Printer's Error

Welcome to a history of the printed book. Correction: welcome to our back alley tour of the history of the book.

Rare book specialist Rebecca Romney and author JP Romney take us from monasteries and museums to auction houses and libraries to introduce curious episodes in the history of print.

Print history, like any history, is full of strange people and goings-on. The road paved by our civilization’s best books is a long and noble one, but it is also lined with unexpected potholes and sharp turns into what-the-hell-is-going-on-here territory. Illustrators talking to ghosts, maps bringing countries to their knees, Shakespeare writing awful plays, and Charles Dickens branding America a nation of filthy literary thieves all serve as the back alleys into which the authors could descend. Correction: into which the authors did descend.