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The Use of William Caxton's Type 3 by John Lettou and William De Machlinia in the Printing of Their Yearbook 35 Henry Vi, ^.1481-1482

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The Use of William Caxton's Type 3 by John Lettou and William De Machlinia in the Printing of Their Yearbook 35 Henry Vi, ^.1481-1482 THE USE OF WILLIAM CAXTON'S TYPE 3 BY JOHN LETTOU AND WILLIAM DE MACHLINIA IN THE PRINTING OF THEIR YEARBOOK 35 HENRY VI, ^.1481-1482 W. J. PARTRIDGE WILLIAM CAXTON'S Type 3, which was the second type used by him when setting up his business in Westminster in 1476, was a fresh casting of a sharply cut, well-aligned Gothic by Johan Veldener, a typographer then active in the Low Countries. It measures 135 mm over twenty lines. The typeface shows to good effect in Caxton's Boethius of £-.1478 (fig. i), and was used as a bold face or headline type in his Cicero printed in 1481 (fig. 2), where it was set in line with another Veldener type, a formal bdtarde^ Type 2:i35B,^ cast on the same body. When we come to examine the use the two earliest printers in London, John Lettou and William de Machlinia, made of this same typeface a few years after its introduction by Caxton (fig. 3), and of other typefaces from the Caxton repertoire, a number of interesting questions arise. Let us first examine a typeface which shows an obvious relationship to Caxton Type 2, and is in effect a reduced version of this type. On this ground alone it has recently been thought to be likewise the work of Johan Veldener. It is referred to as Caxton Type 4:95B and it was used by Caxton from 1480 onwards; it was recast on a larger body in 1483 and in this guise is known as Caxton Type 4*: 102B. A version of this face was used in all the books which John Lettou and William de Machlinia printed in partnership. No firm dates can be attached to any of these books, but the activities of this press must have started either late in 1481 or in 1482. When we compare the two earliest versions of this typeface as used by Caxton (Type 4) and by Lettou and De Machlinia (their Type 2:iO2B), the irregularity of alignment in the version used by the two London printers is striking. Throughout all Caxton's publications the alignment of the types which are thought to have come from Veldener is remarkably uniform. This uniformity of casting, which is particularly noticeable in his first book. The Recuyell of the Historyes ofTroye^ which he printed before bringing his press to London, can be seen, for instance, in the Quattuor Sermones (Duff 299),^ the second edition of the Canterbury Tales (Duff 88), and other Caxton titles in which Type 4 has been used. But when we see the same typeface in the Yearbook j^ Henry VI (Duff 420), one of the six books printed by the Lettou-De Machlinia partnership, the alignment is highly irregular even where the page is set in solid text type (their Type 2) with no larger type inserted. Could Veldener, a typefounder of great 56 Caimina qui quontam GwDio flotcnfe i^mi ^kW^ {)eu meGoa oagot mite motos of fotoufttf maftw* S6G me o ) g face tSi no nt mi^^ii om*»wc i^ mufce ^ X5 of | jg g 55 fowufuf t£iM5e« of joe ttv i<s comf») 5ttKa*f^ ^ipot) mi 6: M; we. ait) (^ w fTctcG of m^») emptib? »f f; of ne 0 flint 5n^t(^fuE fituotct^ m^ mt no MVSEVM; BRITANNIC VM /. Caxton's Type 3 : r35G used as title type in his Boethius. TB.55O[8, leaf [a] 2 recto f of Caton of ^ c g of of ^rfolh fom«ttc eOT"5%^^ of . 2. Caxton's Type 3:135G used as a bold face in his Cicero. C.io.b.6, leaf 1.2 recto skill and experience, have been responsible for such indifferent casting? It seems much more likely that for the smaller typeface, punches or a set of duphcate matrices were bought or borrowed, and used on the printers' behalf by someone new to the business of casting type, and less skilled than Veldener. The second and more complex question is to do with the way in which Lettou and De Machlinia used their versions of Caxton's large Type 3:135G in the role of a bold face for emphasis inserted into solid pages of their founts of the text type. omh^mmlB cit frevue ^ ccutt Ee rog cc'qi mocucra Ec ^offi ^'i oa Fig. J. Abbreviamentum Statutorum, printed at London by John Lettou and William de Machlinia, showing their two typefaces. IB.55421, leaf c 4 recto (detail) In tht journal of the Printing Historical Society^ Nicolas Barker referred to this odd and difficult practice