Title
Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis.
Coverage
Birmingham:
Publisher
John Baskerville,
Date
1757.
Description
Baskerville’s 1757 edition Virgil was the first book in the West to contain wove paper. Commissioned from James Whatman, the paper lacks any watermarks and has a smooth, opaque surface. At the same time, as past RBS faculty member John Bidwell has pointed out, the paper exhibits noticeable defects in its sheet formation. And RBS faculty member Cathy Baker notes that the book contains a mixture of wove and laid sheets. At the time, this innovation in papermaking went largely unnoticed.
Source
From the collection of Rare Book School