Book Description

Excerpt from A List of Early American Imprints: Belonging to the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society During a long period American books with early imprints have attracted much attention among bibliographers; and from time to time lists of such works, more or less complete, have been published. The most nearly full of these lists is the one issued under the editorship of our late associate, Dr. Samuel F. Haven, and brought down to the beginning of the Revolution, - which appears in the second volume of Thomas's History of Printing (pp. 309-666), published by the American Antiquarian Society. In the year 1689 the first printing-press in the English colonies was set up at Cambridge, and for more than a generation was the sole representative here of 44 the Art preservative of all arts." Under a license of the General Court, the pioneer press of Boston was established in 1676, by John Foster, a graduate of Harvard College in the Class of 1667. While yet a young man, with the encouragement of Dr. Increase Mather, he began as a printer, though he was not bred to the business, nor specially acquainted with the art. In a paper before the Historical Society, at the November meeting, 1888, I gave my reasons for supposing Foster to have been the earliest engraver in New England; and perhaps the natural connection between the arts of printing and engraving, strengthened by his own tastes, prompted him to take up the calling. (See Proceedings, second series, IV. 199-206.) He died in Dorchester, on September 9, 1681, at the early age of thirty-three, having followed the business for six years. About thirty-five of his imprints are known to be extant, and of this number the Massachusetts Historical Library owns more than two thirds. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.