TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES—PART VIII, NO. 53

A BRIEF HISTORY
of
PRINTING IN ENGLAND
A SHORT HISTORY OF PRINTING IN ENGLAND FROM CAXTON TO THE PRESENT TIME

BY

FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, LL.D.

EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR

UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA

PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA

1918

The treatment of the material used in this volumewill be found somewhat different from thatadopted in the two preceding. The narrower fieldof inquiry makes possible a closer following of theordinary chronological method of arrangement ratherthan the topical method of the other volumes. Anattempt is made to trace the history of printing in Englandthrough the centuries from Caxton to Morris andto include some insight into legal regulations, tradeconditions, and industrial development generally. Asbefore, it is to be remembered that this is a primer, abook of introductions. No attempt, therefore, is madeto go far into details or to discuss disputed points or toinclude any considerable amount of technical detail. Itis hoped that the reader will get a comprehensive viewof the subject, will feel its human interest, and willcatch some glimpse of its larger relation to the generalhistory of the time.

The writer has consulted a considerable range ofauthorities, a few of the more accessible of which arecited in the short list of books for supplementary reading.Mention should be made of the very excellentstudy of John Baskerville, privately printed by Col.Josiah H. Benton, of Boston. This book may perhapsbe found in the larger public libraries. Here, as always,it is to be regretted that although much has been writtenon the subject of printing and of the history ofprinting a good general history of the subject is stillgreatly to be desired.