A Dissertation Upon English Typographical Founders with A Catalogue and Specimen of the Typefoundry of John James

London: Oxford University Press, 1963. First published in 1961, this edition (with corrections) 1963. Hardback. lxxx, 1 - 104, (Catalogue & Specimen of 1782 reproduced entire by photo-lithography and separately paginated) [i - ii], [1], 2 - 48, 105 - 146pp. Dust jacket in a protective sleeve. The Dissertation of Mores (1730 - 1778) was the pioneer history of English typefounding. The author printed 80 copies at his home just before he died, and John Nichols added an appendix and sold them. The book has been much quoted by later writers, and it is a valuable authority for the typography of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England. A good deal of curious is given in its digressions. The reprint of 1924 is rare and the reasons for editing the work are chiefly that the text is not easy to come by, that it needs notes to render it intelligible and an index, and that it gains greatly by being produced, as Mores intended that it should be, with a specimen of many of the old types described in it, which were the stock of the James Typefoundry. Book in very good condition. Small indentation at head of spine and some very slight discolouration to top edge of lower board. Text block edges have some slight spotting (mostly to top edge). Internally very clean and unmarked. Dust jacket very good. Unclipped. Very light edge wear with a couple of small nicks to edges of flaps. Spine and some sections of rear faded.