, and the present item may have been inserted in one of its periodicals, which included ‘The Strand Magazine’, ‘Women’s Own’ and ‘John O’London’s Weekly’. It is printed on a leaf of good quality cream 4to wove paper, and was intended for completion. In fair condition, lightly aged, with light wear and creasing to extremities.

[Lord Stanhope, historian, antiquary and Tory politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to the editor of The Times, J. T. Delane, bewailing the state of Paris following the Franco-Prussian War, criticising French typography, and praising ‘Dr. Russell’.

Author: 
Lord Stanhope [Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope] (1805-1875) [styled Viscount Mahon between 1816 and 1855], historian and Tory politician [John Thadeus Delane (1817-79), editor of The Times]
Publication details: 
‘Chevening [Chevening House, Sevenoaks, Kent] | Oct. 14. [1870]’ No year, but with 1869 watermark.
£120.00

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin neat strip from windowpane mount adhering to the outer edges. Folded twice for postage. Writing during the Siege of Paris, he begins by thanking him ‘for the specimen of the present Paris printing. Alas how different is this blurred & blotted mass of types from the beautiful pages of typography which that brilliant city afforded!

[Robert and Andrew Foulis.] Printed catalogue of ‘University of Glasgow / Robert and Andrew Foulis / An Exhibition in the Hunterian Museum / to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the British Record Association’.

Author: 
Robert and Andrew Foulis, printers and publishers of Glasgow, Scotland (‘the Elzevirs of the North’), with the Foulis Press [Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow]
Publication details: 
Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow. 10 to 29 March 1958.
£180.00

JISC records copies in five Scottish libraries, Birmingham University and the BL. Duplicated typescript. 50pp, 4to. Five-page introduction paginated, the rest not. Leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Printed on versos of leaves and stapled into buff paper wraps with title printed on the front. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The forty-four pages of the catalogue proper carry a total of 106 scholarly entries on exhibits.

[Typography.] Handsomely-printed address titled ‘The Romance of Printing / Address by R. A. Austen-Leigh, M.A. / At Stationers’ Hall, London, E.C.4.’

Author: 
R. A. Austen-Leigh, M.A. [Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh (1872-1961), printer and scholar; typography; Monotype; London School of Printing and Kindred Trades]
Publication details: 
Slug: ‘Monotype set and printed by students of the London School of Printing and Kindred Trades, 61, Stamford Street, London, S.E. Session 1926-27’.
£120.00

Of the five copies on JISC only that at the BL is from one of the deposit libraries. 21pp, 4to. Collotype of engraving of Caxton as frontispiece. Sewn into grey card wraps with Yapp-style edges and title repeated on cover. In good condition, lightly aged.

[‘I can’t really afford even a guinea for a book’: Hugh Williamson, Oxford University Press book designer.] Autograph Letter Signed to London bookseller Andrew Block, describing his collecting interests and constraints, and giving a wants list .

Author: 
Hugh Williamson (1918-1992), book designer with Oxford University Press and author on printing [Andrew Block, London bookseller]
Publication details: 
Undated; on letterhead of the Oxford University Press Warehouse and Trade Department, London.
£60.00

See Nicolas Barker’s typically-elegant obituary of Williamson in the Independent. 2pp, 4to. The obituary of the recipient Andrew Block (1892-1987) in ‘The Private Library’ was subtitled ‘the doyen of booksellers’; his business was established in 1911. On aged and worn paper; folded three times. Signed ‘Hugh Williamson:’ and addressed to ‘Mr Block’. Thirty-one lines in a close, calligraphic hand.

[ Stanley Morison; typographer ] Autograph Note Signed Stanley Morison to Orlo [Williams], about the pain & agony of [...] long illness.

Author: 
Stanley Morison [(1889–1967), typographer, printing executive and historian of printing].
Publication details: 
[The Times stamp] 2 July 1953.
£56.00

One page, 12mo, good condition. Text: I read the notice with the deepest feeling of sympathy, knowing how extreme, desperate, has been the pain & agony of this long illness & separation; and I have perceived & marvelled at, the courage with which you have borne your burden, the end of which cannot yet have been reached. But you have the prayers of [...] Note: Orlo Williams is described in one book as a gentle and musical civl servant, member of a coterie attached to 'The Times' (Tom Burns, 'The Use of Memory: Publishing and Further Pursuits', p.123).

[Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge.] Printers' dummy for the author of 'Root & Sky. Poetry from the plays of Christopher Fry. Compiled and arranged by Charles E. and Jean G. Wadsworth. Collagraph-intaglios designed and printed by Charles E. Wadsworth.

