Joseph Boillot’s lavish book of zoomorphic caryatids is one of the earliest to be printed from both movable type on the letterpress and copperplates on the rolling press. Manufactured in the provincial town of Langres by the town’s first known printer, Jehan des Preyz, the book contains over fifty wood-cut and copperplate illustrations accompanied by letterpress text that is heavily ornamented with custom cut headpieces and highly stylized initial letters. Part of a larger study of the imposition of copperplates in rolling press printed books, this talk will reconstruct the story of this book’s journey through two distinct presses by way of bibliographical analysis and typographic evidence, including varying plates, type ornaments, signature position, and paper stock, present in copies in the rare book collections at Harvard University, New York Public Library, and the Avery Library.
Erin Schreiner is a Rare Book Assistant in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. She is currently earning her MLIS from Long Island University, with a concentration in rare books.
The Book History Colloquium series is free and open to the public. All events are held on Columbia's Morningside Campus in Butler Library’s room 523 from 6:00–7:30 PM. For detailed speaker information or information on upcoming events, please visit http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/rbml/exhibitions/bhc.html or e-mail Gerald Cloud at gc2339@columbia.edu.