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The Evolution of the Printed Bengali Character The Evolution of the Printed Bengali Character from 1778 to 1978 by Fiona Georgina Elisabeth Ross School of Oriental and African Studies University of London Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1988 ProQuest Number: 10731406 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProQuest 10731406 Published by ProQuest LLC (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 20618054 2 The Evolution of the Printed Bengali Character from 1778 to 1978 Abstract The thesis traces the evolution of the printed image of the Bengali script from its inception in movable metal type to its current status in digital photocomposition. It is concerned with identifying the factors that influenced the shaping of the Bengali character by examining the most significant Bengali type designs in their historical context, and by analyzing the composing techniques employed during the past two centuries for printing the script. Introduction: The thesis is divided into three parts according to the different methods of type manufacture and composition: 1. The Development of Movable Metal Types for the Bengali Script Particular emphasis is placed on the early founts which lay the foundations of Bengali typography. Part 1 is subdivided into three sections, viz, Europeans in India, European Ventures, and Indigenous Ventures. 2. Mechanical Typefounding and Composition of Bengali In assessing the adaptation of the Bengali script for mechanical composition, attention is paid to those developments which precipitated the transition of printing in India from a craft to an industry. 3. Photocomposition of the Bengali Script The advantages of photocomposition are appraised in relation to new technical constraints imposed on type design. The description of the latest stage in the evolution of the printed Bengali character relates the practical implementation of this study’s findings, viz. a new typesetting scheme and typeface design for the Bengali script. The Conclusion considers the new methodology adopted for the development of digital Bengali founts and its relevance to the production of all vernacular typeforms. The Epilogue discusses Bengali typewriter characters and low-resolution character shapes. It also considers the implications of new technology that places the design and production of founts in the hands of the non-professional designer. The thesis is intended to be of interest to the indologist, printing historian, type designer and type manufacturer. It comprises 11 chapters and includes 178 illustrations. 3 CONTENTS Page Abstract 2 Contents 3 Acknowledgements 4 List of Plates 5 Scheme of Transliteration 13 Abbreviations and Conventions 14 Introduction 15 PART I Development of Movable Metal Types for the Bengali Script Section A. Europeans in India 1 Charles Wilkins 31 2 The Chronicle Press 90 3 Missionaries in Bengal 102 Section B. European Ventures 4 William Bolts and Joseph Jackson 161 5 Vincent Figgins and Richard Watts 171 6 European Typefoundries 214 Section C. Indigenous Ventures 7 The Girisa Vidyaratna Press and Later Foundry Types 242 PART II Mechanical Typefounding and Composition of Bengali 8 Linotype Composition 267 9 Monotype Composition 309 PART IQ Photocomposition of the Bengali Script 10 Filmsetting 339 11 Digital Photocomposition 364 Conclusion 405 Epilogue 411 Bibliography 419 4 Acknowledgements I should like to express my appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Tarapada Mukheijee, for his guidance and advice throughout this project; to the Department of Indology/South Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies; to the staffs of the British Library, in particular of the North Library, of the Reading Room of the Oriental Collections, and of the India Office Library and Records; and to the staff of the St Bride Printing Library, who could not have been more helpful during the final stages of my research. Thanks are also due to the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Baptist Missionary Society for allowing me to spend many hours studying their archive material; to Ananda Bazar Patrika Ltd; to the Monotype Corporation Ltd; to the Mergenthaler Linotype Co. for the loan of the MLCo Bengali development files; and to Linotype Ltd for the use of all the material held by the Department of Typographic Research and Development and for allowing me the time to undertake this work. I should particularly like to thank the following individuals: Graham Shaw and the late Mary Lloyd of the India Office Library and Records; James Mosley and Nigel Roche of the St Bride Printing Library; Paul-Marie Grinevald, Librarian to the Imprimerie Nationale; David Saunders of the Monotype Corporation; Revd Keith Skirrow of the Baptist Missionary Society; Steve Byers of Mergenthaler Linotype; Tim Holloway, consultant designer to Linotype Ltd; Mr