Rules and Directions to be Observed in Printing Houses : Printer James Watson

 RULES AND DIRECTIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN PRINTING--HOUSES

Published by The Black Pennell Press, Greenock, 1988. Limited to 200 copies of which this is copy 179. Present by the printer and designer Thomas Rae to his friend John Morris and comes with a hand-written note as well as a typed letter. Also included is the original prospectus. The book has also been inscribed to Morris from Rae (see images provided).

This book has been designed and printed by Thomas Rae. The text has been hand-set in 14pt Caslon Old Face type, Ipt leaded, with Ancient Black in display. The headpieces & other ornaments have been reproduced from those used in Watson's The history of the art of printing (I713); the woodcut on the title page was used by Samuel Palmer on his titlepages in the 1720s. The paper is Velin Arches mould-made and the dampened sheets were printed on a Thompson platen press stripped down and fed by hand.

Two hundred numbered copies have been sewn & cased by hand in quarter linen with hand-marbled paper sides. All work has been carried out at the Press by Thomas Rae.

JAMES WATSON was a leading Scottish printer of the early eighteenth century, and one of the smaller items to come from his press in Edinburgh was Rules and directions to be observed in printing-houses. The original printing, in black & red, was in the form of a broadside, measuring some 22 by I6 inches. As those Rules were approved by other Edinburgh printers of the day it can be assumed that they were displayed in the principal printing establishments of the Capital. They make fascinating reading & shed some light on labour relations in the Scottish printing craft at that time. The only copy known to have survived is in the National Library of Scotland.

The value of this reprint is much enhanced by a scholarly introduction by D. Wyn Evans, Deputy Librarian at the University of Exeter, who has had an interest in the history of Scottish printing since he worked at the National Library in the 1960s. He is the author of a bibliography of the works from Watson's press (1695-1722).

CONDITION
A very good copy. Binding very good with just a small dark spot to the cloth at the rear. Book in excellent clean condition throughout.

(Desk / Top Shelf)