Royal Craft , but Rather the Collective Genius of the Many , Homo Ge N Eo Usly Combined and Collectively Superior To

Home , Columbian press

A RO YAL C RAFT ;

Not e s o n t he H i stm y a n d P ro g r e s s o f

ROYAL C R AFT :

B EI NG NOTE S . ON

T he H i s t o r y P r o gr e s s

o f P r i n t i n g

F. H . S E . LLIS

V ‘ ‘ V II H P R E FACE B Y M R . E . R ALE XANDE R

LO N DO N

R IT H BY L WR E N C E C o A , A LTD . ,

T H AN E T H U E O S ,

2 1 AN D 2 2 ST R AN D 3 3 , , W . C . PRINT E D AT TH E A45 £79 7gb

E PREFAC .

H AT is a nation witho ut a hi story i Wha t i s an art without a h story , an d what is that history without progres s ? In our public elementary schools we teach the history of o ur own and other countries

. so ha of the world . We te a ch also, but mew t

e th r r h imp rfectly, of e rise, p og es s , and istory of

l e hi but that art which has not on y mad story , has m ade also for liberty of thought and the elevation of huma ni ty . With the adven t of the

r has e i z p ess dawned a high r civil ation , and a.

ﬁner senti m ent wi th more artistic ai ms . The rude and crude productions of Gutenberg an d Caxton have gone ever onward fr om their i i ncept on . until they have developed into a mighty crea tive and e duca tive for ce . The

e i s r - a i t e print r no longer an a tist l bourer, ne h r i s he a live m a chine putting me cha nica lly into operation ide as and m ethods whi ch obtained generations ago . Synchronously with the moul d ing of the national characte r and hi s pioneership of civili za ti on the printe r ha s im proved hi mse lf ;

872891 P REFAC E the introduction of the Monotype and Linotype m hi s ethods of production are not ultima thule . From methods of crudity to some meas ure of “ perfection he h a s atta ined in the art pre ” “ se r va ti ve ha s , but the ideally simple not

a n d yet been reached . Long valuable experience in certain orthodox method s make for pr o ﬁ ci e n c y , but not progress , but the problem

n perplexed pri ter works out his own salvation , and leaves behind hi m some improvement on hi m the page of time , his works live after — and s o do hi s errors and imperfections his successors proﬁt by a knowledge of thes e blemishes , they appreciate his aims and improve

t he his methods of working . So wheel of pro gress moves forward , sometimes rapidly , some times very slowly , but always forward . It is not the outstanding genius of one man , or of one generation , that has contributed more than an other to the progress of the Royal Craft , but rather the collective genius of the many , homo ge n eo usly combined and collectively superior to

r any individual e ﬁ o t . In consenting to pen a brief preface for this litt le volume I confess to the hope that a perusal of its contents wi l l imbue the lay reader

i t s an d with the enthusias m of author , that his succinct survey of the marvellous rise an d pro gress of printing may secure not only an a dmi

ar t ration for the pioneers of the , but that it m a o y als , in the hands of the craftsman , be the

V I P REFAC E

c to ne essary incentive perfect his knowledge , for himself and for those who follow . To one who has spent more than a quarter of a cen . t I ury in the education of young printers , can sa y , with perfect knowledge of the fact , that the readin g of interesting works on the subject of their handicraft has led more than one fr om an easy -going life of hum - drum to one of active research and improvement ; and to all I com

o f i mend the pages th s work , in the earnest

' hope that t he author s eff orts may have a like effect , and his work will be well rewarded .

LE XANDE R . E . R . A

P ri n ci pa l of Lo n d o n P o lyte chn i c

P i on ee r Techn o logy Classe s .

