Browse Items (259 total)

This item is on display to show the exquisite richness of the engraving shown. Note the texture and pristine whiteness of the paper used; this was intended for a reader seeking luxury. The engraving would have been passed through the press at a…

A Venetian, Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari (1508-1578), established a bookstore and printing shop in Venice with his father, named “Liberia del Fenice” (the Phoenix bookstore). As we have seen with other printer’s devices, the mark may illustrate the…

In this work and in others, we see very fine lines in red that delineate different spaces on the page for the printed text. This work carries over the medieval practice used by manuscript copyists, that is, the ruling of spaces in the text in…

Printed in Oxford in 1707, at the Sheldonian Theatre, which is seen in the printing device on the title page (not seen here). A travelogue of a journey through the Holy Land, the text is open to an architectural plan, which like engravings, would…

Published by Fleury Mesplet (1734-1794), this physically tiny work would be the first work printed by Mesplet after his arrival in Montréal in 1776. After leaving Lyon for Avignon, London and Philadelphia, Mesplet settled in Montréal on the…

This religious work was published in Québec City by Samuel Neilson (1800-1837) and William Cohen. Samuel Neilson inherited his printing studio from his father, printer John Neilson (1776-1848), who was the printer for the Gazette de Québec, and the…

The title page displays the printer’s device of Sébastian Nivelle (1523-1603). Nivelle was active in Paris from the mid-1500s to 1603, and was at least approaching 80 years of age at the time of his passing, making him the literal “old man” in the…

Here we see yet another type of decorative paper, probably achieved through a mechanized process. The design of flowers with tendrils of gold is reminiscent of wrapping paper for gifts or even wallpaper, which is of no surprise, as these types of…

Here we see the introduction of gold into the manufacturing process of marbled paper. In this case, it is difficult to say whether this is an example of handmade paper or one produced mechanically given that the date of printing and the fact that the…

The edge of this book displays a decorative technique used fairly often. Instead of a marbled edge, here one has opted for a light sprinkling effect, achieved by drops of colour being “tapped” from the bristles of the brush.