| Ref No | EFP |
| Title | Early and Fine Printing Collections (EFP) |
| Level | Collection |
| Date | 1469- |
| Description | These collections contain nearly 13,000 items, of which over 8,200 were printed before 1701. Of these, 128 are incunabula (a book printed before 1501. More than 4,500 books printed after 1700 have been chosen due to their fine printing, illustration, binding or a combination of these for the Fine Printing Collection.
Early Book Collections
Includes over 8,200 books and printed items printed before 1701. These books cover a wide range of subjects. They include herbals and botanical books for example, both editions of John Gerard’s Herball (1597 and 1633), and John Evelyn’s Sylva (2nd edition 1670) on the cultivation of trees and geographical and travel books, such as the Voyages of Linschoten (1598) and a hand-coloured edition of Braun and Hogenbergs Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1576) with its contemporary plans and views of towns and cities of the known world.
There are local topographical and historical works such as Camden’s Britannia, published from 1586 onwards. Edward Hall’s Chronicles (1548) and Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577 and 1586-7) were both sources for Shakespeare to draw on for the subjects of his plays. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (1563) was approved reading for the Sabbath, despite its gory woodcuts.
A large collection of political and religious pamphlets from the Civil War period reveals the controversies of the time and the progress of the military action. Daily events from 1665 can be traced in the earliest issues of The London Gazette. A set of Moxon’s Mechanical Exercises (1677-83) explains in detail with illustrations the metal and wood-working crafts and trades of the time, including printing. Cookery books like Hannah Woolley’s The Queenlike closet (1684) provide recipes and housekeeping lore. The obscurantist studies of the mystical philosopher Robert Fludd, illustrated by woodcuts of his anatomies, contrasts with the first edition of Hobbess Leviathan (1651), a work of political theory published during the Commonwealth period.
The various Polyglot Bibles are masterpieces of printing synchronised texts in ancient languages. Christopher Plantin in Antwerp (1569-1572) printed the texts in 8 volumes in 5 languages, and at Eton (1654-57) under the directorship of Brian Walton the texts were translated into 9 languages.
For the history of science there are contemporary editions of the work of Robert Boyle as they came out and the mathematical works of Thomas Digges (1573), of Edmund Gunter in the 17th century and practical works like Robert Record’s Arithmetick (1646). The rare account of mining and metallurgy by Georgius Agricola, De re metallica (Basle, 1657) is illustrated by lively woodcuts of workmen and processes. A London edition of Galileo’s Sidereus nuncios (1653) represents revolutionary astronomy.
Fine Printing Collection
Includes books from the Kelmscott Press and William Morris, other famous private presses and the William Ridler Collection that was deposited with the Library in 1988. There is an almost complete collection of books and ephemera printed by John Baskerville the 18th Century Birmingham type designer and printer. Celebrate the private presswork of Bill Pardoe and David Wishart.
Illustrated Books and Binding
There is an outstanding collection of fine illustrated books[6], many hand coloured and a small group of early photographic books. The library is privileged to hold J. J. Audubon’s “Birds of America” as well as many other beautifully illustrated natural history books. There are examples of book bindings ranging from the 15th Century to the work of contemporary designers, and a small collection of miniature books.
Manuscripts
A small collection of manuscripts includes eight medieval illuminated books. One, a Psalter, written in Italy in the second half of the fifteenth century, contains the arms of the Medici family. A Psalter is a volume containing the “Book of Psalms” and which often contains other devotional material. Another, a Dutch Book of Hours, was probably illuminated by Jan Spierinc in 1502. A Book of Hours is a common surviving type of medieval illuminated manuscript. Each is unique, but all contain a collection of texts, prayers and psalms, along with appropriate illustrations, a private prayer book for a Catholic Christian.
Atlases and Maps
Atlases of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gradually revealed the new European discoveries of lands and seas in Africa, Asia, North and South America and mapped out profitable trade routes throughout the known world. The large collection of early atlases was in the main generously donated by Alderman W A Cadbury during the 1920s and 1930s. It includes an atlas published by A. Lafreri in Rome (1553-1580) which contains five unique maps found in no other surviving copy. Amongst his other gifts were a number of early editions of Ptolemy, some hand-coloured and dating from the Venetian edition of 1475, and a Mercator atlas of 1633. This is hand coloured, printed in Amsterdam and orientated according to his new projection which more accurately aligned longitude and latitude. The earliest English marine atlas, the Mariners Mirrour (1588), nicknamed a Waggoner, was based on a Dutch atlas by Wagenaer, and the later more comprehensive French marine atlas was called Le Neptune franis (1693). The finely coloured and decorated Grand Atlas by Blaeu in 12 volumes (1667) was an earlier acquisition, and the Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, an atlas by John Speed (1614) was presented by Paul Cadbury in 1966.
