Fonderies de Caracteres et leur Materiel dans les Pays-Bas du XVe au XIXe Siecle. Notice Historique Principalement d'apres les Donnees de la Collection Typographique de Joh. Enschede en Zonen a Haarlem by Charles Enschede (1855-1919) - 1908

Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn, 1908. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Folio. 15 x 11 11/16 inches. (xxxvi), 404 pp. Text in French, important data on the people and productions of the type foundries presented in tabular form, 1 color plate with printed tissue guard, 4848 figures which include not only type specimens, but many engravings and ornaments as well, index, 2 pages of corrections and additions at the rear; text clean unmarked except for some offsetting on half-title and pages iv-v, end-papers toned. Gilt- and blind-stamped beige cloth with added clear mylar dust-jacket; binding square and tight, covers foxed, especially on spine and edges of covers. CH814-231. Very Good. FIRST EDITION of this magisterial review of the productions of the type-foundries of the Netherlands from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The types documented here are found in the collections of the Dutch firm Joh. Enschede en Zonen in Haarlem, the Netherlands, which was founded in 1703. At the time, the firm bought out a number of other foundries that were struggling; by this means, Joh. Enschede en Zonen became the owners of historical types from the fifteenth century onward. Enschede began manufacturing type in 1743 and the foundry soon became the most important part of the Enschede business. Famous punch cutters employed here include Joan Michael Fleishman in the eighteenth-century and Jan van Krimpen in the twentieth-century. This volume contains nearly 5,000 type specimens including both alphabets in a variety of languages, as well as ornaments. The author, Charles Enschede, is a member of the founding family whose business is documented in this volume and who wrote a number of works on the firm and its history. He began this work in 1893 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the type-foundry of Joh. Enschede en Zonen and took him 15 years to bring to completion.