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The interface between authors and their readers is a fascinating subject in its own right, revealing a great deal about social attitudes, technological progress, aesthetic values, fashionable interests, political positions, economic constraints and individual personalities. This part of the Cambridge Library Collection reissues classic studies in the area of printing and publishing history that shed light on developments in typography and book design, printing and binding, the rise and fall of publishing houses and periodicals and the roles of authors and illustrators. It documents the ebb and flow of the book trade supplying a wide range of customers with products from almanacs to novels, bibles to erotica, and poetry to statistics.

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179 results in Cambridge Library Collection - History of Printing, Publishing and Libraries

Page 3 of 9

The Printer's Grammar
  • John Smith
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1755
  • The author of this 1755 work is unknown - John Smith may not even have been his real name - but internal evidence from the book suggests that he may have spent some time in northern Germany, and he also shows familiarity with aspects of French printing. Smith describes the typesetting of books but not the actual printing, so it is possible that he may have been a compositor or a printer's reader. The work is a comprehensive survey of all aspects of typecasting and composition, dealing with the formation of type, regular- and irregular-bodied letters, accents, kerning, upper and lower case, spacing, rules, braces and fleurons, and non-Roman fonts including Greek, Hebrew, black-letter, Old English, and Chinese, as well as mathematical and astronomical symbols and music. There are also sections on casting off copy, composing, imposing and correcting, giving a fascinating account of the eighteenth-century compositor's craft.

The Life and Errors of John Dunton, Citizen of London
  • With the Lives and Characters of More Than a Thousand Contemporary Divines and Other Persons of Literary Eminence
  • Volume 1
  • John Dunton
  • Edited by John Nichols
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1818
  • This two-volume work, originally published in 1705 and now reissued in John Nichols' edition of 1818, was one of the earliest examples of autobiographical writing in English. John Dunton (1659–1732), a highly eccentric bookseller and publisher, was also responsible for one of the first periodicals in London, the Athenian Gazette, which invited its readers to submit questions on any topic, to be answered by the Athenian Society, a group of learned men (in fact, Dunton himself and some cronies). However, he was not a practical businessman, and the death of his wife and his own illness led to poverty, and to hack-work for others. The Life and Errors was followed by pamphlets attacking those whom he blamed for his misfortunes. The work gives a fascinating picture of authors and the book trade in Restoration London. Volume 1 contains Dunton's autobiography, preceded by a short biography by Nichols.

The Life and Errors of John Dunton, Citizen of London
  • With the Lives and Characters of More Than a Thousand Contemporary Divines and Other Persons of Literary Eminence
  • Volume 2
  • John Dunton
  • Edited by John Nichols
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1818
  • This two-volume work, originally published in 1705 and now reissued in John Nichols' edition of 1818, was one of the earliest examples of autobiographical writing in English. John Dunton (1659–1732), a highly eccentric bookseller and publisher, was also responsible for one of the first periodicals in London, the Athenian Gazette, which invited its readers to submit questions on any topic, to be answered by the Athenian Society, a group of learned men (in fact, Dunton himself and some cronies). However, he was not a practical businessman, and the death of his wife and his own illness led to poverty, and to hack-work for others. The Life and Errors was followed by pamphlets attacking those whom he blamed for his misfortunes. The work gives a fascinating picture of authors and the book trade in Restoration London. Volume 2 contains selections by Nichols from Dunton's works.

The Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer
  • With Evidence of his Typographical Connection with Colard Mansion, the Printer at Bruges
  • Volume 1
  • William Blades
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1861
  • This two-volume work on the life and activities of the printer William Caxton, a vital source for bibliographers, was written by another printer, William Blades, and published in 1861–3. Blades (1824–90), apprenticed into the family firm, developed a great interest in the history of his trade, collecting an extensive library of antiquarian books, and becoming an expert on early typefaces. He brings to his study of Caxton (which follows in the wake of works on incunabula by Ames, Herbert and Dibdin) his own practical experience of the craft of printing, largely unchanged, except for the addition of machine power, since Caxton's day. He examined more than 450 Caxton printings, in Britain, France and the Low Countries, while preparing the work. Volume 1 deals with Caxton's life and the background, in England and Europe, to his innovatory work. Transcriptions of contemporary documents are also supplied.

A Publisher and his Friends
  • Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray, with an Account of the Origin and Progress of the House, 1768–1843
  • Volume 1
  • Samuel Smiles
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1891
  • This two-volume account of the life and friendships of the publisher John Murray (1778–1843), told largely through his voluminous correspondence, was published in 1891 by Samuel Smiles (1812–1904), whose Lives of the Engineers, Self-Help, and other works are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Murray was only fifteen when his father, the founder of the famous firm, died, but after a period of apprenticeship he took sole control of the business, becoming the friend as well as the publisher of a range of the most important writers of the first half of the nineteenth century, in both literature and science. Perhaps his most famous author was Lord Byron, whose memoir of his own life, considered unpublishable, was burned in the fireplace at Murray's office in Albemarle Street, London. Volume 1 commences with the beginnings of the firm in Scotland, and takes the story up to 1818.

