Printing in London : From 1476 to Modern Times (Routledge Library Editions: Publishing and Printing)

Originally published in 1960, the early history of news-gathering, of advertisement blocks and displayed advertising, of women’s magazine, are among the varied aspects of the London printing trade discussed in this book. Separate chapters are devoted to jobbing printing and the controversial, competitive Bible patent. The considerable technical information includes detailed descriptions of nineteenth-century presses. Besides an account of the struggle for power in the Stationers’ Company at certain periods, the livelier – and often more ruthless – personalities in the London trade, such as John Wolfe, Robert Barker I, Miles Flesher, Henry Hills and John Bell are vigorously described. Every section is generously illustrated in line and half-tone with material much of which was previously unreproduced. The easy style and wide range of Printing in London will rouse the interest of both the specialist – in advertising, in libraries and in the trade itself – and of the general reader who wants to know more about the history of printing.