1760 · London
by Capell, Edward
London: Printed by Dexter Leach for J. and R. Tonson, 1760. First Book Printed Entirely on Wove Paper [Capell, Edward (1713-81).] Prolusions; or, select pieces of antient poetry, compiled with great care from their several origins . . . [4], xi, 23, [1], 23, [1], 13, [3], 93, [15], 81, [3]pp. London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson, 1760. 178 x 112 mm. Early 19th-century calf, gilt spine, upper extremity a bit chipped, light wear, spine labels missing. Very good, clean copy. A few pencil notes in the margins. First Edition. This collection of early English poetry, compiled and edited by Shakespearean critic Edward Capell, was the first book printed entirely on James Whatman's wove paper. Whatman (1702-59), a British papermaker, invented a new method of producing high-quality, very smooth paper using a finely woven metal mesh base rather than the traditional laid-paper mesh that produced paper with a visible corrugated texture. Whatman invented wove paper in at the request of John Baskerville, whose famous edition of Virgil (1757) was printed largely (but not entirely) on the new stock; by 1759 Whatman had substantially improved his process, eliminating any trace of "bar shadow" or chain line. Whatman's innovations led to the large-scale and widespread industrialization of paper manufacture. Capell's book is also notable in the history of bibliography: It represents the first modern edition of many of the poems collected here, and contains the first use of quasi-facsimile reproduction of title pages. .
(Inventory #: 42159)