A Guide to Nineteenth Century Colour Printers.

Edition of 550 copies. Cloth, printed cover-illustration, 8vo, 22 cm, xii, 127 pp, ills. From the preface: "The authors have often been asked while compiling this book what they mean by colour illustration. For our purpose it is largely defined as an illustration which has passed more than once through the press. We have thus included tinted work on the grounds that printers often started in this way who later progressed to full-scale colour work. We have included as many printers as we could find whose work appeared in books. Very occasionally a printer has been included of whose work no example has yet been found. Lithographic artists are not included . The book deals only with British printers; continental firms.have generally been excluded unless they had a London office." A valuable guide to some 222 firms whose colour-printed work has been identified in books. From a contemporary review: "Firms are recorded in alphabetical order, their history is sketched in briefly but adequately when known, and there are details of their earliest and latest known publications; other works are noted if they have some special significance. Short technical descriptions help to clarify the processes used, and many entries indicate further sources of information. Lastly, addresses of the printing establishments are recorded, with the operating dates for each of the premises. Thus we are offered more than a mere directory of printers. Something of a firm's likely relevance to a particular line of research may be gauged from the entries, for this collection of information is clearly the fruit of a long and detailed association with the original material, and this has led to full appreciations of individual publications in relation to the development of the numerous colour printing processes of the time. " Top edge slightly spotted, otherwise Near Fine in Near Fine dustwrapper.…