The Colonial Printer

By Lawrence C. Wroth and Worth Lawrence C.

Book Overview

How did a handful of rough wooden presses help forge a new society on the far edge of empire? In The Colonial Printer, distinguished historian Lawrence C. Wroth opens a window onto the everyday world of the printing trade in America, revealing how printers, compositors and booksellers shaped belief, politics and community life. Print remade the American colonies. Drawing on rare imprints, colonial newspapers and pamphlets, Wroth traces the rise of presswork across the seventeenth century American colonies and the eighteenth century American colonies, from devotional texts and legal forms to almanacs, broadsides and revolutionary debate. The result is both a lucid introduction to early American book history and a classic printing history reference book, indispensable for historians and bibliophiles, students of colonial print culture studies and anyone curious about Benjamin Franklin as printer and craftsman. Long recognised as a landmark study of colonial American printing history, The Colonial Printer illuminates the technical craft, economic pressures and social networks that lay behind the familiar story of the history of the printing press. Equally engaging as narrative and rich as documentation, it rewards casual readers, supports serious research and holds special appeal for rare book collectors and lovers of typographic heritage. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today - a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9354448054
• ISBN13: 9789354448058
• Release Date: March 2021
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 454 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.5" x 11.0"