A Specimen of the Printing Types and Flowers Belonging to John Reid, Printer, Edinburgh
A small specimen book printed in 1768 by John Reid, a jobbing printer in Bailie Fyfe's Close, Edinburgh, to show customers what his shop could set. The title page carries the whole pitch: all kinds of printing work, plain and ornamental, done neatly at reasonable rates, with a note that the types are all good and the flowers (cast ornaments) entirely new and the most complete collection anywhere.
What it is
A small specimen book printed in 1768 by John Reid, a jobbing printer in Bailie Fyfe's Close, Edinburgh, to show customers what his shop could set. The title page carries the whole pitch: all kinds of printing work, plain and ornamental, done neatly at reasonable rates, with a note that the types are all good and the flowers (cast ornaments) entirely new and the most complete collection anywhere. The types section runs one Latin passage, the opening of Cicero's Second Philippic, down the size scale from Caslon's Canon through Two-line English, Double Pica, Great Primer, English, New Pica and Small Pica to Caslon's Long Primer and Baine's Minion. Every size is labelled with its founder: Caslon of London or the Scottish founders Wilson and Baine. The second part shows printers' flowers in stacked bands, grouped by size from Two-line Pica down to Minion.
Why read it now
This is capability proof in its oldest form. A printer cannot show a finished job for every buyer, so he shows his stock, set to one fixed text and labelled by source. Holding the text constant leaves the type as the only variable, so the buyer compares with his own eyes. Naming Caslon borrows the best-known founder's reputation at the exact point of inspection. The flowers fill about a third of the book because they prove the ornamental half of the offer, the half a buyer doubts. Modern research agrees with the logic: Darley and Smith (1993) found that objective, checkable ad claims are judged more credible than subjective ones. What has dated: the Latin text, the long s, no prices, and a completest-collection boast nobody could verify. Use: if you run a design studio, print shop or agency in the Gulf, run one brief or one product through every style or service you sell, name the tools or partners under each sample, and give the hard part of the offer, such as Arabic lettering or ornament, the most pages.
Passages worth keeping
Performs all kinds of Printing-work, plain and ornamental, in the neatest manner, and at the most reasonable rates.
عرض المطبعة في سطر واحد: كل أعمال الطباعة، البسيطة والمزخرفة، بإتقان وسعر معقول.
N. B. The Types are all good; and the Flowers entirely new, being the completest collection any where to be found.
ملاحظة في أسفل العنوان تعد بأن الحروف جيدة وأن الزخارف جديدة وأنها أكمل مجموعة، ثم تترك الصفحات التالية تثبت ذلك.
Quonam meo fato, P. C. fieri dicam, ut nemo his annis viginti reipublicae fuerit hostis, qui non bellum eodem tempore mihi quoque indixerit?
مطلع خطبة شيشرون: أي قدر هذا الذي جعل كل عدو للجمهورية في عشرين سنة يعلن الحرب عليه هو أيضًا. والنص ثابت في كل المقاسات ليكون الحرف وحده موضع المقارنة.
CASLON's ENGLISH.
عنوان كل عينة يذكر المسبك بالاسم ثم المقاس، فيعرف المشتري مصدر الحرف قبل أن يحكم عليه.
Two-line Pica Flower. Double Pica Flowers. Great Primer Flowers. English Flowers.
قسم الزخارف مرتب حسب المقاس من الأكبر إلى الأصغر، ليثبت اتساع المجموعة بالعرض لا بالوصف.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.