[Gutenberg 35494] • Fine Books

Excerpt from Modern Fine Printing in England and Mr. Bruce Rogers: With a List of Books Other Pieces of Printing, Designed by Mr. Rogers

Testament in the Complutensian Polyglott surpass their originals no less decisively. I once persuaded Mr. Cyril Davenport, when he was the Superintendent of Bookbindings at the British Museum, to arrange in the Kings library, side by side in two compartments of a show case, the best examples which the Museum possessed of the bindings of Roger Payne and of those executed in the Sixteenth Century for the famous book-lover, Jean Grolier; only to be chagrined to find that Payne's bindings, for which I had (and have) a great affection, could not stand the test. The work of the older men possessed a dignity and breadth of style to which Payne never attained, and compared with which his finest efforts appeared no more than pretty. The result of a comparison between the best Fifteenth Century printing and the best books which have been produced in England during the past twenty-five years would be very different. It is hardly too much to say that the full capabilities of the Fifteenth Century style were never attained until the antiquarian revival of the style, under the inspiration of Morris, in our own day.

If we turn from type to decoration we have the same tale to tell, though here modern achievement has been much scantier.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at [www.forgottenbooks.com](http://www.forgottenbooks.com)

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.