Early Lithographed Books : A Study of the Design and Production of Improper Books in the Age of the Hand Press, with a Catalogue

Farrand Press & Private Libraries Association, London, first edition, 1990. Cloth, gilt cover device, 4to, 26 cm,. 374 pp, ills. From the introduction: "This book is about books produced by lithography in Europe in the age of the hand press. The period it covers corresponds roughly with the first half of the nineteenth century, but since the hand press continued to be used for lithography long after this, even on a commercial basis, I have allowed myself some chronological licence. To my knowledge very little of any consequence has been published about such books by those who wrote on lithographic subjects at the time, and nothing at all since then. This book's main aim, therefore, is to introduce a little-known area of book design and production; but I hope that it will also contribute to our understanding of the overall picture of printing and publishing history." Contents include: Introduction; Lithographic incunables; Military manuals: the presses at Chatham and Metz ; The lithographic publications of Sir Thomas Phillipps; Books on accounting and other 'difficult composition'; Music method books; Non-latin scripts; Lithography and phonography: the books of Isaac Pitman; Books with pictures; Reprints of books and facsimiles of old documents; Facsimiles of autographs; Photolithographed facsimiles and reprints; Postscript. Appendix A: Lithographic writers: a checklist of writers and letterers in the age of the hand press; Appendix B: Catalogue of books produced by lithography in the age of the hand press: 1.1-1.259 General; 2.1-2.39 Chatham: Establishment for Field Instruction, Royal Engineer Department; 3.1-3.45 Metz: École d'Application d'Artillerie et du Génie; 4.1-4.14 Phillipps: The antiquarian publications of Sir Thomas Phillipps; 5.1-5.66 Pitman: The phonographic publications of Sir Isaac Pitman; Locations of items described; Bibliography; Index. Elegant bookplate on front pastedown endpaper, slightly faded around spine, otherwise Very Good.