A new introduction to bibliography / Philip Gaskell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gaskell, Philip, author.

Contributor:

Oxford University Press, publisher.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Jean-François Vilain and Roger S. Wieck Collection of Private Presses, Ephemera, & Related References (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Printing--History.

Printing.

Book industries and trade--History.

Book industries and trade.

Bibliography--Methodology.

Bibliography.

Books--Bibliography.

Books.

Bibliography, Critical.

Book Industry--history.

Printing--history.

bibliographies.

Medical Subjects:

Book Industry--history.

Printing--history.

Genre:

bibliographies.

Bibliographies.

History.

Annotations.

Private press books (Printing)

Penn Provenance:

Vilain, Jean-François, 1942- (donor) (Vilain-Wieck Collection copy)

Wieck, Roger S. (donor) (Vilain -Wieck Collection copy)

Physical Description:

438 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1972.

Summary:

"By his choice of title Dr. Gaskell relates the present work to R.B. McKerrow's Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students published in its final form 45 years ago. McKerrow's primary concern was to show how far the transmission of literary texts might be affected by the processes of printing and to provide students of literature with the basic technique necessary for the tackling of bibliographical problems. Pre-eminent as an editor of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literary texts, bibliographer, printer, and publisher, his interests were wide-ranging and he was all the more successful as a teacher of others in that he never ceased to learn himself. His scientific definition of methods, the way in which he laid his foundations brick by brick, his honesty and cautious appraisal of results, his precision and lucidity combined with shrewdness and ingenuity and an extraordinary flair for detection, resulted in an unique achievement which was to prove an indispensable tool for generations of literary students. The New Introduction is neither a revision of McKerrow nor McKerrow brought up to date. It is a new and different book, going a long way beyond its predecessor in point of time since it includes a general survey of the machine-press period up to 1950, whereas McKerrow had stopped at 1800. Although Dr. Gaskell agrees with McKerrow when he declares that 'bibliography's over-riding responsibility must be to determine a text in its most accurate form', a good deal of what he gives us is concerned with printing and book-trade history and related only indirectly to the establishment of the text. A masterly consolidation of the results of authoritative bibliographical research during the past half century, the New Introduction is an invaluable work of reference which no library concerned with literary studies, printing history, or librarianship can afford to do without. It is not a teaching, do-it-yourself book like McKerrow; it asks few questions and its range of literary reference is comparatively restricted, although what there is apt and illuminating. To suggest that there may still be room for a book on the lines of McKerrow is not intended as a criticism of a work which would have delighted him. Although described by the author as a 'manual', it is a most readable, fascinating book, in which a large amount of technical information has been digested and presented with superlative skill. For lucidity and precision Dr. Gaskell cannot be faulted; he writes vividly and with zest, and his descriptions of the production routines of the printing house have an actuality which derives from his own practical knowledge and expertise as a printer."--JSTOR (The Review of English Studies Vol. 24, No. 96 (Nov., 1973), pp. 526-529).

Contents:

Introduction

BOOK PRODUCTION: the hand-press period 1500-1800. The hand-printed book

Printing type

Composition

Paper

Imposition

Presswork

The warehouse

Binding

Decoration and illustration

Patterns of production

The English Book Trade to 1800

BOOK PRODUCTION: the machine-press period 1800-1950. Introduction

Survival and change

Plates

Type 1800-1875

Paper in the machine-press period

Edition binding

Printing machines

Processes of reproduction

Mechanical composition, and type 1875-1950

Printing practice in the machine-press period

The book trade in Britain and America since 1800

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPLICATIONS. Identification

Bibliographical description

Textual bibliography

Appendixes

Reference bibliography. General

Periodicals

Book production: the hand-press period

Book production: the machine-press period

Bibliographical applications.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 392-413) and index.

Local Notes:

Kislak Center Vilain-Wieck Collection of Private Presses copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2014 by Jean-François Vilain and Roger Wieck.

Vilain-Wieck Collection copy retains dust jacket.

ISBN:

0198181507

9780198181507

OCLC:

596581