Book Details
LAIRE (Francois Xavier). Specimen Historicum Typographiae Romanae XV. saeculi opera et studio.1778
Sumptibus Venantii Monaldini, Rome. First Edition, 2 parts in one, xiv,[ii],308pp., title printed in red and black, enraged vignette of cherubs and type trays, engraved folding plate, 19th-century marbled boards, morocco label on spine. Reviewing the origin of printing in Italy, he provides a chronological list of books printed in Rome during the fifteenth century. "A folding-plate contains specimens of the types of Sweynheym and Pannartz, two of the earliest Roman printers... Laire was one of the most learned bibliographers of France during the 18th century... At one time he was the librarian of Cardinal Brienne; subsequently he became librarian at the Ecole centrale de l'Yonne, in which position he remained up till his death." —Bigmore & Wyman, I. p. 416. Brunet III: 774.
Stock #23802