Cato, Moral distichs, 1735 (A1r)

Although it's placed where one might expect a printer's device, the design on this title page is a combination of printer's flowers, rather than a device intended to identify the printer.

Cato, Moral distichs, 1735 (A1v-A2r)

On the blank page shown here, you can see the raised letters from the impression of the type used for the title page.

Connecticut, Proclamation, 1783

If you look closely at this broadside, you might see that the text at the top and bottom have light shadows---a faint double impression caused by an accidental bounce of the paper on the inked type

Keimer, Elegy, 1723 (1r)

Because broadsides weren't typically bound into books but rather distributed as single sheets, they often have very high loss rates. This is the only known copy of Keimer's Elegy, which Benjamin Franklin describes in his Autobiography as having unusually been composed as Keimer set the type. This was the first work that Keimer published in America, and Franklin's first known printing job in Philadelphia.

Keimer, Elegy, 1723 (1v)

The back of this broadsheet shows the ink bleeding through from the front, as well as the small patches that have been made to repair the damage from being folded.

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.

Whole Booke of Psalmes 1640 (2L4r)

This list of "faults escaped" invites the reader to correct not only these but any other errors that aren't noted here.

Whole Booke of Psalmes, 1640 (*1r)

The Bay Psalm Book, as this work is known, is the first book printed in British North America.

Whole Booke of Psalmes, 1640 (2E2v)

If you look closely at this page, you can see a number of signs that the printers weren't experts: the inked shoulders, an italic L instead of a roman, different styles of apostrophes, and slightly wobbly letters.