The Golden Compasses: A History and Evaluation of the Printing and Publishing Activities of the Officina Plantiniana at Antwerp - Volume 1 Only

Vangendt & Co, Amsterdam, 1969. Green cloth with gilt titles on spine and motif on front. Boards in clean and bright condition. Contents tight with previous owner book plate on front e/p. Age discolouration to page edges. Dust jacket has darkened spine and small tears to corners and spine ends. This is a heavy book so please check postage with bookseller.

The Officina Plantiniana may be considered the most important printing and publishing house that ever existed. Founded in 1555 at Antwerp by Christoph Plantin, then a young bookbinder, who had arrived a few years earlier from France, it grew to become world famous. At his death (1589) Plantin was the greatest printer and publishers of his day. His son-in-law Moretus and seven generations of his descendants continued the business until 1876, when the firm was liquidated and the house with the printing shop and its treasures became a museum. These two volumes form a definitive history of the Officina Plantiniana. The first volume ('Christophe Plantin and the Moretuses: their lives and their world') outlines the lives and activities of Christophe Plantin and his successors, showing the Masters of the Officina at work against the social, political and cultural background of theirs time. The second volume ('The management of a printing and publishing house in renaissance and baroque') deals with the various aspects of the management of the printing press: buying paper, parchment, inks and other implements, casting types, the relations with authors, censors and how copyrights were protected by privileges, costing, wages and sales. The routine of the Plantinian printing press is described and discussed, the then common methods of book design and production set forth and analyzed, and proof-reading, binding and a number of minor processes dealt with. (from the blurb).