Imprimerie Royale Proofs 1640-1789 (PhD Placement)
Imprimerie Royale Proofs 1640-1789 (PhD Placement)
Imprimerie Royale Proofs 1640-1789 (PhD Placement)
In 1853 the British Museum purchased seven large print albums. Held at shelfmark 1750.c.7, the set was described in E.C. Bigmore, A bibliography of printing, 1880, as an “immense book… containing proofs of all the copperplates belonging to the French Royal Printing-office for upwards of 104 years [sic, should read 140]. They include 3,031 examples. All the plates are mounted on white paper; and opposite to them is written the title of book for which they were executed, its form, and the year in which it was printed. Beneath the respective plates there is placed, whenever possible, the name of the engraver. Many of the plates served for different works; but they are given under the title of that in which they first appeared.” This placement will revisit and re-evaluate the albums, assessing their condition, purpose and contents, and enhancing their current cataloguing. Some prints are listed in the albums as ‘manque’, there are many blank sheets, the volumes have suffered fire and water damage probably during World War Two, and they have been rebound (1949). The student will carry out a full survey of the albums and aim to create a brief individual record for each print listed in a project-specific spreadsheet. If time permits, they will also call up our complete copies of the books listed (many are held in the King’s Library) and compare and similarly catalogue their prints. The British Library holds the nation’s largest collection of prints and drawings. This placement will be supervised by Felicity Myrone, the curator responsible for those in the Library’s Western Heritage collections, alongside Sophie DeFrance, who curates the Library’s French collections. They will provide training in object handling and cataloguing and will check translations.
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