Materialism : a lecture delivered before the Union Debating Society [electronic resource]

C.W. Richmond, Materialism (pamphlet) (1881)(title-page image)

Pamphlets were a common form of jobbing printing amongst colonial printers. They were never long-winded (16 or 32 pages maximum), they required no finicky typesetting, editions were small, and frequently they were commissioned and completely paid for as specimens of vanity publishing by authors who then distributed them to their family and friends. As a no-risk proposition which could be slipped in between larger printing projects, pamphlets were ideal revenue generators. Many of Lyon & Blair's output include works which argue the hot topics of the day: social reform, politics, spiritualism, rational philosophy, etc. This example is characteristic of a simply classical yet elegant cover with few typefaces and a clean border.