Colour Printing and Colour Printers

Paul Harris Publishing in association with Adam Hilger Ltd, Edinburgh, 1983 reprint of 1910 first edition. Cloth, 8vo, 24 cm,. xxii, 280, [1] pp of plates. From the blurb: "This is a reprint of the much sought-after and yet to be superseded account of colour printing from the 15th century through to the early 20th century. First published in London in 1910, this study encompasses all aspects of colour printing and original copies of the book, now collectors' items, are virtually impossible to obtain. Burch's book is the only definitive history of colour printing techniques and contains detailed descriptions of chromo-lithography, photo-mechanical processes, colour etching, xylography, intaglio processes, chiaroscuro, Le Blon, Baxter, the Chiswick Press, and many dozens of other topics. Burch was born at Mile End in London in 1864. He was commercial manager of British and Colonial Printer and World's Paper Trade Review. He wrote many articles on various aspects of printing and book binding and Colour Printing and Colour Printers was his only book and a memorial to his life. As Ruari McLean remarks in his introduction to this new edition, "It is the first serious book on the subject in any language and, indeed, I do not know of any later attempt to improve upon it.'' The last chapter "Modern Colour Processes" written by William Gamble has been retained in the reprint. For obvious reasons, it has not been possible to include the original colour illustrations printed by the various different processes and which were specially printed for the 1910 edition, but the half tones have been retained and a new introduction with commentary and corrections has been added by Ruari McLean. There is also a short bibliography of works on colour printing published since 1910. Near Fine in Near Fine dustwrapper.