Regarding Edward Johnston's Writing & Illuminating & Lettering

[dragos.mocanu]

Greetings,

 

I was looking to buy a copy of Edward Johnston's famous book, and stumbled across this piece of information: it would seem that copies printed prior to the 1940s have 499 pages, whereas those published after the 1940s only have 434 pages. Does anyone know which of the pages might be missing in the shorter version? Could the text be more condensed?

 

I am also aware that there are a couple of recent reprints, but from what I understand, these books are printed after photocopies of the original version. Has anyone compared the old with the new?

 

Cheers!

[AnneLyle]

Hmm, that's interesting - I have the 1948 edition (belonged to my late mum) which has 434 pages. I skimmed the introduction and preface but couldn't find any mention of the revision changes.

 

I'll be interested to hear what the difference is!

[dragos.mocanu]

The online version (which can be found here https://archive.org/details/writingilluminat00johnuoft ) is a photocopy after the 1917 print, and has 500+ pages (but the last pages are various advertisements)...Normally, no important information should be missing from the later versions (the ones with 434 pages), but I could be wrong...

 

AnneLyle, could you please compare the Contents table of your book with the one in the online version? Any major discrepancy should be observed right away.

[dragos.mocanu]

Hmm, that's interesting - I have the 1948 edition (belonged to my late mum) which has 434 pages. I skimmed the introduction and preface but couldn't find any mention of the revision changes.

 

I'll be interested to hear what the difference is!

 

I've eventually ended up buying both "versions" (1920 and 1965), but I'm still waiting for the newer one. When I'll have both, I'll compare them carefully.

[inkstainedruth]

Now I'm going to have to try and dig up my reprint copy to see which edition it is. All I remember is that it was put out by the same company that also did a facsimile reprint of an old needlework book from roughly the same time period called Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving -- and I keep getting the books mixed up because the covers are so similar (they're both paperbacks, and the books are about the same size and cover color...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for formatting

Edited January 26, 2016 by inkstainedruth

[dragos.mocanu]

I have unraveled the mystery of the two versions (510pp and 439pp)...ironically, the later version actually has more content (a third appendix was added). The difference in the number of pages is due to the following:

 

1. The first chapter of the old version starts from page 35 (continuing the numbering from the preface and table of contents), whereas in the later version it starts with page 1; this is not so much a difference in the number of pages, but it is a difference in numbering

2. The collotypes in the old version were printed one per sheet, whereas in the later version they were printed one per page (sparing 24 pages)

3. In the old version there is a blank page and a title page between the 2 main sections, whereas in the later one there aren't any (sparing 2 pages)

4. In the old version there are advertisements at the end of the book, whereas in the later one there are none.

 

Cheers!

[LeonW]

Thanks Murky for your time to help clear this mystery.

[Gloucesterman]

Okay, thanks for the additional information. Just dug out my copy and found that it's the 1978 edition.

 

Currently working on Michael Sull and Deborah (?) book on learning Spencerian writing. Will return to Mr. Johnston's volume directly... or somewhat soon.