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History of the Book

Featured Items

Detail of a printed book shows title page with English text "The English Pilot. The Fourth Book describing the West India Navigation, from Hudson's Bay to the River Amazones" in red ink.

The English pilot, Book 4

William Fisher; John Thornton
1745
Detail of a leaf of the Gutenberg bible printed in black and red ink shows Latin text.

The Gutenberg bible

Johann Gutenberg
1455-1456
Detail of a blockbook shows woodcut illustration of biblical scene in the garden of eden. A woman holds an apple and is talking to a large snake. Text in Latin also visible.

Biblia pauperum

1460-1470
The spine and back cover of Lettre d'une Peruvienne shows deteriorated calf binding.

Lettres d'une Peruvienne

Françoise de Graffigny
1748
Detail from a printed text a series of four illustrations that depict the journey by ship to the Isle of Pines.

The Isle of Pines

Henry Neville
1668
Detail of a frontispiece shows four animals grouped between two pillars. In the background, castles sit on either side of a harbor where ships wait. Text in Latin.

Biblia Sacra Hebraice, Chaldaice, Graece, & Latine Philippi II

1573
Detail of a printed book shows title page with text in Massachuset and English.

The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

John Eliot
1661
Detail of a printed text shows an illustration of four naked Natives surrounded by trees. One holds a cross bow and another holds a large stick. Text in Dutch is also visible.

Van der nieuwer werelt

Amerigo Vespucci
1509

Related

printed text in English
Guided show-and-tell

A Curatorial Conversation: North American Indian Treaties at the JCB

Image of Peruvian Print Shop
Lecture

Historia del libro en lenguas originarias de América

Native Americans of present-day Mexico dance around two drummers

Picturing the Past: Indigenous Expressions in Colonial Mexico

Spring 2020
image of an open book with a colorful image of insects on a tropical plant and printed text

By a Lady: Women and Natural History in the Americas, 1650-1830

September 2019
people sailing in a boat, shark in the bottom right corner

Textual Afterlives: Generating Editions and Editing Generations of Americana

Spring 2019
printers work a printing press

Printers' Devils and Printers' Delights: The Book in Spanish America

Fall 2014 - Winter 2015
a Mohawk man teaches children in a schoolhouse

Controlling Colonial Impressions

May-October 2019
frontispiece of Aurora Australis 20th century book

Newly Catalogued: The Aurora Australis

October 24

See Also

The Arts

World