When this work was published, its original author had been dead for fifty years. As the title page explains, the work of Joseph Ames (1687-1759) was considerably augmented by William Herbert (1718-95), and then 'greatly enlarged, with copious notes, and illustrated with appropriate engravings' by Thomas Frognall Dibdin (1776-1847), several of whose other works are also reissued in this series. Ames' history of printing, based on his own collection,...