CONTENTS.

n on e :

I TE ODUOTm N —E T T ODS or P R T . I N ARLIE S ME H IN

I NvE NTTON o r MOV AB LE TYP E AND TH E PRINT — OH AN N TE NBE R O T N I N O P RE ss J GU , HE I

— - vE NTOR H r s CAREER E NTERS INTO PAR T T F T LAW UI NE R s H I p WI H AUS A S T , — FOLLOWE D BY Lo ss o r OFFICE A FRE SH — STAR T H r s DEATH

III P o r TYP P Y D FAusT AND . ROGRE SS OGRA H (UN ER — SCH OE P FER) TH R OUGH OUT E URO PE OP POSI TION FROM MANY QuAR TER s NOTAB LE CRAFTSMEN

T R TYP — XT AND T IV . GO HIC AND OMAN ES CA ON HE INTRODUCTION OF TYPOGRAPHY INTO E N O — — LAND N OTAB LE E N GLI sH PRINTERS FIT — TE E N TH CEN TURY PUNCTUATION P R OOR E s s OF THE AR T IN THE UNITE D KINGDOM

TH E E AR LIE sT F D V . ORM OF WOO EN PRESSE S I NvE NTI ON o r IRON P R E s s B Y E ARL STANH Op E — I N TR ODUOTI ON T Y D OF HE C LIN ER , F T BE D R T Y — T LA , AND O AR MACHINE S MUL I — COLOUR MACHINES E TC

l x C O NTENTS

S E CTION

W - V I . PROGRE S S OF THE N E SPAPER PRES S DAYS o r PERSE C UTION—R EMARK AB LE STATISTIC S — ’ SOME CURIOUS PRINTERS AND TRANS ’ LATOR s E RRORS

T YPEFOUNDING : PAST AND PRESENT THE — DUTCH MODEL R EV I V AL OF E NGLISH TYPES — - MACHINE - MADE LETTERS T YPE COMPOS T — ING AND CAS ING MACHINES E TC .

, COGNATE BRANCHES OF PRINTING : WOOD

. E V P B K ST TYP . NGRA ING , ROCESS LOC S , EREO I NG E T TYP E T AND LEC RO ING , LEC RICAL ' ‘ P T E T — l R I H R M Y - L T Y C . C O P RIN ING , I HOGRA H — — — ALGRAPHY T YP E WR I TE R s CON CLUSION A ROYAL C RAFT

NOTE S ON TH E

H f P n i sto ry an d Progre ss o ri ti ng.

~ l n t r o d u ct o r y E a r l i o s t M e th o d s o f Pri n ti n g a n d a e M a ki n P p r g . HE invention of Printing has always been recognized by students as a subject of

considerable importance . There is no

mechanical art , nor are there any of the ﬁne arts of whose early history so much has been written , as of the origin and evolution of i s Printing . Such a subject as mysterious a s r it is inviting , being ensh ouded in an unusual u degree of obsc rity, and manifesting a marked divergence of Opinion amongst its many varied chroniclers .

Printing, or more correctly termed Typography, ” o is sometimes spoken of as a R yal Craft , the “ ” “ a ll art preservative of arts , and as a handmaid ” to every form of modern education . Such ex s pre sion s are , without doubt , justly employed when it is considered how important is its position in modern affairs . The most sanguine typographic craftsman in the Fifteenth Century, probably never dreamed that his art would play such a signiﬁcant part or grow to such colossal proportions as we are

- familiar with to day . Hi st o r y a n d Pr og r es s of Pr i n t i n g .

u s a Printi ng comes down to , in truth , from i c very early age , too remote for any authent ui record . In the r ns of the cities of Babylon , s i i n As yr a , and other places the East , we have abundant evidence of a crude method of writi ng or i mpressing symbolical signs and ﬁgures on C i lay , and mak ng them permanent by means of k s o i n ba ing, and using them in the build g of their temples and dwelli ngs . i i i i be S m larly the Ch nese , in early t mes , long Of i fore the Christian Era , had a system print ng i by means of engraved wooden blocks , by wh ch method they duplicated upon sli ps of bamboo and a ﬁbrous ki nd of bark by mean s of ha nd pressur e . Whil e the Chi nese appeared to have possessed far more inte lligence and civi lization than most of the contemporary nations at that early period , it i s a startling fact that litt le progress has si nce been made in the mode of printi n g then in — vogue perhaps something may he said for the peculiar language not readil y ada pti ng itself to the use of movable characters . Amongst nearly all i the early Eastern nations , seals or d es appear to have been commonl y used in the maki ng of coins or sta mpin g ornaments and articles of use in the n l i a ma ner a ready ind cated , notably mong the bu t Greeks , and later with the Romans ; it is a matter of su rprise that nothi ng be yond these i o engraved d es has survived the latter , c nsidering the many advantages of civi lization and learnin g they e njoyed . u f w Montfaucon , in his Antiq ities , relates a e in teres ting particul ars of s ome large sigill a of Ro f u the mans , in which names were care lly cut

