Joseph Moxon: A re-fashioned appraisal

Printer Joseph Moxon's legacy to print culture has suffered from myriad, often conflicting interpretations by book historians from the late nineteenth century to present day. Who really was Joseph Moxon (1627-1691), born in Wakefield, England the son of Puritan English printer James Moxon? Through a historical appraisal of Moxon's professional interests and associations with the Stationer's Company and the Royal Society of London, and a brief analysis of specific editorial aspects of 'Mechanick Exercises or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the Art of Printing', this paper will first provide a clearer picture of Joseph Moxon as self-fashioning pragmatist and then redefine his place within print culture - that is, as a pivotal contributor not only to the mechanical art of printing but also to the standardisation of editorial practice.