Harpel's Typograph or Book of Specimens by SOLD - Harpel, Oscar H - 1870: Containing Useful Information, Suggestions and a Collection of Examples of Letterpress Job Printing, Arranged for the Assistance of Master Printers, Amateurs, Apprentices and Others.

Cincinnati: Published and Printed by the Author, 1870. First Edition. Boards. Good. n. Octavo (9 1/2 x 6 1/2) 252 pages + "Advertisers' Addenda" with color printed advertisements for some of the companies that supplied material for making the book. There are more than 25 inserted leaves (several folding) showing examples of printing styles, including the rare folding chromolithograph insert for the Republican Printing and Engraving Company of Chicago between pages 208-209. Rebound with original covers and spine laid down on compatible brown buckram, gilt lettering and ornament on front cover, title in gilt on spine, rear cover in gilt and blind. New endpapers. Interesting printing errors in the pagination: page 42 is printed on the verso of page 39, page 40 is printed on the verso of page 43, page 46 is printed on the verso of page 41,but contents are complete. Contemporary inked name on front fly leaf. Evidence that the book was used and referred to: there are a few small tears in the margins of some pages, some old unobtrusive tape repairs, the lower portion of one foldout portrait example appears to be missing; none of which affect the contents. The author, in his closing notes, states It took 476,000 impressions to print less than 3000 copies of the work. This book represents the beginning of the "artistic printing" movement, both in the United States and England according to Gray's "Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces." "This was intended as a practical handbook and guide to the printer; it contains principles and instructions and specimens of the author’s work." Rare. A copy sold at auction in 2017 for $1800.