An Inquiry into the Nature and Form of the Books of the Ancients; with a History of the Art of Bookbinding, from the Times of the Greeks and Romans to the Present Day; Interspersed with Bibliographical References to Men and Books of All Ages and Countries. By John Andrews Arnett by [HANNETT (John)]

London: Richard Groombridge, 1837. First edition, 12mo (163 x 105 mm), iv, 212pp., engraved frontis., 13 plates (one of the plates reproduces a binding designed by embossing), woodcuts in the text, former owner's name erased from front endpaper, orig. green diaper patterned cloth, embossed in blind, gilt lettering to spine and upper cover, a fine copy. "This formed the basis of 'A History of the Art of Bookbinding, with some Account of the Books of the Ancients', edited by W.S. Brassington, London, 1894, which contains a memoir of John Hannett. The first American manual, James B. Nicholson's Manual of the art of bookbinding, Philadelphia, Henry Cavey Baird & Co., 1856 was also based on it."—Pollard & Potter. John Hannett (1803-93), after being apprenticed to a printer and bookbinder in Sleaford, Lincs., worked for ten years in the publishing house of Simpkin, Marshall & Co., then set up as a printer and bookbinder at Market Rasen, Lincs., in 1837, and, in 1844, at Henley-in-Arden. The first editions of his books were published under the pseudonym John Andrews Arnett. Pollard & Potter. 100.