Alonso Victor de Paredes’ Institution, and Origin of the Art of Printing, and General Rules for Compositors [Madrid: ca. 1680].

The Institucion, y origen del arte de la imprenta, y reglas generales para los componedores. Por Alonso Victor de Paredes [Institution, and Origin of the Art of Printing, and General Rules for Compositors. By Alonso Victor de Paredes] is a forty-eight-leave pamphlet (there is no title page), which is believed to have been printed in Madrid around 1680, which makes it one of the earliest printer’s manuals ever published. Pablo Alvarez, Curator at the Special Collections Research Center, University of Michigan Library, offers here a complete reproduction of the only two extant copies of the book as well as its first complete English translation, a full transcription of the original Spanish text and an introduction. The edition also features a foreword by Don W. Cruickshank.