Bibliotheca Farmeriana
  • A Catalogue of the Curious, Valuable and Extensive Library, in Print and Manuscript, of the Late Revd Richard Farmer
  • Thomas King
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • The library of the literary scholar Richard Farmer (1735–97) was first and foremost a working reference collection, the books acquired not as treasures, but to be read and appreciated. Farmer's library included all four Shakespeare folios and was remarkable for its Elizabethan literature and black letter, which provided the source material for his scholarly work. Notable acquaintances such as Samuel Johnson, George Steevens, Edmond Malone and Isaac Reed all benefitted from Farmer's knowledge, and Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry drew directly on the library itself. In 1798, Farmer's books were sold at an auction attended by many of the next generation's greatest book collectors. Reissued here is a copy of the catalogue featuring handwritten annotations by an anonymous attendee who recorded the prices paid and the names of many buyers, uniquely capturing the dispersal of one of the eighteenth century's great libraries.

A Catalogue of the Library of the Late John, Duke of Roxburghe
  • Arranged by G. and W. Nicol, Booksellers to His Majesty, Pall-Mall
  • Robert Harding Evans
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • The dispersal in 1812 of the library of John Ker, Duke of Roxburghe (1740–1804) was the bibliographical event of the decade and a key moment in 'bibliomania'. The huge collection contained illuminated medieval manuscripts, incunabula, fifteen books printed by Caxton, and all four Shakespeare folios. The sale, orchestrated by the bookseller and auctioneer Robert Harding Evans (1777–1857), attracted the greatest book collectors and dealers of the day, setting new records. For the first time in British auction history a single book fetched more than £1,000, while the Valdarfer Boccaccio, the first edition of the Decameron, sold for £2,260. Reported in The Times, the sale immediately gained mythological status. Reissued together here are the printed catalogue and its supplement, both annotated by an attendee at the auction who recorded the name of every buyer and the price paid for each book. Ed Potten, Head of Rare Books at Cambridge University Library, has provided a new introduction that places the catalogue in its wider context.

Caxton Celebration, 1877
  • Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Antiquities, Curiosities, and Appliances Connected with the Art of Printing, South Kensington
  • Edited by George Bullen
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1877
  • The Caxton Celebration of 1877 commemorated the 400th anniversary of William Caxton's production of the first book printed in England. It centred on an exhibition in the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum) of Caxton's and other incunabula, together with significant artefacts in the later history of typography, printing and binding. The organisation of the celebration involved many of the great and good of Britain, Europe and the United States, from librarians and bibliographers to writers, musicians and statesmen. A leading light was William Blades (1824–90), whose two-volume biography of Caxton is also reissued in this series, and this catalogue was compiled by the librarian George Bullen (1816?–94). It is arranged in sections, from the start of printing in Britain to the most recent technological innovations, including stereotyping, electrotyping and photography, and provides a fascinating survey of the development of the art of printing.

Of the Decorative Illustration of Books Old and New
  • Walter Crane
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • Published in 1896 at the peak of his career, this work by Walter Crane (1845–1915) was developed from a series of lectures given to the Society of Arts in 1889. Although chiefly remembered as an illustrator of books for children, Crane was a versatile and knowledgeable artist and designer. His practical experience with book illustration and printing methods gives this text the weight of considerable authority. A prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts movement alongside William Morris, he demonstrates here his understanding of historical techniques of illustration since the medieval period. Drawing parallels across the ages, Crane notes in particular how Arts and Crafts aesthetics influenced book illustration in the late Victorian era. Featuring copious reproductions of illustrations ranging in date, style, technique and sophistication, this work reflects Crane's artistic ethos through the exploration of many examples of exquisite craftsmanship.

Philobiblon
  • A Treatise on the Love of Books
  • Richard de Bury
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
    First published in:
    1832
  • Distinguished above all for his zeal for learning, Richard de Bury (1287–1345) was an influential figure during the reign of Edward III, becoming bishop of Durham and serving on several diplomatic missions abroad, during which time he accumulated many rare works. The Philobiblon is his passionate treatise on learning and book collecting. Lodging a complaint in the voice of books themselves, Richard expresses his frank views on the current state of learning and scholarly practice. This translation, the first such into English, was prepared anonymously in 1832 by the scholar and linguist John Bellingham Inglis (1780–1870). Unlike other book collectors, Inglis was noted for actually having read the books he acquired. The present work contains a brief preface discussing previous scholarship and editions of the text, and ends with extensive notes by Inglis on the original text and his editorial decisions.

