Annals of Printing : A Chronological Encyclopaedia from the Earliest Times to 1950

Blandford Press, London, first edition, 1966. Cloth, cover illustration, large 8vo, 25 cm,. xix, 315 pp, ills, maps. From the blurb: "In the literature dealing with the history of printing and its allied trades, there are few subjects that have not been exhaustively treated. There did, however, seem to be a need for a record of the major landmarks in the development of printing from its inception to the present day. From the myriad details and dates of some five centuries, there could be compiled a work of many volumes: the strength and the value of ANNALS OF PRINTING lies in its selection of salient information into one compact volume. The work has been achieved by the collaboration of two authorities: W. Turner Berry, who has written and edited several books during bis long years as the Librarian of the St Bride Institute in London, and who has brought his great experience to bear in treating the period from 1800 to the present time; and H. Edmund Poole, who has for over thirty years been associated with the practice and history of 'the trade' and who has been responsible for the period from the earliest days to 1800. By its nature, a book of separate entries cannot be said to have a plot or narrative, but to anybody concerned with printing, paper, publishing, music engraving, newspapers, trade unions, ink, block-making, and the evolution of the materials and techniques upon which printing depends, this will be an exciting book and one which it will be hard to lay aside. It is extensively illustrated throughout with reproductions of pages from books, machinery, portraits, type faces and other subjects which make a fascinating visual record. An ex-library copy with a label on the front pastedown endpaper extending over the protective sleeve of the dustwrapper flap, small stamps on front free endpaper and verso of the title-page, residue of a label on the spine of the protective sleeve, otherwise Very Good in used dustwrapper.