TYPOGRAPHICAL ANTIQUITIES; OR AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, CONTAINING MEMOIRS OF THE ANCIENT PRINTERS, AND A REGISTER OF BOOKS PRINTED BY THEM FROM THE YEAR 1471 TO THE YEAR 1600. Begun by the late Joseph Ames, F.R. and A.SS., and Secretary the Society of Antiquaries. Considerably augmented, both in the Memoir and in the number of books, by William Herbert...Volume III.
- London: Printed for the Editor and sold by Mr. T. Payne and Son, 1790.
- small 4to.
- modern quarter leather with leather tips, marbled paper-covered boards.
- 1309-1875+(1) pages, with one additional leaf of plates.
- ISBN: none
Price: $300.00 other currencies
Order Nr. 54956
Volume one and two only. The book collector and map- and bookseller William Herbert (1718-1795) owned Joseph Ames' (1688/9-1759) interleaved copy of the first version of this work, written by Ames and published in 1749. Herbert expanded the Antiquities to three volumes, of which the first vol. appeared in 1785 in an edition of 500 regular and 50 large-paper copies, the second in 1786, and the third in 1790. Bigmore & Wyman, I-7. Herbert's own interleaved copy of his edition later came into the possession of T.F. Dibdin, who used it in producing his own Ames edition, which was, however, never carried beyond the printers of London, so that "both Herbert's and Dibdin's editions are necessary to the student" (B&W, loc. cit). The third Herbert volume generally contains the printers not covered by Dibdin.
The copy of volume I & II seems to lack the subscriber's list, but is otherwise complete. The paper is in good condition with ample margins. An extra leather spine label is laid in. The original wrappers, while worn, are mostly completely intact. The spine of volume II is lacking. Some minor foxing and staining to the textblock, but otherwise a remarkable (incomplete) set of this well-known English printing bibliography.