Jersey City, NJ: American Type Founders Company, 1912. Hardcover. This heavy encyclopedic catalog from the American Type Founders is the largest ever issued by the company, with its 1000+pages showing every possible type face available. They exhort printers to study every page to understand how type faces can make the difference between having a profitable vs. unprofitable business. In addition to displaying the type styles themselves, the specimen book offers numerous examples in different colors and layouts to showcase how the type can be used. Altogether a fascinating view of the art of printing at the beginning of the 20th century. Each volume has a unique number stamped in that links it to the buyer for purchases. Bound in red cloth with black titling to spine and front cover. Spine is somewhat worn but the binding is in very good condition. The interior pages are near fine save for one decorative ornament image on page 974 having been neatly excised from the middle of the page. Measures 8 x 11 x 3 inches. 1096 pages. BOB/040920. Near Fine. More

[New York]: M & Co., n.d. [1980s]. A cleverly designed wooden box with sections containing various office supplies: pencils, nice paper, a ruler, eraser pencil sharpener, rubber bands, paper clips, and Tabu pepermint candies. The box is bound to look like a book with green cloth covers and a black spine. Opening the cover reveals the collection inside.The inside of the cover are printed with a number of quotes about writing, making pencils, love, and more. M & Co. was a graphic and product design consultancy that was founded in 1979 in New York City. M & Co. was known for its innovative use of images and type to create imaginative and witty designs. During its 14-years history, the company worked on a variety of projects from videos and album covers to stationery and ID systems. In fine condition. Measures 7.5x10 inches. BOB/070320. Fine. More

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1939. Hardcover. In their foreword the press writes: "Specimen books of type in the modern printer's office seldom show features of marked individuality. The almost universal use of the monotype and linotype, which derive their type faces from the specimen books of the the manufacturers of these machines, tends to a considerable uniformity in the type repertories. Unique and private fonts have largely ceased to exist....Yet there are some points in which [this] specimen book may claim consideration...asbecomes a university press, the equipment of the fonts in italics, accented letters, reference marks, etc. is ample." The manual is divided into specimens of book fonts,and specimens of job fonts, borders, ornaments, signs, and rules. The pages are held together with metal looseleaf-type rings inside the blue cloth binding. Titling in gilt on spine. This specimen book is in remarkably good condition - very good plus. Sections are paginated individually. 7 x 9.5 x1 inches. BOB/040620. Very Good+. More

Baltimore: Monotype Composition Company, n.d. circa 1950s. Hardcover. Scarce. This comprehensive collection of type specimens primarily features monotype given the business of the company producing the manual. There are also sections on Ludlow ,and linotype-intertype, The pages are held together by metal rings in a red cloth binder. There are additional pages inserted. Binder is bumped, rubbed, but still very good. Interior pages are also very good. Sections are paginated separately. Measures 9.5 x 11.75 inches. BOB/040820. Very Good. More

Tokyo: Bunseido Press / Bell & Brooks, 1979. Paperback. First Edition. Scarce. Number 233 of 256 copies. Includes four paper samples and illustrations of Samoan press marks. The authors collected materials for this book during their Polynesian tapa research trip in April and May of 1979. In Japanese stab binding with black title to off-white kozo paper covers. Clean and bright. Printed on kozo paper in Century type. 30 pages. 3 1/8 x 2 inches. BOB/052220. Very Good. More

Essex, England: Alan Brignull, 2012-2014. Softcover. Alan Brignull took over this fine little letterpress annual in 2012, which has been published since 1955. Each volume binds together the several contributions received from letterpress printers in England and the United States. The submissions vary greatly by style and layout but they all concern some aspect of printing, design, or typography. Each volume is bound in white glossy paper covers with a color linen spine. The title and issue number appear on the front cover. All are in near fine condition. Measures 5 x 7 inches. Unpaginated. PRI/040920. Near Fine. More

Boston: David R. Godine, 1975. Hardcover. Number 412 of 750 copies, of which 301-750 were published in the United States. 300 copies were published by the Merrion Press in London. Published to honor calligrapher Alfred Fairbank on his eightieth birthday. The facsimile is of a rare writing manual by Augustino da Siena. Bound in orange cloth with gilt titling to spine and gilt ornament to front cover. In a cream decorative dust jacket. The text is Monotype Poliphilus and Blado and printed on mould-made paper from the Wookey Hole Mill. Very good condition save for dust speckling on top page edges. Unpaginated. BOB/040620. Very Good. More

