Browse Items (91 total)

English This exquisite example of a mark of ownership is not even that of a book owner but that of a bookseller in Glasgow, Scotland, who had this item for sale in their shop. This practice ensured that this item could be traced back to its original…

English This book offers a typical example of the classic formula of “promise” and “reward” that one regularly finds in books of the 15th and 16th centuries. The phrasing varies as per the personality and humour of the owner and how much value he…

EnglishThis 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…

EnglishA 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…

EnglishIn 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…

EnglishPrinted 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,…

EnglishPublished 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…

EnglishThis 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,…

EnglishThe 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”…

English 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…