Licensed to Print at The Private Library

When book collectors move from one book collecting arena to another, it's not uncommon for them to have to learn a few new words.  

Someone who has collected, for example, mostly steampunk or bizarro fiction (quite recent genres) may have little familiarity with the terminology used to describe herringbone or papier-mâché bindings.   Collectors of bookbindings may have little familiarity with the terminology of manuscript collecting.

Imprimatur, a term frequently encountered in auction and bookseller catalogs, is one term that can be confusing to collectors new to the field of antiquarian books (the example below is on a title that was printed in Denmark in 1767):

In its widest vernacular sense, imprimatur simply means license to print (the Latin translates into English as let it be printed).  Such licensing is recorded at least as early as 1485, and the requirement for such licensing is one reason many early printed books sport false imprints.

The term does not apply (as "newbies" sometimes mistakenly believe) only to books that have been approved by ecclesiastical authorities.  Secular authorities (governmental entities, as well as government-approved private organizations) have long held authority to determine what can and cannot be printed.

In the case of ecclesiastical imprimaturs, such licensing is in fact the last, not the first, step in a review process that has nothing at all to do with whether or not an ecclesiastical authority agrees with "the contents, opinions or statements expressed."  

In Catholicism, infamous among some book collectors for its now extinct Index Librorum Prohibitorum, this review process is covered by several articles of Canon Law.  The title below, published in 1953 by Random House, graphically depicts the required sequence of approvals:

Imprimaturs are common in books published during the 16th-17th centuries, where they frequently are found printed on a separate license leaf (the example below is from a title held by the University of Missouri):

But imprimaturs have continued to be sought, and issued, to the present day.  (As we pointed out in a recent post, the review process required for imprimaturs has sometimes led to bisquing.)

In keeping with our more modern times, imprimaturs are issued nowadays for, among other "publications," iPhone applications....