Johnson, J. Typographia, or the Printers' Instructor: including an account of the Origin of Printing, with Biographical Notices of the Printers of England, from Caxton to the close of the Sixteenth Century: A Series of Ancient and Modern Alphabets, and Domesday Characters: Together with An Elucidation of every Subject connected with the Art (2 volume set). London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green | J. Johnson, Typ., Apollo Press, Brook Street, Holborn, London [colophon], 1824. First Edition. [9508]
Two volumes in recent half red morocco, black morocco labels in gilt, marbled boards, 7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Text pages generally clean without foxing or dampstains; owner notes in pencil on engraved tp of vol. i.. One leaf corner repair in the preliminaries of vol. ii. Very good. Hardcover.
Vol. I. - Engraved portrait of William Caxton; extra engraved title page, [1], [8], (xii.), (1)-610, [10] pp. Index. Illustrations in the text.
Vol. II. - Engraved portrait of John Johnson; extra engraved title page, [1], [4], (iv.), (1)-663, (1), [14] Index, [2] “The Origin of Printing. A Cantata.”
"In this work Mr. J. was assisted by Drs. Dibdin, Wilkins, and Fry, the Rev. H. Baber, &c. It is a valuable work." - Allibone.
John Johnson (1777-1848), b. probably at Chester, England; d. London. A printer by trade, he was for some time in the printing office of Thomas Bensely, and was the compositor for John Warwick's press near Canterbury (1813-1817).
"He circulated, in July 1818, the prospectus of a work on printing, and with the financial support of Edward Walmsley printed in 1824, at his office, the Apollo Press, Brook Street, Holburn, Typographia, or the Printer's Instructor...&c. "It abounds with information of a very useful character, spiced with conceits manifesting the originality, humour, and freshness of the author...Richard Thompson, librarian of the London Institution, helped with the historical part...[Johnson] was opposed to stereotype and machine presses. An engraved portrait of Johnson, by W. Harvey, is prefixed to the second volume of 'Typographia.'" - DNB (1908).
