Printing and Publishing History
The books at either end of the large Z classification at AAS, denoted
Printing and Related Arts, suggest how relevant this collection is to the
core interests of the Society. The first book on the shelf in the Z
section is William Loring Andrews's Bibliopegy in the United States and
Kindred Subjects, a lovely book published in 1912. Its presence there
reminds us of the Society's preeminence as a center for the study of the
bookbinder's craft in America, a position solidified by the Society's
acquisitions by AAS of the Papantonio and Leach collections and its
publication of two books of important bibliopegical research. The last
book currently shelved within the section is a salesman's sample copy of
the Young People's New Pictorial Library. It brings up the rear of
a large
collection of book salesman's samples,
also
called salesman's dummies or
blads. This interesting volume, together with the others in that
subcollection, reminds us that the study of the commerce in books, no less
than that of the printing of them, is an important aspect of the work of
the Society's Program in the History of the Book in American
Culture. Situated in between these bookends is virtually every other
subject related to printing, publishing, and the book trades.
The books in the Z section are primarily secondary materials, although
they also include materials, like the salesman's dummies, that may be
considered primary sources because of their special artifactual
value. (Bibliographies are classified
differently and are described
elsewhere.) A listing of some of the principal subdivisions within Z
indicates its range: bookbinding, American journalism, foreign journalism,
libel and other legal matters, magazines and periodicals, paper, printing
techniques and practices, publishing and bookselling, and writing. The
largest groups are books on the histories of printing, publishing, and
bookselling. There is good coverage of the British side of the subject,
which is useful to place the history of the book in America in the
Atlantic context.
Some of the more interesting items in the collection may be considered
primary materials. They include a small collection of press association
reports; manuals on how to be a printer, publisher, or journalist; a
sizable collection of type-specimen books; and the aforementioned
salesman's dummies.
- John B. Hench, Vice President for Collections
and Programs
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For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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