300 copies
PREFACE
The collection of early printed books presented to the Library of Yale
University in 1894 by Mr. William Loring Andrews, of New York, was
formed to illustrate the first century of printing, which is a better
boundary for the survey than the half-century ending with the year 1500,
more often chosen. The latter, the so-styled cradle period of the art,
is wanting in real definition, being at most a convenient halting place,
not a completed stage, whereas at the middle of the sixteenth century
the printed book of the better class had acquired most of its maturer
features and no longer has for us an unfamiliar look. Designed to serve
as a permanent exhibition, it is a selection rather than a collection,
not large, but wisely chosen, and no less attractive than instructive,
having been formed a quarter of a century ago, at a time when
opportunities were unusually favorable.
The surviving books of the first presses, which are the chief sources of
our knowledge of the early art, are at the same time, when obtainable,
the most efficient teachers.
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