(THE NETHERLANDS TYPEFOUNDRIES AND THEIR MATERIAL FROM THE XVTH TO THE XIX CENTURIES A Historical Account Documented and Illustrated Chiefly from The Typological Collection of the Firm of Joh. Enschede En Zonen Haarlem)

First English translation of the original FONDERIES DE CARACTERES (1908), never published, and without title- or introductory pages. Quarter dark green buckram with sage green cloth-covered boards, folio, illustrated with 512 figures, many full- or multiple pages of typefaces, specimen pages, ornaments, initials, vignettes, tail-pieces, and printers' marks. All printed from the original metal types on Dutch Pannekoek pure rag mouldmade paper bearing the watermarks of Enschede and the papermaker. Inserted at the beginning of the text is the only reproduction, a collotype of ABECEDARIUM, considered by Charles Enschede as the first book printed from moveable type, preceding Gutenberg. Reportedly only 20 to 30 copies of this rare, early translation were typeset and printed by Enschede to be reviewed for publication by W.E. Rudge in New York in 1928, and a prospectus was printed, but publication never ensued; the project was taken up by The Pegasus Press to be issued in 1933 under their imprint, and another prospectus was printed. It was proposed that Oxford University Press take over the publication, but they declined in the end and the book was never published. An entirely new translation by Harry Carter was commissioned in 1948 and finally published in 1978. According to the Pegasus Press prospectus, "Certain inevitable errors in the original edition.have been corrected by Jan van Krimpen, who has added valuable notes" (and) "The production will be supervised in every detail by Jan van Krimpen.(and).the English translation has been revised by Mrs. Beatrice Warde and prefaced by the distinguished pen of Stanley Morison." According to Nicolas Barker, "In March (1932) (Morison) agreed to write an introduction to the translation of FONDERIES DE CARACTERES on which Beatrice Warde had been working two years before." This introduction had not been published but existed in draft form until its inclusion as appendix in the 1978 translation. Photocopies of the two prospectuses accompany the book. A detailed explication of the fate of this ghost book is found in Matrix 24, page 29. A very good copy but for the front inner hinge, which has been professionally repaired. Additional shipping cost may be requested. Exceeding rare.…