Peter Isaac Collection

Working papers of Peter Isaac, plus slides and printed items from his library. The papers relate to Professor Isaac's bibliographical and book trade researches, especially on William Bulmer, the publishing firm of John Murray, William Davison of Alnwick, the English provincial book trade, and the history of paper making. The printed items relate chiefly to printing and the book trade in provincial England.

Peter Charles Gerald Isaac was born on 21 January 1921, educated in Essex and London, and worked as an engineer with the Great Western Railway from 1940, before joining the engineering department of Newcastle University (then King's College) in 1946. His professional career was in public health, working inter alia for the World Health Organisation and becoming a Professor in Civil and Public Health Engineering in 1964 at Newcastle, where he was Dean of Applied Sciences 1969-1973. He served on the Council of the Institute of Civil Engineers in the 1970s, as President of the Institution of Public Health Engineers 1977-1978, helped found the British Occupational Hygiene Society in 1953 (serving as Secretary until 1961 and President in 1962), and was an advisor to the World Health Organisation, government, parliament and industry from the 1950s until 1983. He retired from Newcastle University in 1981.

Peter Isaac had published an article on the Newcastle-born printer William Bulmer in 1956, and served on the committee of the Bibliographical Society in the 1970s. In retirement, his interest in books and printing intensified. He established the Allenholme Press and published work on William Bulmer, trains within printers' specimen books, the Alnwick printer William Davison and other aspects of the history of the book trade within the North East. He convened the British Book Trade Seminar and founded the British Book Trade Index in 1983 (later hosted by Birmingham University, and since 2015 by the Bodleian Library, Oxford). He was awarded a Doctorate in Letters by Newcastle University in 1997, for contributions to bibliography.

Peter Isaac died 15 June 2002. The proceedings of the Conference on the British Book Trade of 2001 were published as a festschrift in his honour, in 2004. Obituaries published in The Times (3 July 2002) and The Annals of Occupational Hygiene (vol.46, 2002, p.643-644) form the basis of these notes.

Numbering within the Peter Isaac papers (ISA/A) may change, but they are currently arranged thus: 

• /1. notes and drafts for articles in the New Dictionary of National Biography on William Bulmer, Thomas Bensley, John McCreery, and Solomon and Sarah Hodgson (1 file)
• /2. notes for lectures on printing history and the book trade in the North East (6 files)
• /3. material on William Bulmer (12 files)
• /4. material on John Murray (publishers (9 files and 1 notebook)
• /5. notes on papermaking history (3 files)
• /6. notes on medicine and the book trade (2 files)
• /7. papers from John Philipson (bibliographer and local historian), on papermaking, forged assignats and the Newcastle Imprint Club (1 box)
• /8. miscellaneous aspects of printing and publishing (7 files)

The slides (in two boxes, ca.3,000 slides, ISA/B) are mostly captioned and grouped by topic, though with some jumbling.

The collection has not yet been sorted or catalogued. For this reason, it is not normally possible to consult the collection.

Open for consultation.

Donated to Durham University by Peter Isaac's widow in 2003, under accession reference Misc.2002/3:28

A draft list of the papers and printed books is kept within Palace Green Library's collections folder. Some of the printed books are also included within the printed library catalogue, within the History of the Book Collection at Palace Green Library. Topics for groups of slides are only briefly noted within the Palace Green Library accession register.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

The contents of the collection have not yet been fully appraised.

Peter Isaac donated records of the Newcastle Imprint Club in 2001 (an informal group interested in design and print, and the history of printing in North-East England, 1962-1999, accession ref Misc.2001/2:113, not yet catalogued). He donated his printing press, typefaces, printing records and samples and some associated printed items (the Allenholme Press) to join the university's North Gate Press ca.1999.

Search the library catalogue for a list of Peter Isaac's extensive publications on the history of the book trade and printers within the north east.