At his death, George Spencer (1758 1834) had created the greatest private library in Europe. At the time, many aristocrats were spending huge sums acquiring rare printed books. With monastic and aristocratic libraries in Europe being dissolved, collectors had access to thousands of examples. The Second Earl Spencer's interests were in English 'black-letter' printing, especially the works of Caxton, and continental incunables, particularly first editions of Greek and Latin classics. Thomas Dibdin (1776 1847) was employed as Spencer's librarian and visited Europe searching for new acquisitions....

Moritz Steinschneider (1816 1907) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the study of modern Judaism, and his work is still relevant today. Steinschneider's studies encompassed traditional Jewish subjects as well as classical and Semitic languages and cultures. He belonged to a small group of scholars who changed the scope of Jewish learning from that of rabbinics to a broader view of Jewish civilisation. Steinschneider also sought to provide a complete and accurate record of printed publications of Hebraica and Judaica. In this 1878 publication, Steinschneider lists all the Hebrew...

The academic, university administrator and clergyman Henry Richards Luard (1825 91) graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1847. He became a fellow and lecturer for several years before his ordination. From 1860 to 1887 he served as vicar of Great St Mary's, and from 1862 until his death he acted as registrary of the university, an increasingly important role during a period of rapid expansion. In addition to these duties, Luard made significant contributions to scholarship. As well as writing for the Dictionary of National Biography and editing the work of the classicist Richard...

The dispersal in 1812 of the library of John Ker, Duke of Roxburghe (1740 1804) was the bibliographical event of the decade and a key moment in 'bibliomania'. The huge collection contained illuminated medieval manuscripts, incunabula, fifteen books printed by Caxton, and all four Shakespeare folios. The sale, orchestrated by the bookseller and auctioneer Robert Harding Evans (1777 1857), attracted the greatest book collectors and dealers of the day, setting new records. For the first time in British auction history a single book fetched more than 1,000, while the Valdarfer Boccaccio, the...

The library of the physician Anthony Askew (1722 72) was outstanding in both printed books and manuscripts. He may have failed in his ambition to secure a complete collection of every printed edition of the Greek classics, but he did amass a classical library which remained unsurpassed until Spencer. Although he was later accused of plagiarism, virtually every edition of Aeschylus down to the 1850s cited 'Askew's collations'. He also secured Richard Mead's fine collection of Latin and Greek manuscripts, alongside other early classical codices from the Maffei library. The dispersal of Askew's...

The library of the literary scholar Richard Farmer (1735 97) was first and foremost a working reference collection, the books acquired not as treasures, but to be read and appreciated. Farmer's library included all four Shakespeare folios and was remarkable for its Elizabethan literature and black letter, which provided the source material for his scholarly work. Notable acquaintances such as Samuel Johnson, George Steevens, Edmond Malone and Isaac Reed all benefitted from Farmer's knowledge, and Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry drew directly on the library itself. In 1798,...

Published in 1896 at the peak of his career, this work by Walter Crane (1845 1915) was developed from a series of lectures given to the Society of Arts in 1889. Although chiefly remembered as an illustrator of books for children, Crane was a versatile and knowledgeable artist and designer. His practical experience with book illustration and printing methods gives this text the weight of considerable authority. A prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts movement alongside William Morris, he demonstrates here his understanding of historical techniques of illustration since the medieval period....

The author of this 1755 work is unknown - John Smith may not even have been his real name - but internal evidence from the book suggests that he may have spent some time in northern Germany, and he also shows familiarity with aspects of French printing. Smith describes the typesetting of books but not the actual printing, so it is possible that he may have been a compositor or a printer's reader. The work is a comprehensive survey of all aspects of typecasting and composition, dealing with the formation of type, regular- and irregular-bodied letters, accents, kerning, upper and lower case,...

This two-volume work on the life and activities of the printer William Caxton, a vital source for bibliographers, was written by another printer, William Blades, and published in 1861 3. Blades (1824 90), apprenticed into the family firm, developed a great interest in the history of his trade, collecting an extensive library of antiquarian books, and becoming an expert on early typefaces. He brings to his study of Caxton (which follows in the wake of works on incunabula by Ames, Herbert and Dibdin) his own practical experience of the craft of printing, largely unchanged, except for the...

This two-volume work on the life and activities of the printer William Caxton, a vital source for bibliographers, was written by another printer, William Blades, and published in 1861 3. Blades (1824 90), apprenticed into the family firm, developed a great interest in the history of his trade, collecting an extensive library of antiquarian books, and becoming an expert on early typefaces. He brings to his study of Caxton (which follows in the wake of works on incunabula by Ames, Herbert and Dibdin) his own practical experience of the craft of printing, largely unchanged, except for the...