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Interesting facts about the EFP Collection
-The smallest book is one inch high and is in the Bijio Series, a set of miniature books printed c. 1850.
-The largest book is 3’3 by 2’2 unopened. There are four volumes of J. J. Audobon’s Birds of America (1827 – 1838) containing life-size illustrations.
-The oldest book was printed in 1469 in Augsberh, Germany. It is called Catholicon by Joannes Balbus.
-The oldest book printed in England is Cordiale of Four Last Thinges by William Caxton, printed in 1479.
Some notable items
William Caxton
The Early Printing Collection includes one of three known perfect copies of a book printed by William Caxton in 1479, three years after he set up his press at Westminster and became the first printer in England. It is a book of meditation on death entitled Cordiale or the Four last things and was translated by his patron Earl Rivers. It was bought with the help of generous gifts from various trusts and local firms and individuals in 1978. The works of Caxton’s successors in England may be seen, for example, in the Policronicon printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495 and The Ship of Folys printed by Richard Pynson in 1509.
Early Italian Printing
Early Italian printing may be recognised at its best in St Augustines De civitate Dei printed by the first printers in Italy, Sweynheym and Pannartz, in Rome in 1470, and in Plinys Historia naturale printed by Nicolas Jenson of Venice (1476). Jenson was an important source of inspiration for William Morris and T J Cobden-Sanderson, two of the leading figures of the private press movement in England at the end of the nineteenth century. Equally inspirational was the most famous book of the Italian Renaissance, the Hypnerotomachia (the strife of love in a dream) by Francesco Colonna, in a mixture of Latin, Greek and Italian. It was printed in Venice by the leading scholarly printing house of Aldus Manutius in 1499, and illustrated by fantastical woodcuts.
Early German Printing
Early printing in Germany is well represented by amongst others the Cosmographia of Ptolemy, printed at Ulm by Lienhart Holle in 1482, with hand-coloured maps engraved in wood; the Nuremberg Chronicle published by Anton Koberger in 1493, with its 1809 woodcuts by Wolgemuth and Pleydenwurff and his earlier publication the Latin Bible of 1478, with its illuminations in the style of medieval manuscripts. The most splendidly illustrated book to be published in Germany was surely the Teuerdank of 1517 which can be seen in this colltion in a fine copy on vellum. |
| Format | Volumes |
| Access Status | Partially closed (Condition) |
| Arrangement | There is a card catalogue to the items in the collection in the Wolfson Centre.
Many of the items in these collections (with the exception of the Riddler collection) are listed on the library's online catalogue: https://birmingham.spydus.co.uk.
Dewey Decimal Classifications
Parker Children's Collection: 087.1
Incunabula: 093
EFP main series: 094
Fine Printing Collection: 095
Illustrated Books: 096
Miniature Books: 099
Milton: 821.47...
Johnson: 824.63...
Cervantes: 863.32...
Shakespeare: S |
| AdminHistory | Birmingham is probably unique among major British cities in having its development shaped by the absence of Guild, trade and political restrictions. It naturally attracted Nonconformist and radical businessmen, religious and political leaders. These people founded the city's strong tradition of public benefaction, leading to opportunities for self-education for local people, which, in turn, supported local industries, invention, innovation, art and design. Birmingham Reference Library was the first in the country to be provided entirely from local rates. (ref: Roy Hartnell, Pre-Raphaelite Birmignham, Brewin Books, 1996 p. 53)
The special collections are examples of the benefits of this civic gospel, and are rooted in Birmingham's heritage, most being founded and supported by local benefactors. The Birmingham Shakespeare Library made available to the public the finest then extant collection of Shakespearean literature. It was founded on gifts, and supported financially by local benefactors. The Cervantes collection was the personal gift of local industrialist William Bragg, the Milton collection the gift of local politician Frank Wright.
The Fine Printing collection, probably the best in any public library in the U.K. is founded on generous gifts of private press books, showing the work of designers such as Morris, and his collaboration with the Birmingham artist Burne-Jones. These books were given so that students and designers could learn from the best available examples of book design. It includes an almost complete collection of the books designed and printed by John Baskerville, central to Birmingham's contribution to the history of printing. There are also many examples of the contribution of Birmingham artist and designer members of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the work of the Birmingham School of Printing under Leonard Jay, and of modern printers who have continued the private press tradition, both locally, and internationally.
The Early Printed book collection was similarly founded on gifts by local benefactors, most significantly George Cadbury. He donated the people of Birmingham one of the most extensive and significant private collections of early maps ever to be made available to the public by a private benefactor. Many of the fine examples of the work of early European printers were also gifts of local donors, who made them available to the public for study.
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| Language | English |