The Earliest Dutch Imposition Manual: Facsimile of the Manuscript Overslag-Boek by Joannes Josephus Balthazar Vanderstraelen

This facsimile, entitled Overslag-Boek, zeer nuttig voor alle Liefhebbers der Edele Boekdruk-konste (Imposition Manual, very useful for all Practitioners of the Noble Art of Printing), is a reproduction of a unique manuscript housed in the Grolier Club Library. It was compiled in the years 1794-1795 by printer Joannes Josephus Balthazar Vanderstraelen, a native of Antwerp. Vanderstraelen’s manuscript illustrates, through a series of diagrams in ink and watercolor, the correct position of composed pages, arranged so as to appear in the correct order after they were printed and folded. All the common printing formats are presented in order of size, from folio to 64mo. The elements of standard printing furniture –the chase, quoins, wedges, and so forth– are delicately rendered in various shades of watercolor wash, providing remarkably clear visual instructions on the proper arrangement of formes of type on the press. The diagrams, reproduced in their entirety in full color, are complemented and enhanced by Frans Janssen’s detailed introduction and notes. The book also includes a foreword by Eugene S. Flamm, a description of the original manuscript held at the Grolier Club, an index, and English translations of the table of contents, headings, and text of the manual.