‎JOHNSON, J.‎
‎Typographia, or the Printers' Instructor. ‎

‎London Longman Hurst Rees Orme Brown and Green 1824 ‎

Reference : 2048

‎First edition. Two volumes. Nineteenth century cream vellum with gilt decorative tooling. Burgundy label. Marbled end papers. title-page in a border of printer's flowers. Bookplate of G.S. Hinds ("et Gilbert filius ejus" added in manuscript) on paste-downs. Lovely set of a printer's classic. The first volume is devoted to the history of printing and includes biographies, adorned with bibliographical notes, of famous British printers such as Caxton and Wynkyn the Worde. The second volume describes type, composition, letter cases, imposition (including rather unusual formats such as 72mo, 96mo and even "one hundred and twenty-eights"!), exotic alphabets, rules to be observed in a printing house, the construction of a printing press, warehouse work, wages, steam machines, etc. X, [14], xii, 609, [11]; [8], iv, 663, [17] pp. 125 x 75 mm (5 x 3 inches). First leaves with some light foxing, otherwise in excellent condition. Bigmore & Wyman I, pp. 371-373.‎