MIDDLETON, Conyers. D. G. IMBERT, translator. ~ Dissertation sur l’origine de l'imprimerie en Angleterre, ‘A Londres, et se trouve à Paris, chez D.C. Couturier, père’. 1775.
8vo (225 × 140 mm), pp. 45, [1], woodcut ornament to title, elaborate typographical headpiece. Slightly browned. Uncut in contemporary blue wrappers. Old paper spine label. Slightly soiled, paper split at spine. A good copy.
First edition in French of Middleton’s A Dissertation Concerning the Origin of Printing in England (1734–5), which argued vigorously that Caxton had introduced the printing press to England, against the popular notion at the time that William Caxton had been preceded by a printer at Oxford. Added is a short introduction (in French) concerning Middleton. The ‘Londres’ imprint is false, and the book was almost certainly printed in Paris. The typographical headpiece is a delight. Rochedieu, 213.
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