Arnett, J: Inquiry Into the Nature and Form of the Books of

Excerpt from An Inquiry Into the Nature and Form of the Books of the Ancients: With a History of the Art of Bookbinding, From the Times of the Greeks and Romans to the Present Day

The following work aspires to the rank of a historical and chronological record of the art and science of composing books, and their subsequent embellishment, - a subject so intimately connected with literature, as to have ever been a matter of much speculation to the antiquarian and man of letters, as well as of great interest to the artist and general reader.

To the perusal of the works of Ames, Palmer, Stower, Han sard, and Johnson, on the History of Printing, may a desire to collect the dispersed records of the much older Art of Book binding, and to perpetuate the still existing specimens of the talent of early times (many fast hastening to, and all in pro gress of, decay), be said to have arisen, and the appearance of the present work be attributed. To effect this object, the slight notices of the form of books, and remarks on their embel lishment, found in numerous publications devoted to biblio graphical subjects, to the histories of countries, of a people, or of individuals, have been collected. These, as now arranged in chronological order, and embodied with a historical record and dissertations founded on personal inspection of many ancient bindings, will, it is presumed, be found to possess an interest and variety not hitherto attached to the subject.

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