"This complete, definitive, and illustrated survey of small nineteenth-century printing presses, written by a former curator at the Smithsonian Institution, is the first history of these lovely, useful, and varied machines. For there were, in those days, small printing presses created for every purpose. And there were, as well, innumerable boys and countless men eager to make their fortunes by investing in one, buying a few fonts of type, printing for a local clientele, and, with luck, building a printing or publishing empire." "What the desktop computer is to today, these small iron workhorses were to the nineteenth century. This book catalogues, describes, and illustrates over a hundred, with their makers, giving machine specifications as well as patent information. It provides a mine of previously undocumented printing information. No one seriously interested in the history of printing technology can afford to be without it."--BOOK JACKET.