Epreuve de caracteres, qui se fondent dans la nouvelle fonderie de caracteres de Isaac & Jean Enschede à Haarlem. Deuxieme edition augmentée. Augmentée & ameliorée jusqu’ à l’an 1748.
8vo. 1 leaf blank, 32 [of 34] leaves (lacking the woodcut
port. of Coster & the specimen of Text Roman), 1 leaf blank. Type specimens printed on rectos only, all within decorative borders. Small tear to
title repaired. Some corner wear. Untrimmed in the original marbled wrapper
expertly repaired by the Brockman bindery. Rare. £2,500
There are also copies (the St Bride copy, for example) with a Dutch title-page. By far the greatest number of surviving copies, including this one, are Enschede-Carter's 'third issue', consisting of 34 leaves - 3 leaves of prelims and 31 leaves of specimens - including an inserted bifolium dated 1749 between F1 and F2.
Printers since the beginning of the century, the Enschedes acquired the Wetstein typefoundry in 1743 (as the preface explains); they issued their first specimen in 1744.
WorldCat identifies about 15 copies of this type specimen in institutional libraries. The marbled paper wrapper here closely resembles that of the copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale.
Birrell & Garnett 69; Enschede & Carter, Typefoundries, 80; Lane & Lommen 8; Paul Jammes, 2006, 24.
