Printing and the Mind of Man is a book first published in 1967International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition London, England. (1963: 1967. Printing and the Mind of Man : A Descriptive Catalogue Illustrating the Impact of Print on the Evolution of Western Civilization during Five Centuries. Edited by John Carter and Percy H. Muir. First edition. London, New York: Cassell; Holt, Rinehart & Winston and based on an exhibition in 1963.Association of British Manufacturers of Printers’ Machinery, British Museum, and International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition London, England) (1963 : 1963. Printing and the Mind of Man : Assembled at the British Museum and Earls Court, London, 16–27 July 1963. [London]: F.W. Bridges & Sons and the Association of British Manufacturers of Printers’ Machinery (Proprietary) Ltd.

PMM, as it is usually abbreviated, is regarded as a standard bibliographical reference, and offers a survey of the impact of printed books on the development of Western civilization.

The IPEX Exhibition

The book developed from an exhibition put on at two locations to coincide with the 1963 International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition (IPEX). The IPEX exhibition "foreshadowed the impending impact of electronics and presaged the demise of prepress mechanics and craft practices." It is regarded as marking a significant transition in printing.Wallis L. Ipex charts the progress of print. Printweek. 2006:25.

At the behest of typographer Stanley Morison it was decided to put together an exhibition of the contribution printing had made to the enlargement of human knowledge in connection with the IPEX.Malcolm, Sandy."PPM and Scribner's Book Store Revisited." The Book Collector 73 (no4) Winter, 2024: 653-660. A display at Earls Court concentrated on the technical side of printing, while a display at the British Museum looked more at fine printing. However, both displays had the quite novel intention of promoting the study of books for their role in advancing factual knowledge, rather than for their aesthetics.

Ian Fleming, who lent 40 books from his library, was among the private collectors who contributed to the exhibition.Hayward, John (1964)."Commentary: Ian Fleming and 'Printing and the Mind of Man' " in The Book Collector 13 no 4 (winter): 431-433. The Fleming Collection, central to the exhibit, is now at the Lilly Library of the Indiana University Bloomington. A detailed review of the negotiations that resulted in the Lilly Library's acquisition, "Books That Had Started Something," provides copies of correspondence between the Fleming estate and the library.Silver, Joel. (2017). "Books That Had Started Something." The Book Collector 66 (no1) Spring: 95-129 The Fleming Collection was an attempt to gather together, in first editions, the original contributions of the scientists and practical workers, the total body of whose work has been responsible for the modern revolution.Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington). The Ian Fleming Collection of 19th-20th Century Source Material Concerning Western Civilization together with the Originals of the James Bond-007 Tales. , 3-53 p. : ill., ports., facsims.; 28 cm. [Lilly Library], [Bloomington, IN] .

The exhibition catalogue,International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition London, England) (1963:, and British museum Dept of printed books King’s library. 1963. Printing and the Mind of Man, Assembled at the British Museum and at Earls Court, London, 16–27 July 1963. which was printed by Oxford University Press ("[London]: F.W. Bridges; obtainable from the British Museum"), edited by John Carter, Stanley Morison, Percy H. Muir and others, and titled: Catalogue of a display of printing mechanisms and printed materials arranged to illustrate the history of Western civilization and the means of the multiplication of literary texts since the 15th century, organised in connection with the eleventh International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition, under the title Printing and the Mind of Man, assembled at the British Museum and at Earls Court, London, 16–27 July 1963,Barker, Nicolas. "Printing and the Mind of Man." 2013. The Book Collector 62 (3) Autumn: 371–83.Haley, William. 2017. “Sir William Haley Reviews Printing and the Mind of Man. A Descriptive Catalogue.” The Book Collector. August. might be considered the pre-first edition of PMM.

"Exhibiting the Printed Book" by David McKitterick examined the 1963 PMM exhibition as a case study in how exhibitions shape bibliographical narratives. McKitterick, David. "Exhibiting the Printed Book." The Library 7th series, vol. 11, no. 2, June 2010, pp. 127–150.

PMM as book

A book-length edition, revised and enlarged, was printed at Cambridge University Press and published in 1967 by Cassell in London and Holt, Rinehart & Winston in New York. This first book edition was entitled 'Printing and the Mind of Man: A Descriptive Catalogue Illustrating the Impact of Print on the Evolution of Western Civilization During Five Centuries. It was edited by John Carter and Percy Muir and expanded upon the theme of the impact of printing on human thought.“‘Printing and the Mind of Man.’” Librarium : Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft = Revue de la Société Suisse des Bibliophiles 10, no. 2 (1967): 107-. It was published in Germany in 1968Bücher, die Die Welt Verändern (Printing and the Mind of Man, Dt. - Ausgew. u. Hrsg. v. John Carter u. Percy H. Muir unter Mitw v. Nicolas Barker [U.A.] Eingel. Durch E. Essay v. Denys Hay. Hrsg. D. Dt. Ausg.: Kurt Busse. Dt. V. Peter de Mendelsschn [U.A.]). 1968. and in Japan in 1977.John Carter, Percy H. Muir et al., Printing and the mind of man : a descriptive catalogue illustrating the impact of print on the evolution of Western civilization during five centuries, Tokyo: Yushodo, 1977. worldcat.org. Retrieved 1 June 2024.

A second revised edition was published in 1983 by Karl Pressler in Munich ().Carter, John, Nicolas Barker, Peter Amelung, and Percy H. Muir. 1983. Printing and the Mind of Man. 2. ed. rev. and enl. München: K. Pressler.Librairie Historique Jean Clavreuil. 2022. A Selection of Books Described in Printing and the Mind of Man : First and Early Editions. Paris; London: Librairie Historique Jean Clavreuil.

The Winter, 2023 issue of The Book Collector provides a sixty-year retrospective.Fleming, James. (2023). "Printing and the Mind of Man." The Book Collector 72 no.4 (winter): 619-623. It includes a review of correspondence between Muir and Carter by James Fleming.Fleming, James. "Getting the Show on the Road or How to Borrow the World's Most Valuable Books for Ten Days." The Book Collector 72 (no 4) Winter 2023: 667-676.

References

Further reading Sebastian Carter - "Printing and the mind of man" in Matrix Volume 20 (2000) A concordance of the numbering systems in the various catalogues of Printing and the Mind of Man at The Book Collector 282 titles from the Percy Muir archive that were offered by booksellers for inclusion in Printing and the Mind of Man and rejected by him at The Book Collector

External links Printing and the Mind of Man - links to digital copies of the works selected for the 1963 IPEX exhibition.