| Description: |
Typis Imerialibus, Paris. 1805. 4to, xvipp., 150 (i.e. 156) ff. all leaves are with a fine red typographical border printed on both the recto and verso, presentation inscription from the famous Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore to Sir Culling Cardley, a nice clean wide margin copy, pink silk endpapers, cont. black morocco, flat spine tooled in gold, gilt ornamental border on sides, gilt edges and turn-ins, all edges gilt, corners slightly bumped but otherwise a nice copy. This type specimen is printed throughout in types cut by Marcel, it consists of 150 different types in 150 different languages, with the Lord’s Prayer being chosen as the text. The book is divided into four parts, the first for Asian languages (946 different types), the second for the European languages (73 different types), the third for African languages (12 different types), and the fourth for American languages, that is the indigenous languages of the Indians, (19 different types). This important and beautiful type-specimen book was printed at the Imprimerie Nationale as a compliment to the Pope, at the time of Napoleon’s coronation, using the types of the Propaganda Press, which had been brought from the Vatican in 1798. Marcel (1776-1854) was an Oriental scholar who was placed in charge of the Imprimerie Nationale in 1803. Birrel and Garnett, p.24. |
