© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2009 University of Chicago Library
The manuscript is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Thorn, Edmund, A General History of Printing Wherein is Shewn the Origin of that Noble Art, Crerar Ms 218, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Edmund Thorn was a bookseller in Oxford, 1652-1663. Joseph Bentham was printer to the University of Cambridge. "WB" may have been William Boyer (1699-1737).
Manuscript on the history of printing, in two parts. Part I: Essay on the history of printing, with reference to John Guttenberg, Peter Schoeffer, William Caxton, and other printers. Following Part I, inscribed [in 19th century hand?]: "Mr. Thorn's papers relating to printing with an [sic] History of the Art./From Mr. Jos. Bentham's Collection./ The above mention [?] made in Mr. Jos. Bentham's own hand, copied by WB[?]". Part II: Holograph list, "Prices of Work together with Methods for casting off Copy in the Printing Trade. Chiefly extracted from the noted Mr. Lowry who began to collect in the year 1671. Whose Manuscript Papers are now in the Hands of the Transcriber. To which is added An Account of the Prices of Work Since the Year 1728."