Author: 
Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge; Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright; Charles E. Wadsworth and Jean G. Wadsworth; Will Carter and Sebastian Carter
Publication details: 
Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge. [Circa 1975.]
£1,500.00

A very nice artefact relating to a beautiful Rampant Lions production, published in 1975. Printers' dummy, produced to indicate the intended layout of the book, consisting of duplicated typed leaves, with emendations and printing instructions in manuscript, showing the intended arrangement of the 125 pages of letterpress (and including an alternative version of p.78), with eleven illustrations loosely interleaved. In good condition, lightly aged and worn.

[Rudyard Kipling: American fine printing of 'Britain's Favourite Poem'.] If.

Author: 
Rudyard Kipling; The Pinkham Press, Boston, Mass.; Robert S. Pinkham
Publication details: 
Colophon: 'PINKHAM PRESS | CHRISTMAS | 1937'. [The Pinkham Press, 286 Congress Street, Boston, Mass.]
£100.00

[12]pp, 16mo. Tastefully printed in brown and black, and stitched into grey-green wraps, on the cover of which is the word 'If' in large gold print, enclosed in a brown rectangle. In good condition, lightly aged. Colophon on reverse of title, and on facing page a note with facsimile signatures of 'Robert S.

[Chiswick Press, London.] Small printed pamphlet: 'A List of Typographical and Bibliographical Works by Chas. T. Jacobi | Managing Partner of the Chiswick Press'.

Author: 
'Chas. T. Jacobi, Managing Partner of the Chiswick Press' [Charles Whittingham and Co., London publishers and printers]
Publication details: 
London: At the Chiswick Press | Tooks Court, Chancery Lane'. [Colophon: 'Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co. Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London.'] No date [1909].
£120.00

[16]pp, 16mo (11.5 x 7.5 cm). Stitched unpaginated pamphlet, tastefully printed with decorative headpiece to title, and the Press's celebrated device to the colophon. A frail survival, aged, worn and spotted, with one corner of last leaf dogeared. At foot of title-page: 'Any volume will be sent on receipt of Postal Order in advance.' Following the title-page are two pages with a history of 'The Chiswick Press. | Founded 1789.' Then a full-page advertisement for 'A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography', with a full page containing 'Some Press Opinions'.

[Édouard Guillaume, Paris printer; George Routledge & Sons, London publishers.] Printed promotional 'Catalogue of Guillaume's Nelumbos 1893'. With illustrations and specimen pages 'on vellum of the paper-mills of Le Marais'.

Author: 
Édouard Guillaume, Paris printer [George Routledge & Sons Ltd, London publishers
Publication details: 
London: George Routledge & Sons, Limited, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, Manchester and New York. 1893. Printed by Édouard Guillaume, 105, Boulevard Brune, Paris.
£150.00

The only copy of this item on OCLC WorldCat is in the Canadian National Archives. An attractive and characteristic piece of late nineteenth-century French printing. The present copy is 14 + [1] pp, 16mo. With frontispiece and eight illustrations and vignettes. Stitched booklet (13 x 7.5 cm). In wraps printed in black and red. In fair condition, lightly aged, in grubby wraps.

[ One of thirty numbered copies. ] A Fragment from Finnigans [sic] Wake | Anna Livia Plurabelle | To mark the Centenary of the Birth of James Joyce.

Author: 
James Joyce [ Michael Hutchins, The Chimæra Press [ The Chimaera Press ] [ Beckenham, Kent ]; Eric Gill ]
Publication details: 
[ Beckenham, Kent. ] The Chimæra Press. [ The Chimaera Press. ] 1982.
£450.00

Elegantly printed in black and grey-blue. [28] + [1]pp., 4to. On loose leaves, on eight bifoliums, arranged in four pairs. In very good condition, lightly aged, wrapped in brown paper.

[ Hans Schmoller and The Imprint Society for the Advancement of the Graphic Arts in South Africa: corrected proof of pamphlet by Hortors Limited. ] The Imprint Society | An Account of its Inception to which is appended a Draft Constitution.

Author: 
Hans Schmoller [ Hans Peter Schmoller ], typographer; The Imprint Society for the Advancement of the Graphic Arts in South Africa, Johannesburg [ Hortors Limited, printers ]
Publication details: 
'For circulation to members and prospective members'. Johannesburg, 1944.
£220.00

8pp., 12mo. Stitched into grey printed wraps. Aged and worn. On reverse of title: 'This booklet is produced in accordance with Paper Control regulations and is therefore limited in size and scope | It is publication number one of the Imprint Society and was first issued in August 1944'. The pamphlet begins: 'The idea that led to the Imprint Society being formed was conceived when two compositors, working in Johannesburg in 1939, realized that most of the printed matter produced in South Africa was ugly and uninspired, and that nothing was being done to remedy this.

