Home > Collections Program > Collection Development Policies >

History of Printing

Collection Development Policy Guidelines

  1. General Scope

    1. Audience
      The collection seeks to reflect the history and ongoing development of printing and the book arts through exemplars from the history of printing.  Emphasis is on the traditional formats and ink-on-paper processes, but artist’s books are also actively collected. Archives of specific presses and other bodies of papers complement the printed resources.

      Dartmouth a has a long relationship with the book arts, dating to Ray Nash’s Graphic Arts Workshop, and has produced many highly influential printers and typographers.  The history of printing collection has evolved to support that tradition and to bring a sensitivity to the physical manifestation of texts into other fields of study.

      The collection supports research and teaching across the curriculum, but is especially useful for students and faculty in Studio Art, English, Art History, History, and Romance Language departments.  The collection also supports the work of the Books Arts Workshop.

    2. Boundaries
      The texts selected can be of any subject area, but the physical form of the text should comment on the history of printing as a medium for transmitting information.

    3. Partnerships
      None

  2. Specific Delimitations to collecting in this subject area

    1. Languages
      All languages are collected.
    2. Geographical Areas (if applicable)
      No geographical restrictions, though the rise of printing in Western Europe and it early development in New England are focal points to the collection as are New Hampshire imprints (principally pre 1840) and Victorian illustrated books.
    3. Types of Materials Collected
      Collected are examples from famous presses of all periods, e.g., fifteenth through seventeenth centuries; modern presses and fine printing; exemplars from designers and society publications; and artists’ books. The collection does not include scholarly writing about the history of printing.
    4. Format of Materials Collected
      Printed materials and supporting modern manuscripts.
    5. Collective Collections

  3. Revision History
    In reverse chronological order, indicate
    • September 2016, Jay Satterfield
    • Revised December 2009 by Jay Satterfield to supersede "Rare Books: Presses" collection development policy.
    • Current selector: Jay Satterfield