In Our Library

In the process of learning the craft of printing and publishing, Gaspereau Press has gradually been acquiring (surprise) books. From time to time we’ll use this blog to give you a peek into our modest though eclectic library.

One of the rarer volumes in our library is a copy of A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, written by William Savage and published at London in 1841 by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. The printer was A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square. Arranged alphabetically, this book is a collection of practical facts and historical background on everything the nineteenth-century printer might wish to know. Covering topics ranging from the practical (casting-off, page imposition, mechanics, hyphenation rules) to the arcane (the Doomsday Book, Rose Engines) to the exotic (composition rules for Hebrew or Sanskrita), the book remains a valuable a tool for students of fine printing as well as the print historians.

If you can’t lay your hands on a copy, the contents of this book may be found on Google Book Search:


http://books.google.ca/books?id=QLXukDnn4PMC