1824 ❧ An indispensable source for printers for decades. JOHNSON, JOHN (1777-1848). Typographia, or The Printer's Instructor: Including an Account of the Origin of Printing, with Biographical Notices of the Printers of England, from Caxton to the Close of the Sixteenth Century... London: Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, [1824].. 2 volumes, 8vo (214 x 132 mm). Engraved frontispieces, additional engraved title pages, structural woodcuts, and typographic specimen borders throughout. A bit of browning to engraved title and frontispiece of volume 2, very occasional spotting, a few openings with pencil marginalia. Modern African goatskin by Anthony Gardner (numbered by him 896 and dated 1970), stamped in blind and gilt lettered. Provenance: Colin Franklin (acquisition). FIRST EDITION, large paper 'Roxburghe' issue. Compiled by the master printer John Johnson at the historic Apollo Press, Typographia remains one of the most celebrated and highly detailed instructional works on the mechanics and history of letterpress printing. Volume I traces the historical trajectory of the craft from Gutenberg and Caxton down through the 16th century, while Volume II stands as an exhaustive, practical operational manual detailing the technical properties of types, composition, inks, and the mechanics of the handpress. Johnson famously issued the book simultaneously in four distinct sizes to appeal to varying levels of bibliophilic collecting: the diminutive 32mo, a standard 16mo, a 12mo, and the present large octavo 'Roxburghe' or 'Demy' issue. While the small-format variants were widely circulated and heavily handled by working printers, copies in this largest octavo format-printed on finer, heavy drawing paper with extensive decorative brass rules and intricate typographical borders-were prized for private libraries. Bigmore & Wyman I, pp. 371-373; St. John's Bibliography of Printing, 55. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing