Y is for…

Yellow

Examples of textblock staining on M.3.13 & G.18.21

 

Textblock edges stained a solid block of colour can be a useful indicator of a binding’s date of origin. Yellows, blues, reds, they enjoyed popularity during second half of the 16th century and early 17th century. By the middle of the 17th century, the sprinkled edge supplanted the solid block of colour, and later still the marbled edge enjoyed its moment in the sun.

York

Title page of An exact account of the daily proceedings of the commissioners of oyer and terminer at York, against the late horrid and bloody conspirators : with the particulars of what hath lately occur’d in England (1663)

 

The inhertently delicate and ephemeral nature of the pamphlet as a publication type – pages simply bound without covers in numbers for distribution to an increasingly avid reading public – may explain the rarity of this 8 p. Dublin printing, issued during the Stuart Restoration and the reign of Charles II.