THE READY RECKONER; or trader's most useful assistant in buying and selling all sorts of commodities, either wholesale or retail. The eleventh edition, with additions on board and timber measure, brick work, and guaging [sic] by the pen and slip-rule. Carefully revised and corrected, by Joseph Moon.

Beschreibung

12mo, (157x89mm), xii,[272]p. slightly spotted. Original canvas, edges rubbed and the boards almost detached, preserved in a modern custom-made solander box. Rare, Estc records only two copies of this edition. Furthermore, the copy which is here offered is in the original binding of canvas thus presenting an example of an early development in non-leather binding materials; and which may be seen as a precursor of later cloth edition binding. Canvas was first introduced as a binding material in the early 1770s and continued in occasional use as a sturdy and serviceable alternative to sheepskin for publications such as school textbooks and 'working books such as this, into the early decades of the 19th century. Surprisingly, this not insignificant development in bookbinding history has received very little attention. Douglas Leighton contributed an essay on the subject to The Library (Series 4 vol. 3, 1948-9, 39-49), but other than short notices, almost in passing, in Middleton's History of English craft bookbinding technique and David Pearson's English bookbinding styles, it has passed virtually unnoticed in the literature of the subject. Leighton notes that a coarse canvas made from flax, though not specifically manufactured for the bookbinder but sufficiently well suited to his purposes, he also points to the hazards of accurate dating of such bindings due to the practice of binding up copies of an edition as sales demanded; however, we feel confident that the copy here offered is in the original binding. The damage to the binding is not without its advantages as it enables on to see that, unusually for this style of binding, the sections are sewn on two alum-tawed thongs which are let into the boards. Since the binding is so interesting in its own right, we have elected not to have any restoration work done as this would affect the integrity of the book, and have therefore had an archival solander box made to house, and preserve, this example of a not inconsiderable development in bookbinding style.

Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 16566

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Bibliografische Details

Titel

THE READY RECKONER; or trader's most useful assistant in buying and selling all sorts of commodities, either wholesale or retail. The eleventh edition, with additions on board and timber measure, brick work, and guaging [sic] by the pen and slip-rule. Carefully revised and corrected, by Joseph Moon.

Verlag

London: printed for G.G. and J. Robinson, J. Johnson, G. and T. Wilkie, and B.C. Collins [of Salisbury]

Erscheinungsjahr

1797

Einband

Hardcover