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OR

THE HISTORY OF PRINTING

IN

ENGLAND SCOTLAND AND IRELAND:

CONTAINING

Memoirs of our Ancient Printers,

AND A

REGISTER OF THE BOOKS PRINTED BY THEM.

Begun by the late JOSEPH AMES, F. R. & A. SS.

Considerably augmented by WILLIAM HERBERT, of Cheshunt, Herts;

And now greatly enlarged, with Copious Notes,

AND ILLUSTRATED WITH APPROPRIATE ENGRAVINGS;

Comprehending the History of English Literature, and a View of the
Progress of the Art of Engraving, in Great Britain;

BY THE REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET,

BY WILLIAM SAVAGE, BEDFORD BURY.

1810.

Hereby, tongues are known, knowledge groweth, judgment increaseth, books are dispersed, the Scripture is read, stories be opened, times compared, truth discerned, falshood detected and with finger pointed, and all (as I said) through the benefit of printing.

Fox's BOOK OF MARTYRS, VOL. I. 927. Edit. 1641.

Dedicated, by Permission,

TO THE MOST NOBLE

THE MARQUIS OF BUTE.

Proposals for Publishing by Subscription,

AT £3. 3s. EACH VOLUME,

A NEW EDITION OF AMES'S

Typographical Antiquities,

BY HERBERT;

GREATLY ENLARGED, AND CORRECTED, IN FIVE VOLUMES QUARTO,

BY THE

REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, F. S. A.

AUTHOR OF

'An Introduction to the Knowledge of rare and valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics,' &c.

The Subscription will be considered as binding only for the first volume; and the Money need not be paid until the Book is delivered.

PLAN OF THE WORK.

I. THE whole of HERBERT will be reprinted, and his 'Corrections and Additions' inserted in their proper places. A great number of books will be mentioned which were unknown to him; and of those that he has briefly or imperfectly noticed, the description will in general be more ample and accurate.

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II. The NOTES, biographical and bibliographical, are intended to be copious. Anecdotes, relating to the authors of books, as well as to the books themselves, will be occasionally given; and as the history of printing may be properly considered the history of literature, in this country, it is hoped that this department of the work may be found useful and interesting.

Information on these subjects will be collected chiefly from the writings of Wood, Nicholson, Hearne, Tanner, Bagford*, Warton, Ritson, Bishop Percy, Pinkerton, G. Ellis, Todd, Park, and Bridges. Many interesting remarks will be also inserted from the communications of eminent modern Bibliographers. The public libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, will be carefully consulted.

ENGLISH BIBLES, CHRONICLES, EARLY POETRY, PLAYS, and ROMANCES, will be particularly described, and specimens occasionally inserted of the compositions of our more popular ancient writers.

III. It is intended to omit the PROLOGUES of Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, &c. in the first volume, and to throw them into the fifth, by way of Supplement. By this method, the account of the books will be less interrupted, and the object specified by Ames and Herbert equally attained; namely, that of supplying materials for filling up imperfect copies of our early printers..

* From his MS. papers on printing, deposited in the British Museum, at Oxford, and at Cambridge.

Mr. D. begs to observe that he has purchased, at a very considerable expense, Herbert's original MS. copy of Ames, quoted in his work, with a great number of additional MS. remarks, which he inserted after the publication of his edition. Another interleaved copy of Ames, with many interesting MS. notes, once in the possession of the late Mr. R. Forster, has also been procured, which was purchased at the sale of that gentleman's books. Other interleaved copies of Palmer and Herbert, abounding with curious notes, have been promised to Mr. D. for the purpose of enriching his work.

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PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

IV. Almost all the plates of Ames, which Herbert indiscriminately admitted, are not only destitute of taste and skill, but are incorrect representations of the Originals. Fac-similes of the types and devices of Printers are crowded together in a minute and irregular manner, and Printers' Portraits are given with little fidelity, or elegance. In the present edition, it is proposed to remedy these defects; and to give accurate and well executed copies of the Originals.

As a number of CURIOUS WOOD CUTS from rare books are intended to be engraved, after the manner of Heinekin*, it is presumed that this edition of Typographical Antiquities, will afford an Illustration of the Progress of Engraving, as well as of the History of Printing, in Great Britain and Ireland.

Each volume will contain at least TWENTY-FIVE engravings.

V. The fifth volume will be called a SUPPLEMENT, containing :

1. An Account of the private presses in England, including a complete Catalogue raisonnée' of the works printed at STRAWBERRY HILL, with the vignettes re-executed, and an interior view of the printing-house, never before engraved. 2. A List of Books printed at the University presses of Oxford and Cambridge. 3. A List of books printed by Ruddiman, Bowyer, and Baskerville; with biographical memoranda of those printers, and engravings of their portraits. 4. The PROLOGUES of our early English Printers. 5. Two INDEXES; the one, an analy

* In his truly valuable, but now very scarce, work called Idée Générale d'une Collection complette D'Estampes.' Leipsic, 1771, 8vo. A

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