Susanne Schulz-Falster Catalogue Ten - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

Danish Commerce and Industry
246 PLÜER, Carl. Christoph. Patriotiske Tanker over Manufacturog
Fabrik-Waesenet. Kiobenhavn, 1757. £450
8vo, pp. 87, [1] errata; contemporary stiV marbled wrappers; a little
creased, and foot of spine exposed; an attractive, wide-margined copy.
First edition, very rare, of Plüer’s proposal for the improvement of the Danish
manufacturing industry, issued in a German translation a year later. This is
one of the earliest accounts of Danish commerce and industry, including
trade with its Asian, African and American colonies. Plüer’s work is a perfect
example of a general trend in Danish economic writing. After 1755, when
censorship laws were eased, a number of publications dealing with economic
policy were issued in Denmark, and almost all were published more or less
simultaneously in German too, to reach the Danish ruling classes (for further
details see Carpenter, Dialogue in Political Economy, 1977, 4).
Only the Kress copy in NUC, RLIN and OCLC.
247 PRINTING BLOCK. Printing Block for Calico Printing,
Germany, ca 1810. £2000
Solid wood printing block, measuring 340 x 200 x 60 mm, with carved
out grip to verso, showing four alphabets within simple wood cut
border; some wear to parts of the border.
A fascinating survival of a wooden printing block for calico printing. Unu-
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue ten
sually the block represents four German alphabets, showing both lower and
upper case letters, apparently to be used for educational purposes as a kind
of child’s primer, similar to a hornbook.
Block printing on textiles was used in Europe since the Wfteenth century,
but it experienced renewed popularity towards the end of the eighteenth
and nineteenth century, through the import of printed cotton cloth from
India. Soon calico, or printed cotton cloth became the most important fashion
fabric in Europe. Smaller printing blocks, usually showing decorative
patterns are not that uncommon, but blocks of this size are rare.
See S. D. Chapman & S. Chassagne, European Textile Printers in the Eighteenth Century,
1981; F. Montgomery, Printed Textiles 1700 –1850, 1970.
248 [PROSPECTUS.] Libraire de Firmin Didot. Histoire de
L’Empire de Russie par M. Karamzin ... Publiée par souscription.
Prospectus. Paris, Didot, [1815]. £150
8vo, pp. 16; modern boards.
Interesting publisher’s prospectus advertising the forthcoming publication
by subscription of Karamzin’s famous History of the Russian Empire. The
prospectus gives a condensed version of the introduction, and then outlines
of the subscription plan. As soon as Wve hundred subscribers have been enlisted,
printing will begin. At the end a list is given of bookshops where subscriptions
will be accepted; seven of these are in Paris, and some twenty in
other European cities, including Masson & Bossange and Treuttel and
Wurtz in London.
Apparently the necessary number of subscribers never came forward, as
the French translation of Karamzin’s work was published by Belin instead.
Only the Bibliotheque Nationale copy located in RLIN, OCLC and KVK.
A Forerunner to Scott’s Miscellany
249 PULLEYN, William. The Etymological Compendium, or Portfolio
of Origins and Inventions; comprising language, literature, and
government. ... discoveries and inventions ... commerce and the use of
money ... names, trades and professions ... universities and religious
plots ... games, Weld sports etc ... seas, islands, cities, towns, colleges,
corporations, boroughs, &c. containing a particular account of London
and its public buildings... London, Thomas Tegg, 1828. £220
12mo, pp. xvi, 356; occasional foxing and browning; contemporary
straight-grain morocco, gilt roll-tooled border.
First edition of a wide-ranging encyclopaedia of origins, covering all manner
of interseting information, ranging from the origins of pub names to
sources of London street names, ancient games, and foodstuVs with religious
connotations. A general index is provided, which facilitates the use of
this great sourcebook of amusing information.