What follows is a talk I gave (over zoom) on June 29, 2022, for the London Rare Book School and the Institute of English Studies, University of London, and mildly revised in the transcript I posted on my blog on September 7, 2022. It was an opportunity for me to talk about the work I’ve been doing on feminist bibliography over the past couple of…[Read more]

Peter Jordan war von 1531 bis 1535 als Buchdrucker in Mainz aktiv. In seiner Presse entstanden zum einen gegenreformatorische Schriften wie eine Schmähschrift gegen Luther, Predigten und eine deutsche Bibelübersetzung, zum anderen aber auch deutschsprachige Wissens- und Gebrauchstexte, bspw. zum Kurbaden, zur Tintenherstellung, zur K…[Read more]

This article describes the development of the typographical phenomenon of “small capitals” during the fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century.

Scaleboard, thin strips or leaves of wood, was used in printing for various purposes, notably to provide interlinear spacing, as well as in bookbinding. This article explores the nature, manufacture and history of scaleboard, and its uses inside and outside the printing industry from the late medieval period to the turn of the twentieth century.

The year 2020 marks the bicentenary of a revolution in the manner in which books were published in England, and soon enough around the world, for 1820 was the year in which the first publisher’s binding in cloth probably appeared. The first books published in cloth are often said to be the series of miniature, diamond-type ‘classics’ issued in Lo…[Read more]

Peter Shoeffer’s book-list is usually dated to the year 1470. The author challenges this dating, however, supplying a detailed analysis of the content of the list and suggested when it was printed and under what circumstances.

THE ZUBER PATRIARCHY
Spring: Jean Zuber, fl.1790-1835; Summer: Jean Zuber-Karth, fl. 1836-1853; Autumn: Ivan (Jean) Zuber, fl. 1854-1907

This is the first of a multi-part series telling how the Zuber family made wallpaper over a 117-year period (1790-1907). It is closely based on the thesis “From the Workshop to the Wall” by Dr. Bernard Jac…[Read more]

The “long s” was used in almost all British printing until 1800. Then, almost overnight, the character was dropped by most printers. This article examines the lead up to this watershed, the printers and publishers who eschewed the long s before 1800, what happened in the printing industry at this time, and in the following years in which a few…[Read more]

The “first” type of Gutenberg: a note on recent research (2004). This article has been somewhat superseded by the work of Christoph Reske, published in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch (2015).

The “first” type of Gutenberg: a note on recent research (2004). This article has been somewhat superseded by the work of Christoph Reske, published in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch (2015).

A description and history of two rare table-top presses at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, used there to print specimen labels between around 1850 and 1970.