Bibliotheca Askeviana
  • Sive, Catalogus librorum rarissimorum Antonii Askew, M.D.
  • Baker and Leigh
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • The library of the physician Anthony Askew (1722–72) was outstanding in both printed books and manuscripts. He may have failed in his ambition to secure a complete collection of every printed edition of the Greek classics, but he did amass a classical library which remained unsurpassed until Spencer. Although he was later accused of plagiarism, virtually every edition of Aeschylus down to the 1850s cited 'Askew's collations'. He also secured Richard Mead's fine collection of Latin and Greek manuscripts, alongside other early classical codices from the Maffei library. The dispersal of Askew's collection in two sales, ten years apart, attracted international interest. Bidders at the 1775 book sale included George III, while the manuscript sale in 1785 led to acquisitions by the British Museum, the Bodleian and Cambridge University Library. Now reissued together, the sale catalogues have been annotated here by auction attendees who recorded prices and some purchaser details.

Roxburghe Revels, and Other Relative Papers
  • Including Answers to the Attack on the Memory of the Late Joseph Haslewood, with Specimens of his Literary Productions
  • Edited by James Maidment
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • Lawyer, book collector and friend of Sir Walter Scott, James Maidment (1793–1879) displayed a talent for antiquarian research. Many of his works were printed privately in small quantities, such as the present publication, which first appeared in 1837. Established in 1812 and named after the great eighteenth-century book collector, the Roxburghe Club remains the oldest and most distinguished society of bibliophiles in the world. Joseph Haslewood (1769–1833), respected as an editor of early English literature, was a founder member and enjoyed the club's tradition of informal fun alongside more serious business. After his death, his manuscript account of these early activities, Roxburghe Revels, was unaccountably included in the sale of his books; extracts and critical comments on Haslewood and the club subsequently appeared in The Athenaeum in 1834. Maidment then prepared this defence, presenting and discussing his friend's remarks. The appendices include a biographical sketch of Haslewood.

Bibliotheca Ratcliffiana
  • A Catalogue of the Elegant and Truly Valuable Library of John Ratcliffe
  • James Christie
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    12 December 2013
  • The library of the chandler John Ratcliffe (1707–76) was amassed before the onset of 'bibliomania', and perfectly illustrates the last days of a period of book collecting when scholars and commoners could hope to compete with wealthy noblemen. The collection contained over a hundred incunabula, including forty-eight Caxtons, and a fine selection of sixteenth-century English books, alongside contemporary literature and Presbyterian tracts. Many of Ratcliffe's incunabula had been purchased from James West, others from Anthony Askew. In turn, his books were acquired by a circle of his contemporaries, including William Herbert, Charles Chauncy and William Hunter. However, the purchase of some of the finest books by the aristocratic Justin MacCarthy Reagh provided a hint of what was to come. Reissued here is James Christie's 1776 sale catalogue, featuring handwritten annotations by an attendee at the auction who recorded the prices paid and the names of buyers.

Mss. Codices Hebraici Bibliothecae I. B. De-Rossi Accurate ab Eodem Descripti et Illustrati
  • Volume 2
  • Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi
  • Published online:
    05 September 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
    First published in:
    1803
  • Published in 1803, this is the second part of a three-volume descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew codices in the personal library of Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (1742–1831), professor of oriental languages at the University of Parma. Each codex is numbered and its contents briefly described in Latin. Volume 2 features descriptions of codices 347–858 from a total of 1,377. De Rossi was an important collector of manuscripts and incunabula, and an authority on Hebrew typography and textual variants. The Hebrew manuscripts described in this catalogue were obtained as a result of his exhaustive researches into variant readings of the Old Testament, the results of which he published as Variae lectiones veteris testamenti (1784–8). He also produced groundbreaking studies of printed Hebrew texts, and a catalogue of Jewish anti-Christian polemics, Bibliotheca judaica antichristiana (also reissued in this series).

Mss. Codices Hebraici Bibliothecae I. B. De-Rossi Accurate ab Eodem Descripti et Illustrati
  • Volume 3
  • Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi
  • Published online:
    05 September 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
    First published in:
    1803
  • Published in 1803, this is the third part of a three-volume descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew codices in the personal library of Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (1742–1831), professor of oriental languages at the University of Parma. Each codex is numbered and its contents briefly described in Latin. Volume 3 features descriptions of codices 859–1,377 as well as an appendix of his codices in other languages. De Rossi was an important collector of manuscripts and incunabula, and an authority on Hebrew typography and textual variants. The Hebrew manuscripts described in this catalogue were obtained as a result of his exhaustive researches into variant readings of the Old Testament, the results of which he published as Variae lectiones veteris testamenti (1784–8). He also produced groundbreaking studies of printed Hebrew texts, and a catalogue of Jewish anti-Christian polemics, Bibliotheca judaica antichristiana (also reissued in this series).