when he described how De Machlinia 'continued to use Caxton's type 3, squeezing it on to the same line with the smaller batarde, which had a bad effect on his page make-up' (this can clearly be seen in the centre of fig. 4). In 1979 Lotte Hellinga invited me to examine and comment on the way in which Lettou and De Machlinia's compositors had set about the task of 'squeezing in' this larger type into the solid page settings of the smaller text type. It was obvious from a glance at the British Library copy of the Yearbook that the text was in fact set sohd and that there was no possibility of spacing leads or reglets having been cut to let in the larger type. The next possibility to be ruled out was that of double impression printing as used at this time by Veldener and others for printing in red and black. It will be seen in fig. 5 that the lower-case y in 'Danby' is trapped against the 1 below and is thus held proud of the line below, consequently printing blacker, while the upper part of the 1 is starved of ink by the ink ball being held off by the y. A simulation of this effect is shown in fig. 12. This effect could only have been obtained if the printing was done at one impression. There is other evidence, connected with ink density and impressional strength, that quickly disposes of any question of two printings in this case. We are now left with two alternative possibilities. The simplest answer is that all the characters of the large type, except the descenders, have had their beards filed off, reducing the body size to the same as the smaller text type, and the descenders have been accommodated either by filing the letter below or by respacing the following hne to allow 59 ccmpaignorce%h^ttci?Cceoaitia *5 mare^q^i^h foif cnC mcrcpl- ;ut5iio3s!Ceq0eo6efattcnOof0e6eftOKfracCconOie(22 e»; rtuv fX fy cctiDie i u*' cGEtJ taCieeft q? ft Jftoce fnfioCf? mifce (?cm©aefiq fu? fcoffaO at) Siu oicft ) J Cc m^nerio CR '^t^aDCbcCe remtleP g tcCavauc? fcripf IV 02 ftStffo fuofi^Ka? pf«t qp^Ctffif ao ^fu pDicn r^^ni cit:a 5.6 a.' «8C m eft cnaoR fur CRr? oonoie g rc^rcs ic ccnDic ^ Oit en it q au RmpeixC-xn^c? itC mcfm? Co6e nefaitafcwn cnfvoft^'njEc tout e 0? qi£ au^r en m?fm?Ce Die manjt auOtt a:.:!? g «oout s fcaS! nOu? a ccCe conOif ^r e ptcc eft q ^ m?rfiK Coee nc fuiff afa aiftoffc (3J Cc Oit mancrfmon 3 :3P tm Donqca f[ Ce coTioie ^rt c? q^ fi Jol)€o J^ it oms ag Ti qut fmt f^offaft ?e Conq? ccffip:e ^rteJatrejfuff^meifuJPcCcptctit? [tnempCc ^fcnt ecmpa CD)n^ aiefc cc tfiOu Qon^6 per Cc aj.ioi? :^uv q fueP cnftoff^«? Cc oit ma ntt ocuatC:^5 ixSo6a| OuifTc ^^^ '^t aiiji puitejiP q ecetn pcifb«c3 futP cn'voff^ ^uant E^j^faunct EtC o6CiS?OifTtiorc nefontM^"? en Nt mc3W)Oroit(?iG(3futP^offejm:e ore m font Jtlmt mop fc5-.e oitDunt q Ce conDie eft fi qui f uc? Cc qEC eft Ce p? txwpe ^ fV crtttiOu) q CUV q 1 ucPcnl^offecre^^ ai€t tnDu q autPnips isCf^fau^cs ge t:ef* afe oif^off? ?e e« C« qE M p* c: rri3 a no? n-.ee fi CC ccnOie ^ft« ft qut fmttonq6C?ptccfPaffej6cnmeoO?artia cnttntiCnc ^uti^e Jif tcUonC ^^ a ^a cntcnt oeu^ poC;? !t qut fucP fP p'is come iC6 poioit foConrq? CcnDttemcnt OcE conDir ^ nemj) jDuP 0:£ gtamcP qr wj 0m«9 oifesCe p?cempefuCcapurCeprer<?tta'»iip9CK>mCC»)a>6fi"5n ^me ^oiOee fbire ^n fait &?e ^offemcnf Cc ccc fcfaimcc Oe tee c^r?? OtOi oon affi ore fi i f P ptio foConcqj Ce "B^trap ruCc Dc graufeP iC eo«era 5cu5t CJ/cfancc 5cE frit Cc qGE nc:fta iffmt prie come tC puet fi Ca Ccp I? com€ ie putt eft? cnttr.^? I? e cfi pur Ce pfcnf temps ifTwt mop rcm6Ce oi aft ca5 ft qt fueP p' ?5 prto p' 2e ptefcnt ttrnpe aujoi 5n comC 9t) Ce me qc i-o ap Dtt axuatit ^ ifTm f t mopfcmSCp e Cc pCecQon Cl)OlCl)Olll £ wopp fc>ti6Cc Cc ccutraric [? icooitciicii^^ qq nounouoo ncpciomncpciom?? ^r.oPCcnttn^r.oPCcnttntt ficCficC cottDicottDi?? Ftg. 4. Yearbook 35 Henry VI printed at London by John Lettou and William de Machlinia. IB.55423, leaf b 4 verso 5 ittmt icp a tns ^nt EC pt occifi 5. Yearbook js Henry VI. IB.55423, leaf c 1 recto (detail, enlarged) Fig. 6. Yearbook ss Henry VI. IB.55423, leaf b 4 verso (detail, enlarged) them to drop between the words. In fig. 3, which shows a detail of the Abbreviamentum Statutorum (Duff 375), the cross-heading in the large type is, for no apparent reason, placed tight up against the first line of the text and it can clearly be seen that the large type is a full face on the body with no beard.
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