Last month, together with Avril Gray of the Publishing Programme and Laura Cooijmans-Keizer, Senior Curator of University Heritage Collections, I was able to celebrate Book Week Scotland by showcasing treasures from the Edward Clark Collection, held in Merchiston Library.

This unique resource illustrates the development of book printing processes and changing styles from the earliest years of letterpress printing in Europe in the 15th century. In addition to the printing of text, items in the collection show the evolving techniques used for illustration. Woodcuts were the most commonly found in the earlier period, and the method predates the use of movable metal type. The wood blocks in the collection were used for printing playing cards, but date from the nineteenth century. By this period, other techniques were in use for book illustration, perhaps the best known being the copperplate engravings found in 18th century titles. A lesser-known highlight includes an edition of Thomas Bewick’s Birds (1825): the wood engraving of puffin proved particularly popular with visitors to the event. The introduction of the new technique of lithography in the early 19th century led to developments in colour printing of which The Poultry Book, printed by Leighton Brothers in 1853 is a splendid example.