If you’re looking for something really special in the realm of Typography, look no further than the Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Printer: A Manual of Typography, by Thomas MacKellar … an extraordinary glimpse into the history of type! It’s part of the Gutenberb Project, and available in several different formats.
The preface says : Besides the matter relating to practical typography, the volume contains a sketch of the discovery of printing, and notices of type-founding, stereotyping, electrotyping, and lithography. The implements employed in typography are described and their uses explained; and complete schemes for imposition are laid down.
Project Gutenberg: The American Printer