Febrés, Arte de lengua de Chile, 1765 (2A4r)

This page is from a textbook teaching Spanish speakers the Mapuche language, spoken by the Mapuche people of present-day Chile and Argentina. It showcases how type works to transliterate phonemes from a non-Romance language into a Latin alphabet. It is interesting to compare the tildes on the Ñs in the text to the contemporary variety. The book seems to be tightly bound, based on the close cropping on the left side of the image.

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v corr.)

This page shows the corrected version with all of the proofreader's indicated changes on the proofsheet made. This copy of the play provides a useful comparison of this process since a former owner has, unusually, bound in the proofsheet immediately following this correctly printed page (reversing the leaf so that the two versos face each other).

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v uncorr.)

This page survives from one of the playbook's original proofsheets. The corrector has written marks down the margin indicating where the text needs to be reset. In the tenth line, the last word is struck out and a "d" for "deleted" is placed in the margin; in the very last line, a caret after "Martell" indicates where the comma needs to be added. If you compare this proof with the corrected version, you'll see the compositor has made the requested changes.

Gianicolo, Type specimen, 1529 (verso)

There is very little bleed-through apparent on this blank verso, although it's hard to tell if it is due to how this broadsheet was printed or how it was photographed.

Holinshed, Chronicles, 1577, pub. Harrison (¶1r)

In some cases, when a group of publishers together paid for a work to be printed, the work would be printed with different states of the title page, each publisher being named separately. Here, although a group of men collaborated to pay for the publication of Holinshed's Chronicles, this state of the title page lists only Lucas Harrison as the publisher (compare to this copy of the work).

Indulgence, Augsburg, 1481 (verso)

On the back side of this indulgence, you can see the creases where it was folded up for safekeeping and the later repair work done to stabilize it.

Kats, Ma’aseh Toviyah, 1708 (8.4r)

This decorative chapter title showcases several sizes and weights of Hebrew type. The use of both elongated and regular forms of several letters, including ה (he), ת (tav), and ם (final mem), is particularly visible in the triangle of text at the top of the page. Stretching letters with horizontal lines was a common convention in Hebrew printing used to justify lines.

Keimer, Elegy, 1723 (1v)

The back of this broadsheet shows the ink bleeding through from the front, as well as the small patches that have been made to repair the damage from being folded.

Molina, Vocabulario, 1571 (V10r)

The colophon being printed in both Spanish and Nahuatl suggests that the book was meant to be accessible equally to Spanish colonial and Indigenous audiences.

Moxon, Mechanick exercises, 1683 (S4v)

On what would otherwise be a blank page, this advertisement is for similar how-to books.