INTRODUCTION

publication has seemed to the author to be animated by the finest pride of
craftsmanship, and more than this it would be difficult to say in praise of
practitioners of their exacting art. It is a matter of no little interest in
the record of present-day American presses that the completion of this
book coincides almost to a day with the conclusion by Mr. Munder and
two of his associates of thirty-five years in which they have worked to-
gether in the production of works distinguished alike f or beauty and
typographical excellence.

If it is certain that the book could not have been written without assis-
tance from those persons and institutions which have been named, it is
equally certain that alone the author could not have hoped to publish the
results of his researches in a suitable form. Owing to the interest of Mr.
Nathan Billstein, however, this responsibility was taken from him by the
Typothetae of Baltimore, an association of master printers, the members
of which by this action proclaim their pride in the printing art and their
interest in its traditions in the State where they practice it. It is the au-
thor s hope that their confidence in his work will be justified by its use-
fulness to the book-loving world.

LAWRENCE C. WROTH.
The Enoch Pratt Free Library ,
Baltimore, May 10, 1922.

[ix]