Marmion, Antiquary, 1641 (H4r)

Blank areas on a page are usually filled with type or spaces that won't print---without those extra pieces, the platen of the press will tilt unevenly as it's pushing down on the forme. On this copy, the quads used to fill the blank areas were accidentally inked and printed.

Marston, Antonio and Mellida, 1603 (A1r)

Thomas Fisher's printer's device, shown on this playbook title page, puns on his name by featuring a kingfisher bird.

Morley, Introduction to practicall musicke, 1608 (B4r)

Letterpress music was printed using metal pieces of type, so that music was easily able to be set and printed on the same press and at the same time as text. The downside, however, was that the lines of the staves were uneven, since separate pieces of type were needed to make a single line.

Patousas, Aesop, 1644 (sig. L4v)

A woodcut illustrating Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow, which in this book is printed to face the illustration (you can see the text here).

Patousas, Aesop, 1644 (sig. L5r)

A modern Greek translation of Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow; there is an accompanying illustration on the facing page

Shakespeare, First Folio, 1623 (I2v)

Since this play ends part-way down the page, the remainder of the space is taken up with ruling and a decorative tailpiece.

Shakespeare, First Folio, 1623 (nn4v)

The opening of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s First Folio; like the rest of the plays in this book, the start of the play is marked off with a headpiece and an initial letter.

Shakespeare, Lear, 1608 (A2r)

The play which we now call King Lear was not first published with a much longer title, it also differs in its emphasis on Edgar as the lead of the subplot.

Summons, 1622

This summons to appear before the King's exchequer is a typical printed form---the parts that are the standard formula are printed, while the specifics of dates and places are filled in by hand.

The Moderate, 1648 (recto)

This issue of an English newsbook has remained uncut and so shows us its quarto imposition as the pages would have been laid out when printed.