[ Presentation copy from Robert Elwell of the Grolier Club. ] The Plantin Press, Los Angeles | Check List of an Exhibition | Books, Catalogues, &c., printed by Saul and Lillian Marks.

Author: 
Robert Elwell of The Grolier Club, New York; Saul and Lillian Marks, The Plantin Press, Los Angeles; Jake Zeitlin
Publication details: 
The Grolier Club, New York. 13 September through December 1971. [ Printed by Saul and Lillian Marks, The Plantin Press, Los Angeles. ]
£50.00

16pp., 12mo. Stitched into cream wraps with title printed in red on cover. In good condition, with slight wear to overlapping edges of wraps. Inscription in pencil at head of first page: 'ABR from Bob, 1972 | - see colophon' ('ABR' is the London antiquarian bookseller Anthony Bertram Rota). The 'Acknowledgments' (rather than a colophon) on the last page begin: 'Saul and Lillian Marks wish to thank Mr. Robert Elwell for inviting the Plantin Press to show its work at the Grolier Club, [...]'.

[ Printed item. ] Circular for the First Edition Club, London, by 'A. J. A. Symons, Secretary', inviting publishers to submit books to be included in 'the Fifty Books of the Year', and giving the criteria.

Author: 
The First Edition Club, London, founded by A. J. A. Symons [ Alphonse James Albert Symons ] (1900-1941) [ Curwen Press? ] [ William Foyle ]
Publication details: 
The First Edition Club, 6 Little Russell Street, London. [ Printed by the Curwen Press? ] [ Between 1922 and 1931. ]
£28.00

1p., 4to. Nicely printed (by the Curwen Press?) on watermarked laid paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. A nice piece of First Edition Club ephemera. The year to which the circular relates is meant to be added in manuscript, but has not been. Begins: 'The Committee appointed to choose the Fifty Books of the Year for [blank] will be grateful if, at your early convenience, you will submit such of your publications as seem to you most likely to be selected. I may perhaps remind you that the criteria by which judgment is made are | 1. TYPOGRAPHICAL DESIGN | 2. PAPER | 3. BINDING | 4.

[ Sir Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books. ] Nicely printed funeral service and ticket (designed by Jan Tschichold or Ruari McLean?, the former titled: 'Allen Lane | 21 September 1902 - 7 July 1970 | A Service of Thanksgiving for his Life and Work'.

Author: 
[ Sir Allen Lane [ Allen Lane Williams ] (1902-1970), founder of Penguin Books ] [ Ruari McLean? Jan Tschichold? ]
Publication details: 
[ St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. 18 August 1970. ] The funeral service printed by 'Carter, Cambridge.'
£120.00

Both items are printed with elegant restraint, and  designed by Sebastian Carter (from the horse's mouth). Both are in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. The service with a horizontal central fold and the ticket with a vertical fold. The funeral service is printed in black and red on deckled-edged wove paper. The second page gives details of 'The Music' and the third 'The Order of Service', which features Michael Morpurgo, Richard Hoggart, Robert Lusty and Harry Paroissien, with Rev. Austen Williams officiating. The last page gives details of the eight musicians.

[ G. A. Beale, spelling reformer. ] Two Typed Letters (one signed 'G. A. Beale', the other incomplete) to Philip Howard of The Times, on his system of spelling reform. With his booklet 'Items: The First Book Printed in Advanced English Orthography'.

Author: 
G. A. Beale [ George Alexander Beale ], proprietor of the Cadenza Press, and inventor of the 'Advanced English Orthography' [ Philip Howard (1933-2014), journalist at The Times ]
Publication details: 
Booklet ('Items . Publication Number . E35 | Printed & Published by Gilbert Beale at his Cadenza Press | 19 Wellington Road, London W5', and consisting of 'About 100 copies'. The two letters from the same address. All three items dating from 1989.
£180.00

The three items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Booklet: [2] + iv + 29 + [2]pp., 8vo. With fold-out table at front. Nicely printed in green paper wraps with white label printed in red and black. According to the colophon 'The type is 14 point Monotype Bembo 270 augmented by 7 newly designd characters engraved by Ludlow Ltd Hertford | About 100 copies impressed on Archive Text paper in September 1989'.

[ Strawberry Hill Press. ] Engraving ('C. Grignion sculp.') depicting 'Earl Rivers presenting his Book & Caxton his Print to Edw. 4'.

Author: 
Charles Grignion the elder (1721-1810), Huguenot engraver [ William Caxton, English printer; Horace Walpole; the Strawberry Hill Press ]
Publication details: 
Frontispiece to Horace Walpole's 'Royal and Noble Authors', published by the Strawberry Hill Press, 1758 [ 1759 ].
£45.00

Printed in black ink on one side of a piece of 18 x 11 cm piece of laid paper. Dimensions of image 15.5 x 10 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The image forms the upper part of the engraving, within a decorative border, with the caption, covering eleven lines, as the lower part, within its own lapidary border. The image is, as the caption explains, from 'a curious M.S. in the Archbishop's Library at Lambeth'.

[ Privately printed memorial keepsake. ] Frederic William Goudy | Art Director to the Lanston Monotype Machine Company, 1920-1939, Typographic Counsel, 1939-1947. [ With advertisement for Bay Path Cover paper, in 'The authentic Goudy face'. ]

Author: 
[ Frederic William Goudy; Lanston Monotype Machine Company, Philadelphia; Bruce Rogers ]
Publication details: 
Privately printed. Philadelphia, 1947.
£35.00

16pp., 4to. Stapled into light brown wraps, with 'GOUDY' nicely printed in dark brown decorative letters on front cover. In fair condition lightly aged and creased. Inscribed in a small calligraphic hand at foot of front cover to 'DE fr. WGT [W G Thomson?] xi.48'. A well-printed item, with two pages carrying photographs of Goudy, a six-page 'Appreciation', two pages of 'Goudy Monotype Faces', and the final page carrying an 'appreciation' of Goudy by Bruce Rogers, ending 'He worked to the last, and he died at the zenith of his powers.

[ Printed pamphlet inscribed by the author. ] Government Printing in Massachusetts-Bay, 1700-1750. By Rollo G. Silver.

Author: 
Rollo G. Silver (1909-1989), American book collector and historian of American printing [ The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts ]
Publication details: 
The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. 1958. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society for April 1958.
£90.00

[1] + 28pp, 8vo. Paginated 135-162. Stapled pamphlet, in printed green wraps. In good conditon, lightly aged and worn. Inscribed at head of title-page: 'For Dr. S. H. Steinberg with all good wishes from Rollo G. Silver'. Contains an eleven and a half page appendix of 'Abstracts from Some Printers' Bills in the Masschusetts Archives'. The only copy on COPAC at Trinity College, Dublin.

[ Double Crown Club keepsake. ] 'Bill of Fare' for dinner at the Cafe Royal (chaired by John Johnson with a paper by James Guthrie), featuring a facsimile score for 'Grace after Meat | A new round' by Daniel George and Hubert Foss.

Author: 
The Double Crown Club; John de Monins Johnson (1882-1956), Oxford University Press printer; James Guthrie; Duncan Williams; Daniel George; Hubert Foss
Publication details: 
Pencil note stating that the item is for a dinner at the Café Royal, 7 March 1934.
£120.00

16 x 20 cm booklet, consisting of a bifolium stitched with black green thread into covers of thicker paper. In fair condition, aged and worn, with remains of clear plastic front covering. On the front cover is a heavily-inked art photograph superimposing an image of a musical score over the edges of an fanned-out signature. On the inside of the back cover is a facsimile of a calligraphic inscription in Latin, in Renaissance style. The inner contents consists of two facsimiles.

[ The Double Crown Club. ] Illustrated menu for the 35th dinner of the Double Crown Club (chaired by Thomas Balston and with a paper delivered by Stanley Morison), at the Cafe Royal, London.

Author: 
The Double Crown Club, dining club and society of printers, London; Thomas Balston; Stanley Morison (1889-1967), typographer; The Times of London
Publication details: 
Printed in the offices of The Times, Printing House Square, London, EC4. 8 December 1932.
£80.00

Printed in black on a 45 x 28 cm piece of white card, folded twice to make a 22.5 x 14 cm bifolium. When opened out the card has the printing details and 'THE 35TH DINNER' on the otherwise blank reverse. Aged and worn. The outer covers of the card, opening out to 45 x 14 cm, carry a reversed photograph of a Miller & Richard chase, with form featuring the words 'DOUBLE CROWN CLUB'.

[ The Federation of Master Printers, London. ] Printed booklet titled 'Booklets that make more Business'.

Author: 
[ The Federation of Master Printers, London. ]
Publication details: 
The Secretary, The Federation of Master Printers, 7/10, Old Bailey, London, E.C.4. C.A.4 11/24 [i.e. November 1924].
£100.00

16pp., 8vo. Printed in black and red. In card wraps, with title on front cover also in black and red stylised lettering on front, and an advertisement on the inside back cover ('This is the first of a series of three informative pieces of literature which are to be issued and presented by the printers of the country to users of printing. [...]'). Saddle-stitched with brown thread. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn.