in Ro man capital s . Probably they were used i s for distinguish ng the various earthen ve sels , i s t r a n d r r e s s o f r i n t i n H o y P og P g . by impressing them on to the clay while it was l yet plastic in the moul d . In the col ection of the Duke of Richm ond there i s a sigill um of a very rare kind , with raised letters made of brass , two i nches in length by one inch in depth , having on the back a ring for the purpose of making the full impression . The letters are beauti y cut , in i two rows , very s milar in appearance to our modern Ro man type . The name on the sigillum Ca i n s u i H e r m i n i u s is that of J lius Cecil us , and was presumably used to impress his name offi cially to any paper or document requiring a signature . As the ground above the raised lettering is rough l i and unfinished , it is hard y l kely to have been used i n the marking of soft pottery moul ds such as s ffi s tho e already mentioned , for the su cient rea on that the unfinished appearance woul d have given a blurred res ult . Thi s Signet was found near to i l o s . N R me , and ea ly lends itse f to modern use O doubt this is the nearest approach the Romans had to actual printing as now understo od . ’ Virgil tells us that brands , with the owner s name , were used to mark cattle , very much after th e manner of a stencil plate . The Emperor

Justin , who could not write , used a similar con

t r i va n ce .

a ll l The Egyptians , with their wonderfu know o f t e ledge the Ar s and Scienc s , were not without their crude form of engraving and i mpressing (by means of hand) hi eroglyphics on the facia of

their huge monuments and temples , much in the s same way as that of Babylon and A syria , or the

- terra cotta impressions of the Ro man s . In AD 175 the te n of the Chinese classics was

cut upon erected tablets of wood and stone ,

examples of which still exist . i st r a n d r r e s s r n n H o y P og of P i t i g .

i hi t Marco Polo , the Venet an explorer , on s e turn from China (where he w a s Governor of one Of the Eas te rn provi nces during the reign of t he Kubi lai Mongol grand khan , ) , at the end of the t s the Thir eenth Century , de cribed pri nting o f paper money by the use of a stamp and some vermil ion pigment . This peculiar and ancient sty le of Xylography i made l ttle progress in de velopment , each suc ce e di n a g age , with scarcely any perceptible v ria

i n . th e tion , repeat g that of the preceding one In making of these blocks great care was taken in e the s lection of a wood of ﬁne and close quality . The s urface was then treated chemically an d s s a painted , from which impre ions were t ken with ink made from the sap and colouri ng of trees , put on to the block by means of a pad , the absorbent nature Of the wood so treated often The times determining the depth of colour . s o paper , after being placed in po ition on the bl ck , was rubbe d un til the desired impression w as obtained , and the sheets , being printed on one u t e e side only , req ired to be fas ened together b for being made into books . The whole of the w ritings of Confu cius (six

A . D 900 s . 8vo a . vol , ) , d ted about , were produced in this manner . The pages had the appearance u w o th when pri nted of a faded , r sty bro n c lour ; e paper bei ng remarkable for i t s opacity and thi n i t s ness , and not less so for the toughness of

. n s o texture These books , though entaili g much labour in the preparation of blocks , and then the t i u i ed o s mode of pr nting, were sold at very small s u s - ms , at lea t judged by the present day standard , w but no doubt the expense of production as a. very small consideration al so . H i s r a n d r r e s s r i n n to y P og of P t i g . Many attempts were made by various Emper o r s of Chi na from time to time to improve the X general style of ylographic printing , but to little d u . c p rpose The pro edure to ay in China , despite e the Western invention , is ess ntially the same in method as that practised by them so many centur ies back . i In add tion to their primitive ideas of printing , they li kewise claim to have invented the proper f manu acture of paper out of cotton , vegetable

l 120 B . C . E ﬁbre , and si k , from about The gyp tians were makers of papyrus and paper at a k later period , and from them the nowledge seems i to have Spread to the Arabs , wh le no doubt many of the valuable Assyrian manuscripts were written

upon paper of the time . In the Twelfth Centur y we ﬁnd the Moors in Southern Spain maki ng

