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Finding Aid for the Book Artifacts Collection, circa 2345 B.C.-1993 A.D. (bulk circa 1510-1976)
BART 1
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Collection Title: Book Artifacts Collection
Date (inclusive): circa 2345 B.C.-1993 A.D.
Date (bulk): circa 1510-1976
Collection Number: BART 1
Extent:
ca. 1360 items
(4 selected digital objects)
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Book Artifacts Collection contains material relating to the development of writing, the history of printing, and the book
arts (circa 2345 B.C.-1993 A.D.). This collection of artifacts and other realia illustrates various aspects of book production
and design, from early cuneiform clay tablets, papyri, seals, and other writing materials, book curiosities and miniature
books to the 20th century book, including printing presses and later 20th century printing devices. The bulk of the collection
deals with hand and machine printing and binding. The collection includes specimens of various types of binding, binder's
tools and equipment; illustration, relief, photographic and photomechanical processes; paper-making; practical pressroom and
composing room equipment and presses; type design, type founding, and type-setting; music engraving; cartography; and specialty
printing.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in Multiple languages
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Access Information
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for
any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html
[Identification of item], The book : artifacts related to the development of writing and the production of books, [ca. 2345
B.C.-ca. 1993 A.D.] (bulk ca. 1510-1976 A.D.), BART 1, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Removed or Separated Material
BART 1 A5087 is located in the Center for Tebtunis Papyri (O.Berkeley 1).
BART 1 A5088 is located in the Center for Tebtunis Papyri (No. 1-30 in O.Tebt (3, 5, 14, 16, and 18 are recorded as missing)).
BART 1 A5P27 is unaccessioned currently but held by the Center for Tebtunis Papyri.
BART 1 A5S86, No. 2 is located in the Center for Tebtunis Papyri (labeled Egyptian Stone Writing).
BART 1 A5W66 is located in the Center for Tebtunis Papyri (T.Tebt. 1).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
Binding finishing hardware
Bookbinding equipment
Computers
Cutting tools
Electrotypes (printing plates/blocks)
Flong
Galleys (type composition equipment)
Imposition (Printing)
Matrices (copper molds)
Miniature books (Publishing)
Molds (papermaking)
Movable type
Octavo format (Printing)
Papermaking tools and equipment
Papyri
Photoengravings (prints)
Printers' devices (Printing)
Printing press components
Printing presses
Proofs (Printing)
Quarto format (Printing)
Seals (artifacts)
Stereotypes (printing plates/blocks)
Tablets
Type specimens
Typewriters
Wood blocks (printing blocks)
Items from various sources, including gifts to the library.
Scope and Content Note
The Book Artifacts Collection contains material relating to the development of writing, the history of printing, and the book
arts (circa 2345 B.C.-1993 A.D.). This collection of artifacts and other realia illustrates various aspects of book production
and design, from early cuneiform clay tablets, papyri, seals, and other writing materials, to book curiosities, miniature
books, and the 20th century book, including printing presses and later 20th century printing devices. The bulk of the collection
consists of hand and machine printing and binding. The collection includes specimens of various types of binding, binder's
tools and equipment; illustration, relief, photographic and photomechanical processes; paper-making; practical pressroom and
composing room equipment and presses; type design, type founding, and type-setting; music engraving; cartography; and specialty
printing.
The collection comprises materials that have come from a variety of sources, mostly through gifts and donations. Leslie Clark,
who was in charge of rare books and book artifacts until her death in 1979, devised the original classification scheme, which
is composed of nineteen series that are alphanumerically ordered from A5 to Z(0-6).
The Guide to the Book Artifacts Collection (Flora Elizabeth Reynolds, 2nd, 1999) (the “Guide”) provides an overview of the collection at a series level and cursory
overview at the item level. The series level descriptions from the Guide are included in this finding aid. The Register
for the Book Artifacts Collection (the “Register”) is composed of four volumes and provides a complete description of the
collection at an item level and detailed subject and name index for the collection circa 1986; the Guide includes additional
updates to the collection between 1986-1999. This finding aid references both the Register and the Guide to provide for the
most comprehensive and consistent series, sub-series and item level descriptions of the artifacts in the collection. The
Register has been transcribed into this finding aid to the extent that it could be copied. Therefore, pages that include
decorations or hand-written notes were not transcribed. However, the Register has been digitized and is available in four
searchable PDF documents (one PDF document per volume) with this finding aid.
The majority of this collection consists of artifacts that relate to the processes of hand and machine printing and binding.
Series B5 and Series B6 include materials relating to case, or commercial bookbinding and the hand binding of books, respectively.
Series B6 is a large collection that includes sewing supplies, nipping presses, finishing tools, and illustrations of the
hand binding process. Series D4 is the
Cheri Archive, which includes Peter Koch’s records and working papers for the production of an English translation of Colette’s novel
Cheri. Series F6, Format, Imposition, Register and Folding, includes a series of imposition examples, which represent the important
pre-press process of arranging the printed book’s pages on a printer’s sheet to allow for faster printing and easier binding.
Series I4 and I5, Design, Decoration, and Illustration, contain artifacts and examples of design, decoration and illustration
in books. Series I4, Hand Illumination, includes an example of hand illumination. Series I5, Intaglio and Relief Processes,
consists of woodblocks, woodcuts, wood engravings, etching and linocuts. Series I52, Electrotyping and Stereotyping, includes
electrotyping and stereotyping plates for the reproduction of illustrations and other printed matter. Series I53, Photographic
Processes, consists of halftone photoengravings and lithography. Series I54, Photochemical Processes, relates to photochemical
processes such as photopolymer printing. Series I55, Prints, Proofs and Drawings, includes examples of various printing processes
such as woodblocks, woodcuts, wood engravings, and photoengravings. Series P2, Papermaking and Trade, Handmade Paper and
Machine-Made Paper, includes equipment for papermaking and samples of hand-made and machine-made paper. Series P7, Practical
Printing, Pressroom and Composing Equipment, contains printing tools, types and equipment. Many of these items are in the
Press Room of The Bancroft Library and are used for demonstrations on the principles of hand printing. Series T8, Typography,
consists of specimens of movable type, matrices, punches and counterpunches. Subseries T86, Casting and setting by machine,
includes displays that illustrate the principles of casting type by machine, a collection of typecast ornaments from the Merrymount
Press and John Henry Nash, assembled matrices and examples of forms on monotype and linotype machines, and, finally, examples
of stereotyping plates.
The remaining portion of the collection consists of the following Series: Alphabets, Writing Materials, and Writings in Various
Forms (Series A5); Music Engraving (Series V2); Map printing (Series V3); Specialty printing (Series W2); and Supplementary
Collections (Series Z). Series A5 includes hieroglyphic inscriptions on a fragment of limestone (ca. 2345-2330 B.C.), Sumerian
Cuneiform writing on clay tablets from the third millennium B.C., examples of alphabets and letterforms, pens, and book curiosities
such as miniature and microscopic books. The music engraving collection, Series V2, belonged to one of the last music engravers
in the United States, Richard B. Pettit. Series W2 includes specialty printing from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
Series Z includes historical artifacts, the Beulah Mitchell Clute Collection, seals, book arts medals, materials relating
to the printing the guide, and commemorative postage stamps.
Note
The Guide of the Book Artifacts Collection, by Flora Elizabeth Reynolds is located in the Main (Gardner) Stacks and in The
Bancroft Library Reference Collection under the call number Z116.A3 R49 1999. The Register and Index to the BART Collection
is located in The Bancroft Library reference desk under the call number E13.B23 R44 1986.