Febrés, Arte lengua Chile, 1765 ([*]1r)

This title page comes from a book that documents the linguistic complexities of 18th-century Chile, including the language of the Mapuche, Chile’s indigenous inhabitants, combined with Spanish-speaking colonizers. Both red and black ink are used to add emphasis on areas of the book’s contents, such as advertising that in addition to its main contents, it also includes a “very curious ‘Chilean-Hispanic’ dialogue.” The somewhat misaligned nature of the lines indicates that the two-color inking friskets were not precisely lined up during printing.

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v corr.)

This page shows the corrected version with all of the proofreader's indicated changes on the proofsheet made. This copy of the play provides a useful comparison of this process since a former owner has, unusually, bound in the proofsheet immediately following this correctly printed page (reversing the leaf so that the two versos face each other).

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v uncorr.)

This page survives from one of the playbook's original proofsheets. The corrector has written marks down the margin indicating where the text needs to be reset. In the tenth line, the last word is struck out and a "d" for "deleted" is placed in the margin; in the very last line, a caret after "Martell" indicates where the comma needs to be added. If you compare this proof with the corrected version, you'll see the compositor has made the requested changes.

Gadbury, Ephemeris, 1688 (A1r)

This ephemeris---a calendar of astronomical positions---for the year 1688 uses red ink on the title page to highlight the key words advertising this work.

Gadbury, Ephemeris, 1688 (A4v-A5r)

Although many printed almanacs left space for users to add in their own notes, Gadbury here adds in a block of red text labeled "observations" a brief account of recent historical events.

Gerard, Herball, 1633 (4y2r)

Even in 1633, the same woodblock is being used to print this illustration of the corn-cockle.

Gučetić, Dialogo della bellezza, 1581 (a1r)

This title page showcases the Ziletti printer’s device, a comet and seven stars with their motto “inter omnes” (“among all”). Here Francesco Ziletti uses the device of his uncle, Giordano Ziletti, but with his own spin -- most noticeably, the inclusion of two upside-down topless women who were not present in Giordano's works.

Guyot, Type specimen, 1565

Specimen sheets are used by type-casters to show examples of the fonts they have for sale. This one shows work from François Guyot, a type-caster in Antwerp, and was used to sell his wares in England, as evidenced by the manuscript notes in English secretary hand. Careful sleuthing comparing these typefaces to those used in dated texts and to surviving records from the Plantin printing shop identified Guyot and the likely date of 1565. For more on those details, see this post from the Folger's

Hobart, Reports, 1724 (K4v)

There's a lot going on here: reports of Judge Hobart's cases, printed marginal notes referring to other cases, different typefaces, running titles in the headlines noting the cases discussed on each page, and a press figure at the very bottom.

Holinshed, Chronicles, 1577, pub. Bishop (¶1r)

In some cases, when a group of publishers together paid for a work to be printed, the work would be printed with different states of the title page, each publisher being named separately. Here, although a group of men collaborated to pay for the publication of Holinshed's Chronicles, this state of the title page lists only Lucas Harrison as the publisher (compare to this copy of the work).