[ Norwich Printers' Joint Industrial Council. ] Typed report of a talk given at Norwich Central Public Library, titled 'The Making of a Book'.

Author: 
[ Norwich Printers' Joint Industrial Council (F. S. Denys Page, President); George Arthur Stephens, city librarian, Norwich ]
Publication details: 
[ Norwich Printers' Joint Industrial Council. ] Undated [1920s].
£45.00

2pp., 4to. Carbon. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Begins: 'The third of a series of lectures arranged by the Norwich Printers' Joint Industrial Council was held at the Norwich Central Public Library on March 19, when the City Librarian (Mr. Geo A. Stephen, the author of "Commercial Bookbinding" and other works) gave a lecture on "The Making of a Modern Book". The lecture was illustrated by about a hundred lantern slides and exhibits. [...] Mr. F.S.

[Pamphlet by Richard Cobden-Sanderson, inscribed by the author.] Poems by Jessie Grosvenor.

Author: 
Jessie Grosvenor [Richard Cobden-Sanderson (1884-1964), printer and publisher]
Publication details: 
Richard Cobden Sanderson, 17 Thavies Inn [London]. 1921. [Woods & Sons, Ltd., Printers, Upper St., London, N.1.
£200.00

23 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stitched, in blue printed wraps. Aged and worn, with creasing to wraps and fly-leaf, which is inscribed 'Ivor James | from | J. A. Grosvenor | May 20. 1921.' Excessively scarce: the only copy on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at the British Library.

[Presentation copy of offprint from the Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications.] Biographical Notes on the University Printers from the Commencement of Printing in Cambridge to the Present Time. By Robert Bowes.

Author: 
Robert Bowes [Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications; early printing in England; English printers]
Publication details: 
'Reprinted for private circulation from the Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications, No. XXVI. (Vol. v. No. 4) 1886.'
£250.00

[3] + [80] + [1]pp. The eighty pages of the article paginated 283-362, and with the last twenty-four pages (339-362) containing the illustrations. In brown printed wraps. Very good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn and creased wraps. An attractive production, with presentation inscription ('no 94') to the publisher George Bentley, signed 'RB' and dated 7 June 1886. This offprint is uncommon: no copy at the British Library, and only six copies listed on OCLC WorldCat, only two of which in the United States.

[Caslon Letter Foundry, London.] Printed covering letter to accompany a specimen book and history of the Caslon Foundry, signed and dated by Thomas W. Smith.

Author: 
Thomas W. Smith, proprietor, Caslon Letter Foundry, London
Publication details: 
Caslon Letter Foundry, 22 Chiswell Street, EC. [London] July 1896.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Attractively printed within a decorative border, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir | The Specimen Book sent you herewith, of which I have much pleasure in asking your acceptance, contains a history of the Caslon Foundry printed with the justly celebrated types engraved by its founder in the early part of last Century.

[Book of type specimens.] Old Faces of Roman and Medieval Types lately added to the De Vinne Press.

Author: 
[The De Vinne Press] [Theodore Low De Vinne (1828-1914), American printer and authority on typography]
Publication details: 
Printed at the De Vinne Press, No. 12 Lafayette Place, New York. 1897.
£180.00

[4] + 47pp., 8vo. In printed wraps. Internally in fair condition, on aged paper, with slight staining to the corners; in worn and chipped wraps. A handsome production, as one might expect from one of the nine founders of the Grolier Club, with a two-page introduction followed by a full-page reproduction of the Ascensius printer's device, and 47 examples of pages set in various point sizes of Cushing, Ancient Roman, Jenson, Satanick, Louis XV, and Century Roman. No copy on COPAC, six American and one French on WorldCat.

[First work from the press, in original wraps.] Les Bucoliques de Virgile, précédées De plusieurs Idylles de Théocrite, de Bion et de Moschus; suivies de tous les passages de Théocrite que Virgile a imités; traduites en vers français par Firmin Didot

Author: 
Firmin Didot (1764-1836), French engraver, printer and type founder
Publication details: 
Gravé, fondu et imprimé par le traducteur. À Paris, À la Librairie de Firmin Didot, Rue de Thionville. 1806.
£280.00

[13] + 264pp., 8vo. In original purple wraps lacking spine label. A landmark work in the history of printing. In fair condition, on aged and dogeared paper, with damp staining to the first few leaves, and front cover of the wraps detached. Pp.246-264 carry Didot's 'Note Bibliographique et Typographique', with the engraving on p.263 of the Estienne device, to indicate that it is possible to print both text and 'taille douce' on the same page.

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