Verzeichniss der Hebraischen Handschriften
  • Volume 2
  • Moritz Steinschneider
  • Published online:
    05 September 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1897
  • Educated in Prague, Vienna and Leipzig, Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) was a Jewish Bohemian orientalist with a deep understanding of classical and Semitic languages and cultures, specialising in bibliography. He edited twenty-one volumes of the journal Hebräische Bibliographie from 1859 to 1882, and his 1878 catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts held in the Hamburg State Library is also reissued in this series, along with his 1877 review of Arabic polemic and apologetic literature among Muslims, Christians and Jews. Published between 1878 and 1897, this two-volume work is a descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in what is now the Berlin State Library. Volume 2 is structured thematically, describing 135 manuscripts and focusing on the Hebrew Bible. It also addresses poetry as well as mathematics, medicine, magic and the Kabbalah.

Verzeichniss der Hebraischen Handschriften
  • Volume 1
  • Moritz Steinschneider
  • Published online:
    05 September 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1878
  • Educated in Prague, Vienna and Leipzig, Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) was a Jewish Bohemian orientalist with a deep understanding of classical and Semitic languages and cultures, specialising in bibliography. He edited twenty-one volumes of the journal Hebräische Bibliographie from 1859 to 1882, and his 1878 catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts held in the Hamburg State Library is also reissued in this series, along with his 1877 review of Arabic polemic and apologetic literature among Muslims, Christians and Jews. Published between 1878 and 1897, this two-volume work is a descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in what is now the Berlin State Library. In Volume 1, Steinschneider categorises and describes 124 manuscripts. The volume also includes reproductions of Hebrew handwriting.

Mss. Codices Hebraici Bibliothecae I. B. De-Rossi Accurate ab Eodem Descripti et Illustrati
  • Volume 1
  • Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi
  • Published online:
    05 August 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
    First published in:
    1803
  • Published in 1803, this is the first part of a three-volume descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew codices in the personal library of Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (1742–1831), professor of oriental languages at the University of Parma. Each codex is numbered and its contents briefly described in Latin. Volume 1 includes an introduction (in Latin) and descriptions of codices 1–346 from a total of 1,377. De Rossi was an important collector of manuscripts and incunabula, and an authority on Hebrew typography and textual variants. The manuscripts described in this catalogue were obtained as a result of his exhaustive researches into variant readings of the Old Testament, the results of which he published in Variae lectiones veteris testamenti (1784–8). He also produced groundbreaking studies of printed Hebrew texts, and a catalogue of Jewish anti-Christian polemics, Bibliotheca judaica antichristiana (also reissued in this series).

A Catalogue of the Printed Books in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of York
  • James Raine
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1896
  • York Minster has the largest cathedral library in England. The original library was established in the eighth century, but nothing survives from this period. A new collection was begun in 1414 when John Newton left books to the Minster, and a new library was erected. Further bequests followed - including in 1628 the important collection of Tobie Matthew, archbishop of York - which reflect the religious controversies of the sixteenth century. Today the library contains some 120,000 items, of which more than 25,000 were printed before 1801. This catalogue, published in 1896, was compiled by James Raine (1830–96), chancellor of York Minster, a leading figure in the nineteenth-century restoration of the library. It contains an alphabetical list of most of the printed books that were then in the library, but does not include recent theological acquisitions or the bequest by Edward Hailstone (d.1890) of 10,000 items on Yorkshire.

Catalog der Hebräischen Handschriften in der Stadtbibliothek zu Hamburg und der sich anschliessenden in anderen Sprachen
  • Moritz Steinschneider
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
    First published in:
    1878
  • Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the study of modern Judaism, and his work is still relevant today. Steinschneider's studies encompassed traditional Jewish subjects as well as classical and Semitic languages and cultures. He belonged to a small group of scholars who changed the scope of Jewish learning from that of rabbinics to a broader view of Jewish civilisation. Steinschneider also sought to provide a complete and accurate record of printed publications of Hebraica and Judaica. In this 1878 publication, Steinschneider lists all the Hebrew manuscripts held in the Hamburg State Library. He divides the manuscripts into thirteen categories, including homiletics, prayers, the Kabbalah, and theology and philosophy. Also represented are poetry, rhetoric, mathematics and medicine. Steinschneider also comments on each manuscript and evaluates the significance of the Hamburg collection compared to other German library collections.

Page 3 of 9