(Koning, J. Verhandeling over den oorsprong, de uitvinding, verbetering en volmaking der boekdrukkunst. Haarlem, A. Loosjes Pzn., 1816, (2),VIII,475,(1),XVI,(4)p., 9 (fold.) engr. facs. plates, 2 (fold.) tables, contemp. hcalf w. paper letterpiece.
– One plate browned/ sl. frayed at edge; otherwise contents fine. Binding (sl.) worn (backstrip loosening).
= Letter-en Oudheidkundige Verhandelingen van de Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen te Haarlem, vol.2. McMurtrie 1014; Bigmore/ Wyman p.395-397; not in Ekama. “About the year 1814, the Dutch Society of Arts and Sciences at Haarlem made known its intention to give a premium for the best dissertation in support of the tradition that printing was first invented in that city. Mr. Jacob Koning, of Amsterdam, wrote, in consequence, a work on the subject, which was approved by the Society in May, 1816. (…) The author states in the preface that he did not apply himself to the researches necessary to clear up the matter in dispute, and which is enveloped in so much obscurity, without first having informed himself of the processes used in casting type, and of the mechanism of printing generally, the want of which knowledge in most of the writers upon this controversy has given occasion to numerous contradictions and absurdities, which have more and more confused it. Thus guided by experience, it is remarked, he examined the pieces themselves with the most scrupulous exactness, and this has left him thoroughly convinced that the honour of the invention belongs really to Haarlem.” (Bigmore/ Wyman).