VI.
That the problems of Irish printing of the seventeenth century
offer a wide opportunity for investigation will, I trust, be
granted: it is not simply a matter of provincial printing with
inferior craftsmen. Aside from the intrinsic interest of Irish
printing itself, it is evident that if we are to have authoritative
knowledge of English printing, we must establish clearly what was
printed elsewhere, in Scotland and in Ireland particularly. For
this all the resources of bibliographical research will be
required: a knowledge of type, of paper, of binding, and of
printing practices, as well as of the social background which
provided the substance for the publications themselves.