London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1960. Hardcover. An interesting work on the history of writing, starting with the Humanistic scripts of the Italian Renaissance through the calligraphic movements of the 20th century. With 96 plates and a description of each. Bound in grey cloth with red and gilt titling to spine and gilt illustration of scribe on front cover. Light bumping . Pastedowns and free endpapers have light toning but the books interior is in very good condition. Measures 9 x 11.25 inches. 104 pages plus plates. BOB/041320. Very Good. More

Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision, 2004. Hardcover. One of the first books to explore the popular contemporary use of this printing process [dust jacket]. Bound in black cloth and in white, red, and black dust jacket with titling to spine. Jacket is in very good condition and the interior pages are near fine. Measures 9.25 x 10.5 inches. 158 pages. BOB/040820. Near Fine. More

Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1942. Rudolf Koch was a leading German calligrapher, typographic artist and teacher who, in the 1920s, invited Fritz Kredel to join his studio where Kredel perfected the art of making woodcuts. Das Blumenbuch (The Flower Book), originally published in an expanded edition in 1929-30, was the first collaboration between the two artists and was Kredel's first major book commission. This collaboration is regarded by many as their masterpiece. This set of 80 color plates from the original edition display the beauty of the illustrations Koch and Kredel created. This is a variant of the book issued in 1942, with the loose plates in groups of four housed in a cardboard box. The box is only in good condition, with chipping, bumping, and tears. The leather spine label is torn and only Koch's name remains. However, the contents are in very good condition. There are seven pages of text in German in the last gathering. Sheets are 9.25 x 12.25 inches. BOB/041620. Very Good. More

New Haven, CT: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 1997. Hardcover. Bernard Rosenthal (1920-2017), book and text manuscript seller and collector, specialized in Medieval manuscripts and early printed books from the beginning of his career as an antiquarian bookseller in 1953. He was born into a family of legendary European booksellers. His masterpiece was considered to be his Catalogue 34, which was subsequently published as this catalogue from the Beinecke Library at Yale University. This remarkable scholarly catalogue achieved Rosenthal's goal of producing a catalogue of books in which the presence of annotations would be ranked on the same level as the printed text and given proper descriptions to emphasize their importance as primary sources. The catalog has an alphabetical short-title list, c chronological short-title list, the catalog itself, a bibliography, and an index of owners and annotators. There are reproductions from the pages of text and annotations throughout the book. Printed in Dante types that was redrawn for digital setting. Bound in burgundy cloth with gilt titling to spine. Binding and text pages are in near fine condition save for light speckling to top and fore-edge. Measures 8.5 x 12 inches. 389 pages. BOB/041020. Near fine. More

Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press and Oxford University Press, 1922. Hardcover. Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941) was a prominent American printer and a historian of the printing arts. This comprehensive history of printing types was based upon lectures that Updike delivered as part of a course on the techniques of printing at Harvard's graduate business school. It covers printing types not just chronologically but geographically as well. There are 367 illustrations throughout the two volumes. Bound in black cloth with gilt titling to spines. Both bindings have some bumping and light wear. Slight cracking along rear joint of Volume I but text block is tight. The interior pages are clean and bright and the volumes are in very good condition. Housed in a tan cloth slipcase with decorated interior and ribbon to pull books. A little fraying but still very good. Books measure 6.5 x 9.5 inches. Volume I: 276 pages; Volume II: 308 pages. BOB/041720. Very Good. More

New York: Museum Books, Inc., 1954. Hardcover. Number 119 of 1000 copies initialed and numbered by Zapf. Also signed by him on free endpaper in Washington in April 1966. Zapf (1918-2015) was a German typographer, book designer, and calligrapher who is considered one of the most influential figures in the twentieth in these fields. This magnificent book has 100 typographic pages with quotations from the past and present about types and printing in sixteen different languages, selected and designed by Hermann Zapf and printed at the house printing-office of the Stempel type foundry in Frankfurt/Main. The types used were historic faces taken from the foundry's archives. Zapf wrote in his introduction: "This manual seeks to show the myriad possibilities of the expressiveness and beauty of type, whether individually or in massed text, by the use of purely typographic means. The letters' indwelling wealth of form is a fresh, unending astonishment." The manual more than achieves these aims. The authors are listed in a small booklet inserted on the rear pastedown. The booklet is titled "Quoted Texts of Manuale Typographicum in Original or Rendered English. Bound in grey cloth with cream spine with gilt titling and the letters ABC debossed on the front cover. In a cream dust jacket with black titling to spine. There are small tears to the top of the spine and along the front flap, and creasing and some abrading to rear cover. The book and binding are in near fine condition. With the handsome bookplate of printer and typographer Roland Hoover affixed to the front pastedown. Housed in a blue cloth slipcase with some wear along edges. Book measures 9 x 12 inches. Page numbers are blind-stamped on lower right corner of each page. BOB/041620. Near Fine. More