paper with an adm ixture of l inen rags . The ﬁrst paper manufactory in Engla n d is given as 1475 i s 1695 , but probably it nearer the date ,

when it w a s ﬁrst made in Scotland . Mention should also be made of the m a n uf a c s ture of paper from rice by the Chinese , the re ult being a paper in appearance of the most perfect n ki d , save that its use is somewhat restricted ,

o wing to its brittleness and difﬁ culty of handling . O n the other hand it lends itself very readily to ' s i the kilful hand paint ng of the Chinese artist , f whose colouring is proverbial for its ef ectiveness , in some measure due to the splendid surface and

Opacity of the rice paper . To - day we are confronted with an endl ess

variety of paper of every conceivable kind , but although the pu rifying and manipu lation by machinery to produ ce this variety has become l t o o sa a most perfect , it is not much to y that the

5 i n . Hi s to r y a n d Pr ogr e s s of Pri n t g principle of its manufacture remains almos t

- precisely the same as i n the far gone ages . Wood pulp has more largely come into present - day use in order to keep pace the vast demand for cheaper kinds .

E a rl i e s t Fo rm o f Pri n ti n g Pre s s .

i r a n d r r e s s n i H st o y P og of Pr i t n g .

d the made to a apt them to altered circumstances, but these only lasted for a short time . Their manipulation and u se were found bot h cumbrous and expensive . Most of the religious ideas of e the time w re depicted by their means , printed i on one side of the paper, examples of wh ch

- h are still to be found to day . Perhaps t e most note worthy Specimen of this method of printing l P a u e r um e n is the Bib ia p , a r duced ki d of Bible , 4 dated about 1 29. The claimants for the inven tion of typography

r . : i number about fou teen , viz Castald , Coster , Ga e n se ﬁe i sch G r e sm un d Faust, , , Gutenberg , Hahn , V a e lba e ske P a n n a r t z Jenson , Louis de , Mentel , , Schoe ﬁ e r Sw e n he m Regiomontanus , , and y y , and even more numerou s are the to w ns whi ch claim i the hon our of its birthplace . After many invest ga t i o n s the number of inventors were reduce d — i s to four as being most probable Castald , Co ter ,

Sch o e ﬁ e r . s Gutenberg , and The claims of Ca taldi , the Italian , however , are extremely vague , and

s o n e out ide of Italy w ere never accepted , but at time were very strongly believed i n by his o w n ’ cho e ﬁ e r s i countrymen . S cla m to be the pioneer s is entirely di scredited . The real issue seem to li e between Gute nberg and Coster , and very little doubt now exists a s to Gutenberg being t he real ' s inventor , though many uphold Coster priori ty rather than a s a success or to Gutenberg. There is abundant proof that Laurentius Cos ter

(a n ative of Haarlem , Holland) engraved upon wooden blocks and al s o worked from movable l u wooden type , to which he applied a kin d of g n s O s s a e t i o u ink , and so btained result imil r to thos i s t in general use at the time . It s s aid that Co er o u t hi s characters in the manner of the hand

Q s t r a n d r r e s s n i n Hi o y P og of P r i t g .

n s s writi g of the cribe , with abbreviations and other oddities peculiar to the manuscript write rs at that period . s Various book were issued by Coster , one of “ " u Sa lut i s 1440 which , the Specul m , dated , is cr i ve r i n s claimed by Theo . S to be the ﬁrst book ever printed . While it may be doubtful to ﬁx ' the exact chronological order of Coster s work , there i s good reason to believe he was to s ome extent contemporary with Gutenberg , and in the te mat r of en graved w ooden , movable characters , would s eem to warrant some clai m to an inde pendent genesis of the invention . t he Johan n Gutenberg , generally accredited o f wa s inventor of the art typography , born at

1 - 1 f n Er i l 398 400. w a s O o Mainz , He the / of G ae n se ﬂe i s ch , but , according to a German custom ’ s u t at that time , a s med his mo her s maiden n ame i rather than it should become extinct . Succeed ng generations have handed it down as in s eparable from the invention of movable type , and very few to - day doubt his claim to be the pioneer of the a r t .

