At 17:15 -0500 2005-12-08, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

> > http://www.copac.ac.uk is the catalogues of 24 research libraries in
> > Britain an Ireland.
>>
>> >but several copies are listed, with different years and different
>> >sizes, at nypl.org. (CATNYP, not LEO)
>>
>> Ah, it is a typo. I find Johnson's Typo*graph*ia, not Johnson's Typo*log*ia.
>
>Did copac return many copies?

About twenty entries.

> > Typographia, or the Printers' instructor: including an account of the
>> origin of printing, with biographical notices of the printers of
> > England, from Caxton to the close of the sixteenth century: a series
>> of ancient and modern alphabets, and Domesday characters: together
>> with an elucidation of every subject connected with the art. By J.
> > Johnson, printer.
> > London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, 1824.
>
>I think mine is just published by the Author. That hexonymic publisher
>is the precursor of Longman, Green, which was important in Orientalist
>publishing later in the century.

On the title pages of each of my volumes just
below where it says Vol. I and Vol. II, it states
"Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme,
Brown & Green, Paternoster Row, London" and just
below that "1824".

>I don't understand why it doesn't get mentioned in the standard
>histories of printing. Despite what the description says, neither you
>nor I knew of it!

I know, it's quite something. I'll be putting it
straightaway into my Cool Bibliography --
http://www.evertype.com/scriptbib.html -- but it
is really rather surprising that this work is so
little known.

Corey Bliss and the Rounce & Coffin Club Pasadena
apparently issued a book in 1982, called "A Leaf
from Johnson's Typographia" -- apparently
containing a . Cruel cannibalism if you ask me.

> > Actually, I am pleased to know about this book, and I have ordered
>> one from a used bookseller in Texas, which gave this very nice
>> description:
>
>How much?

As it happens, my set cost USD 100.00.

>What was the name of the French volume you showed me when we met?

Ah, yes, I remember that:

Christian, Arthur. 1905. Débuts de l'imprimerie
en France: L'Imprimerie Nationale; L'Hôtel de
Rohan. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.

There are copies of this book on ABE ranging from USD 25 to USD 495.

> > TYPOGRAPHIA, OR THE PRINTER'S INSTRUCTOR. London: Longman, Hurst,
>> Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, 1824. 2 vols. First edition, regular
>> issue, 32mo. Original purple muslin, labels, uncut. Chipping at crown
>> of first volume, some rubbing, labels rubbed and a bit chipped along
>> upper edge, but a good solid set of this "printer's classic" often
>> found quite shabby, rebacked, or rebound. The subtitle accurately
>> explains the scope of the work: ". Including an account of the origin
>> of printing, with biographical notices of the printers of England,
>> from Caxton to the close of the sixteenth century, a series of
>> ancient and modern alphabets . together with an elucidation of every
>> subject connected with the art." The most comprehensive and famous of
>> all the English printing manuals, issued in four sizes (royal octavo,
>> octavo, 16mo, 32mo). Copiously illustrated with charming cuts of
>> presses, early printers, printer's marks, diagrams, and alphabets. As
>> with several copies we have seen, volume one is bound upside-down, as
>> issued. Hart 68. "One of the few standard works on the art of
>> printing in the English language" --Bigmore & Wyman I:371-73. Birrell
> > & Garnett 227.

--
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com