FRY, STEELE, AND CO.. A Specimen of Printing-Types, By Fry, Steele, and Co. Letter-Founders to the Prince of Wales, Type-Street.1802

London: [s.n.,] Small 4to (265 x 165 mm), title with vignette, advertisement leaf (bound out of order), 148 ff. (i.e., 116ff. type specimens, 32 ff. ornaments, numbered 1-146) all printed on rectos only, the 146 ornaments are all priced with many altered in manuscript, printed on thick paper stock, 'Lepard' watermark, contemporary boards, neatly reback, entirely uncut, a very nice copy. The Fry's were a Bristol family, and Joseph Fry (1728-87) established the foundry at Bristol in 1764, in partnership with William Pine and Isaac Moore as manager and type-designer. By 1766 the foundry had moved to London, with Moore retiring in 1776 and Pine shortly after. In 1782 Fry took his sons Edmund (especially interested in exotic founts) and Henry into partnership, and made considerable purchases of Greeks and Orientals at the sale of James' foundry. Joseph retired in 1787 and in 1794 Isaac Steele joined as partner until 1808, when Edmund Fry was left in sole control until he admitted his son to partnership. In 1829 the foundry was acquired by William Thorowgood. A very nice copy of this extremely rare type specimen book, Mosley cites copies with 98 leaves at OUP and Sohm, however our copy runs to 150 leaves and is by far more substantial. There are type in Hebrew and Greek, ornamental, Blacks, Exotics, Ships, Bands, frames, & decorative pieces composed of flowers continuing to a priced section of cast ornaments. "The Proprietors of the Type-Street Letter-Foundry present them with a new Specimen of Printing-Types, which, with indefatigable assiduity, and at a very great expense, they have now compleated... this Specimen is enriched with such improvements, and additions of variety of useful Types, including GREEKS, HEBREWS, and the other ORIENTALS, as no Letter-Foundery in Europe besides can produce."—advertisement. Loosely inserted is a prospectus sheet (282 x 230 mm), printed on one side only, for Edmund Fry's Pantographia. Provenance: Bookplate of H. Berthold AG to front paste-down. Not in Berry & Johnson; Mosley, 125.