Five hundred years of printing / S.H. Steinberg ; revised by John Trevitt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steinberg, S. H. (Sigfrid Henry), 1899-1969.

Contributor:

Trevitt, John, 1932-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Printing--History.

Printing.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 262 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm

Edition:

New edition / revised by John Trevitt.

Other Title:

500 years of printing

Place of Publication:

London : The British Library ; New Castle, DE : Oak Knoll Press ; New York, NY : Distributed in the USA by Lyons & Burford Publishers, 1996.

Summary:

Five Hundred Years of Printing is essential reading for the book collector, the cultural historian, the professional publisher and book designer, and teachers and students of typography, graphic design and communications studies. It immediately became established as a standard work on its publication as a Pelican in 1955 and saw two new editions within twenty years. Five Hundred Years of Printing is now for the first time fully revised and republished in a larger format. With over a hundred superb illustrations chosen afresh from the incomparably rich collections of the British Library, it will interest anyone concerned with the history of the book in the West and the role of the printer as possibly the oldest agent of cultural change.

Contents:

I The First Century of Printing, 1450-1550

1 The incunabula period 3

2 Gutenberg 4

3 Type design 9

Roman type 11

Gothic type 16

4 The spread of printing 17

Germany 20

Italy 30

France 37

Spain and Portugal 44

England 46

Greek and Hebrew printing 52

5 Printing in the vernacular 54

6 Printer and publisher 59

7 Early bestsellers 62

8 The title-page 65

9 Book illustration 70

II The Era of Consolidation, 1550-1800

1 Type design 74

Roman type 74

Gothic type 82

Irish and Anglo-Saxon types 84

2 Book production 84

The Netherlands 84

France 89

Germany 93

The English-speaking countries 96

3 Publishers and patrons 106

4 Official and private presses 114

5 The reading public 119

6 The periodical press 121

7 Libraries 126

8 Censorship 130

III The Nineteenth Century, 1800-1900

1 Technical progress 137

2 The trade 146

3 Official and private presses 152

4 The reading public 160

5 Popular series 166

IV 1900-1955

1 Linotype and Monotype 170

2 The Latin alphabet in script and print 172

3 The private presses 175

4 Book printing before the Second World War 188

5 Censorship and other difficulties in the trade 192

6 Bestsellers and steady sellers 200

7 Popular series 212

V The Postwar World

1 Composition and typesetting 218

2 Printing 230

3 Paper 235

4 Binding 236

5 Design 239

6 Printers and publishers 241

7 Modern fine printing 248

8 CD-ROM and the Internet 249.

Notes:

This work, first published as a Pelican Original in 1955 and maintained in print in successive editions until 1980, is now available again. It has been completely revised and updated.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-254) and index.

ISBN:

1884718191

1884718205

0712304142

071230438X

OCLC:

34356379