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library: University of Pennsylvania

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania (USA)

Pepusch, Solos for violin, 1705 (p. 1)

In this collection, the music is printed with copper plates in an oblong format---making for clear lines of the two staffs of music.

Rowe, Laura, 1775 (A1v)

This ad selling letterpress printing to the public appears on the back of a title page; the book lacks an imprint statement, and the shop location given here allows researchers to suggest a time-frame for the book's publication.

Santo Officio da Inquisição de Coimbra, Relacion del auto de fee, 1723 (A1r)

This account of people tried as heretics includes, in place of a printer's device, the device of the Inquisition.

Santo Officio da Inquisição de Coimbra, Relacion del auto de fee, 1723 (A4v)

This 8-page octavo pamphlet ends with the colophon for the printer working for the Office of the Inquisition.

Songs in the opera of Hamlet, 1712 (p1)

This (now disbound) page from an opera of Hamlet shows clear marks from the copper plate used to print the music.

Thomson, Discourse, 1750 (A1r)

The title page to this pamphlet emphasizes not only the title of the work but that it was delivered to the Academy of Physicians, signalling its authority to potential buyers.

Thomson, Discourse, 1750 (C4r)

The authorizing citations have moved from being printed in the outer margins on the side of the page to the bottom of the page, a practice we would describe as footnotes.

Wroth, Urania, 1621 (2o2r)

The start of a new book within this text is marked off with a display typeface providing the title an initial letter.

Wroth, Urania, 1621 (A1r)

This title page for Wroth's prose romance is entirely engraved, from the illustration to the title above and the imprint statement below. At the very bottom of the page, on the left, is the engraver's name, "Sim. Passaeus, sculp:"

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Browse by going through all the images or all the tags, or by following the main tags below. To learn more about what the various features mean, click on the tag and read the description at the top of the page.

main printed features

  • advertisement
  • blank
  • book making
  • colophon
  • correction
  • error
  • form
  • frontispiece
  • imprimatur
  • index
  • initial letter
  • intaglio
  • movable parts
  • music
  • press figure
  • printed marginalia
  • printer's device
  • printer's ornament
  • privilege
  • register
  • signature mark
  • subscribers list
  • title page
  • two-color printing
  • woodcut

date published

  • 1450-1499
  • 1500-1549
  • 1550-1599
  • 1600-1649
  • 1650-1699
  • 1700-1749
  • 1750-1800

place printed

  • Belgium
  • Czech Republic
  • England
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • Peru
  • Poland
  • Russia
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Ukraine
  • United States
Sarah Werner. "library: University of Pennsylvania." Early Printed Books. https://www.earlyprintedbooks.com/library/penn/. Version 20181013.
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