#tailpieces

Typography Tuesday

This untitled pamphlet was a Christmas keepsake from Tony and Patsy Appleton printed in an edition of 100 copies in 1984 at their Old School Press, which at the time was in Buckland Dinham, England. Our copy has a signed presentation to "Abe & Kit." A printed message to recipients at the beginning of the pamphlet describes the contents and the reason for printing the keepsake:

I have recently acquired a Chiswick Press type specimen book showing the incomparable collection of initial letters, head & tailpieces, and borders & ornaments. Most of them were engraved by Mary Byfield, and a number were designed by Charlotte and Elizabeth Whittingham. This book may be the sole survivor of a small number made up for internal use in the press composing room. . . . I may possibly issue a facsimile of this 142 leaf specimen. In the meantime, here is an advance tasting for friends this Christmas. . . .

Our copy is another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.

Marbled Monday

This lovely sandy or striated-rock-like marbling is part of the binding of the book Culs de Lampe by the Gehenna Press, a fine arts press founded by American artist and graphic designer Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) in 1942. This book was published by the press in 1968. The paper is Nideggen and Fabriano blue and white and master printer Harold McGrath (1922-2000), who also printed for Barry Moser's Pennyroyal Press, was the printer.

The book consists of a series of culs-de-lampe, a subset of tailpieces that take a particular shape reminiscent of the bottom of a lamp (hence the name). These designs are often used at the bottom of pages or ends of sections or chapters of a book. Those seen here are printed in black, blue, green, and red and range in date from 1564-1680.

The marbled paper is a large nonpareil pattern. You can still see the underlying zig-zag or gel-git pattern that is the foundation of the nonpareil pattern (and most combed patterns). The colors are earthy browns and greys and remind me of sand or a cross-section of sedimentary rock. The binding was done by Gray Parrot, who has also bound editions for the likes of Dard Hunter's Mountain House Press and Henry Morris' Bird & Bull Press.

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Happy National Dictionary Day!

Although the day was introduced to honor the birthday of American lexicographer Noah Webster, we are more interested in his innovative predecessor Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Johnson was an English writer with credits as a poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. In 1746, he was approached by a group of publishers to create an authoritative English dictionary and agreed, boasting he could complete the dictionary within three years. In the end, he single-handedly completed the task within eight years utilizing only clerical assistance. 

Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language was first published in London by noted Scottish printer and publisher William Strahan on April 15, 1755. While certainly not the first dictionary, it was groundbreaking in its documentation of the English lexicon providing not only words and their definitions, but examples of their use. Johnson accomplished this by illustrating the meanings of words through literary quotes, often citing Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden. He also introduced lighthearted humor into some of his definitions, most notably describing a lexicographer as “a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words”. Of equal amusement, oats are defined as “a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people”. 

A Dictionary of the English Language was published in two volumes with volume one containing A-K and volume two L-Z. Its pages were 46 cm tall and 51 cm wide, and it is said that outside of a few special editions of the Bible no book of this size and bulk had been set to type and that no bookseller could print it without help. Johnson’s dictionary was the pre-eminent dictionary for over 100 years until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1884. Despite some criticism about his etymology and orthoepic guidelines, Johnson’s dictionary was tremendously influential in its methodology for how dictionaries should be constructed and entries presented, casting a shadow over all future dictionaries and lexicographers. 

Several of the words in Johnson's dictionary were painstakingly defined. "Take" has 134 definitions running 8,000 words over 5 pages.

Woodcut tailpieces adorn the dictionary interspersed between letters.

Special Collections holds a facsimile reproduction of Johnson's dictionary, published in 1967 by AMS Press of New York.

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The following guest post was written by Worcestershire's Skills for the Future trainees Tamsin Rowe and Shabeena Anait.

With some 5000 books on its shelves, it is small wonder that the collections in the Hurd Library continue to surprise and delight two hundred years after the bibliophilic bishop first placed them there.

While browsing the ornithological volumes during our ‘swap shop’, Shabeena and I came across an edition of Thomas Bewick’s British Birds from 1797-1804.  We were initially drawn to the beautiful engravings of birds for which its author is famed, but soon realized this book had another secret to reveal.  For Thomas Bewick was a man of dark moods and darker moral humour who included in his work a series of ‘tailpieces’ or ‘vignettes’ in the blank spaces at the end of chapters.  These quirky and often risqué images depict various aspects of eighteenth-century life wholly unconnected with the subject-matter of the book.

Bewick was a wood-engraver and naturalist, born at Cherryburn in Northumberland in August 1753.  The son of a tenant farmer and collier, he went on to become one of the most celebrated artists to come out of Tyneside, producing copperplate engravings for several books of zoology, ornithology, poetry, fable and children’s literature.  Apprenticed to Newcastle silver engraver, Ralph Beilby, Bewick’s talent for engraving animals soon came to the attention of publishers.  He moved briefly to London to take up commissions before returning to the north-east to enter into what became a twenty year business partnership with his old master.  In 1797, growing at last dissatisfied with Beilby, Bewick took on his own apprentices, which included his brother, John Bewick, and Robert Johnson and Luke Clennell who went on to become famous engravers in their own right. 

Below are some examples of our favourite vignettes from volumes one and two of Bewick’s British Birds:

‘Man Pissing Against a Wall’ from British Birds, vol. I, 1797, p.42.  Drawn by Thomas Bewick and cut by Luke Clennell.

‘The Snowman’ from British Birds, vol. I, 1797, p.78.   Drawn by Robert Johnson.

‘A Boy and a Nest’ from British Birds, vol. II, 1804, p. 31.  Drawn by Robert Johnson and cut by Thomas Bewick.

NB: Caption information found on the The Bewick Society website.

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Written by guest bloggers by Tamsin Rowe and Shabeena Anait, Skills for the Future Heritage Trainees.