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A title from The Old School Press Only the Printer Knows The story of a book from The Old School Press that nearly never was | ||
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About the book Thirty years after we published our first book, Venice Approached, it seemed fitting to mark 2022 in some way. Perhaps unconventionally, we have done this not with a conspectus of our output over those three decades but instead with a book about the travails of printing, and about the serendipitous but disaster-laden story of one book in particular, our tenth, Venice Visited. Venice Visited was five years in the making and was the product of much luck and much angst. Each of the components that went into the book had its story: the type, the text paper, the illustrations, the cover papers, the printing. At one point things went so badly wrong the project was very nearly abandoned. This book tells the story. Only the printer knows runs to twenty-four large pages, the text hand-set in 14pt Dante, and printed on a dampened hand-made laid paper. The paper probably dates from the 1930s. It came originally from Oxford University Press, via Whittington Press who acquired the remaining stocks of OUP's hand-made papers when the Printing House closed. John Bidwell examined this paper and reckoned that it was part of the making by Batchelor for the Bruce Rogers Lectern Bible published in 1933. As such the paper has had a history. This book has been printed on folded half-sheets and we decided to keep the deckle edges and not to have the bottom and fore edges trimmed even though some have become a little dusty - it is part of the paper's history. A sample opening from the book
About the edition There are three variants in an edition totalling 62 copies. The book itself is quarter-bound with bright yellow cloth on the spine, and a paper by Jemma Lewis (gold splatter on plum) on the boards, 350mm by 250mm, in all three variants. Each copy contains a four-page fold from the original book and a copy of the original four-page prospectus. There is a paper label on the front board. Variant A comprises the book and a selection of fifty-nine letterpress past ephemeral items from the Press in a clamshell archive box, together with a collection of ‘overs’ sheets from twenty-three past books also in a clamshell archive box, the two boxes held in a two-piece drop-front archive box. All the boxes bear paper labels. £220. Variant B comprises the book and a selection of about forty letterpress past ephemeral items from the Press in a clamshell archive box, together with a collection of ‘overs’ sheets from about fifteen past books also in a clamshell archive box, the two boxes held in a two-piece drop-front archive box. All the boxes bear paper labels. £165. Variant C is the book on its own. £90. | ||
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What others have said about the book |
outstanding, marvellous, breathtaking, splendid, superb, beautiful, handsome, wonderful |
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