S.C. Roy of Linotype Assoc. India Pvt. Ltd., and my colleagues at Linotype Ltd: Mike Fellows, who originally inspired me to write this thesis, for technical advice; Georgie Surman for reading through the various drafts of this work and making suggestions for improvements; Ros Coates for her help in correcting the proofs; and Roger Wells for his invaluable assistance in printing this thesis. I am very grateful to Steve Sidwell of Sidwell Computers Ltd for the loan of a word-processor. Finally I’d like to thank Jenny and Vicky Ross for their help and support; my father, Rear Admiral George Ross, who first stimulated my interest in Asian languages; and my grandmother, Lilia Boer, for her constant encouragement. I should like to end by thanking my husband, Rod Hollom, to whom I dedicate this thesis. If it had not been for his patience and understanding, this work would probably have never been completed. List of Plates 1. Earliest extant copperplate engraving of Bengali characters; page 18 Thomas Gouye, Observations Physiques . (Paris, 1692) 2. ‘Bengalica’; John Chamberlayne, Oratio Dominica in diversas 20 Omnium fere Gentium Linguas Versa (Amsterdam, 1715) reprinted in Johann Friedrich Fritz, Orientalisch-und Occidentalischer Sprachmeister (Leipzig, 1748) 3. Bengali consonants; Georgio Jacobo Kehr, Aurenk Szeb 21 (Leipzig, 1725) 4. Bengali numerals; Fritz, Sprachmeister 22 5. Bengali syllabary; David Mill, Dissertation*Selectae . 23 (Leiden, 1743) * 6. ‘Bengali alphabet . [with] connected vowels’; Nathaniel Brassey 24 Halhed, trans., Code of Gentoo Laws . (London, 1776) 7* Bengali manuscript: IOL BEN. MS S2846A - Candimangala 34 8. Bengali manuscript: IOL BEN. MS S2811A - Vidyasundara 35 9. Bengali manuscript: BL MS Add. 5593 - Vidyasundara 37 10. Bengali manuscript: BL MS Add. 5660F - Baramasya 38 11. Bengali manuscript: BL MS Add. 5591: Ramayana 40 12. Typeface nomenclature 41 13. Modi Drawings from the IOL collection of Charles Wilkins’s 44 materials 14. Bengali matrix from the IOL Wilkins collection (CW4) 45 15. Illustration of a hand-mould; Joseph Moxon Mechanick 46 Exercises . (rpt London, 1958) 16. Charles Wilkins’s first Bengali fount (CW1); N.B. Halhed, 52 A Grammar of the Bengal Language, (Hoogly, 1778) 17. CW1: ‘The twelve P,HOLAAS’; Halhed, Grammar 53 18. CW1: alternative forms of-5j and\5 ; Halhed, Grammar 55 19. A Bengali Ode: CW1; N.B. Halhed, Preface to a Grammar of 61 the Bengal Language (Hoogly, 1778) 20. BL MS Add. 5660F: Blank form printed with CW1 62 21. Engraving of the Bengali cursive hand by Wilkins; Halhed, 66 Grammar, plate facing p. 209 22. Second fount of Bengali types produced by Wilkins (CW2); 67 Halhed, Grammar 23. Bengali manuscript (cursive hand): BL MS Add 5660E - ‘An 68 Obligation’ 24. Third fount of Bengali types produced by Wilkins (CW3); Bengal Translation of Extracts From the Regulations For the Conduct of the Collectors in the Revenue Department (Calcutta, 1787) 25. CW3: College of Fort William, Examination Paper (Calcutta, 1801) 26. CW3: Additional Supplement to the Calcutta Gazette (Calcutta, 1794) from the Berthold Wolpe Typographic Collection 27. A galley proof of types cast from the Bengali matrices of the IOL Wilkins collection 28. Specimen of Bengali and Modi Types (London, 1981) cast from matrices of the IOL Wilkins collection 29. The IOL Wilkins collection 30. Fourth fount of Bengali types produced by Wilkins (CW4); Graves Chamney Haughton, Rudiments of Bengali Grammar, (London, 1821) 31. CW4: ‘Compound Letters’, Haughton, Rudiments of Bengali Grammar 32. CW4: Bengali text; Haughton, Rudiments of Bengali Grammar 33. Engraving of ‘The Elements of the Devanagari Character’ drawn by Charles Wilkins; C. Wilkins, A Grammar of the Sanskrita Language (London, 1808) 34. Engraving of Devanagari ‘Compound Consonants’ drawn by Charles Wilkins; Wilkins, Grammar of the Sanskrita Language 35. Engraving of ‘The Bengali Alphabet’ drawn by Charles Wilkins; Haughton, Rudiments of Bengali Grammar 36. Engraving of Bengali ‘Compound Consonants’ drawn by J.H. Patton; Haughton, Rudiments of Bengali Grammar 37. Bengali types of the Chronicle Press (CPI); Ingrdji o Bdhgalf Vokebilari (Calcutta, 1793) 38. CPI; MgrajT o BMgalT Vokebilari 39. Bengali/English title page; John Miller, The Tutor, or a New English and Bengalee Work, Well Adapted to Teach the Natives English (Calcutta, 1797) 40. Bengali transcription of the English alphabet; Miller, The Tutor 41. Bengali text from The Tutor 42. CPI: H.P. Forster, A Vocabulary in Two Parts, English and Bungalee ..., 1 (Calcutta, 1799) 43. Forster, Vocabulary, first entry 44. First Serampore Bengali fount (SB1): Dharma Pustaka; Mangala Samacara (Serampore, 1801) 45. SB1: Dharma Pustaka; Mangala Samacara, 2nd edn (Serampore, 1803 [1806]) 46. SB1R: RajdvaW (Serampore, 1814) 47. SB2: William Carey, A Grammar of the Bengalee Language, 4th edn (Serampore, 1818) 48.
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