Up to the advent of Gutenberg , ignoran ce of s learning w a everywhere prevalent . Scarcely u s anyone co ld spell , and eemingly few , e ven of

- - ff the well to do classes , could a ord to purchase u a copy of the Script res , an d fewer still were

- d . a able to read them Compared with to y , we can form a j us t conclu sion of the po wer of the i pr nting press , and what an in ﬂuence it began to exerci s e in the ele vation and Spread of educa tion among the masses . Much of the earlier life of Gutenberg w a s spent he at Strasburg , where for many years occupied himself in vario us employments other than t he

0 r Hi st o y a n d Pr ogr e s s of Pr i n ti n g .

s s w a s invention upon which his fame re t , for it not until manhood he was bound to one named Dr y ze hn to teach him the secret of the wonder s but ful art , as he then under tood it, owing to Dr z hn the death of y e the contract was broken .

He , however , made con siderable progress in its

a n n J o h ( i u te n b e rg .

s development , and gained a good in ight into the

i . n practicabili ty of h s undertaking U fortunately , troubles , in which he became involved , compelled him to quit Stras burg in 1448 and return to his s friend at Mainz , and while there his brother ,

I O H i t n d r r s n s o r y a P og e s o f Pr i t i n g .

ﬁ i ch c - h n se e s t e . Gae , o operated with him in craft

During the sojourn at Strasburg , it should be n oted , John Mentel acquired some knowledge of s the invention , and hence gave ri e to the claim i of that craftsman to its originat on .

' “i s mi n e use n Ol tr r qui t i t i n ner Otir i abell s br ut ei ct us

e u s e d i n i n i n 1 6 6 . Typ Pr t g , 4

’ s s Added to Gutenberg s mi fortune , and pe cu n i a r y loss entailed as a con s equence of s uch a w a s u f ctions , it fo nd a matter of di ﬁculty to a s keep the secret to him s elf . Its value a means

d . of repro ucing the many MS S writings , and lessening the vas t amount of Copying then w a s s prevalent , a patent fact which oon became s u known , and cau ed a good deal of neasiness C s w amongst the lerical copyi ts , hose opposition to t he introduction of printed matter became very determined , and no wonder , their means of livelihood— not to mention the power they had wielded by retaining the kn owledge in their own — hands being now j eopardized . The whole career of Gutenberg was one long struggle agains t adversity an d privation of one s kind or another , yet , in pite of opposition and d s s a financial istre , he rem ined true to his object , and carried o u t hi s design s with comme ndable e se e perseveranc , but he lived to only the dawn of hi s trium ph ; t he fruits of hi s u ntiring zeal an d inventive genius came when hi s physical powers were little able to enjoy them . Those to whom he confided the secret richly benefited by such n Hi s t o r y a n d Pr ogr es s of Pri t i n g .

ui s hi s acq ition , as did also ow n personal friends , to whom he ha d s o Often resorted for assis tance in money or labour . ’ Gutenberg s ﬁrst publication was i ss ued for the

- - 1 439 u l fair of Aix la Chapelle in , and was q ick y followed by a number of smaller productions , all

’ W u e n e s o o e n r e s s 1 0 . G t b rg d P , 45

executed upon a crude wooden press . This press s i was trongly made , with two upr ght timbers w a s and cros s pieces . In the centre the bed to support the type , and a platen , or top piece , d d which move o w n on to t he type by means of 8.

I 2 r a n d r r e s f r i n i n His t o y P og s o P t g .

u wooden s crew . This press is s pposed to be the d ﬁrst ever made , and was constructed un er the superintendence of Gutenberg by Conrad Sa spa ch 14 k i n 36 . The in ing of the type , while on the t he bed of press , was done by two leather padded r balls , after ﬁrst f eely working together in the hand . The paper was laid over the inked sur face and surmounted by a soft substance to ensure the impres sion when s crewed down . With a view to issuing a complete edition of i the Bible , Gutenberg entered into a k nd of part n e r shi p with John Faust who agreed to fur nish money to enable him to carry out the enterprise , Faust to hold the entire appliances as

security , an d to further receive half the proﬁts s expected from the sale of the production , in addition to a six pe r cent . interest on the capital advanced .

w a s - Faust by profession a money lender , and hailed from a small village on the Rhine , named s u fr s Gern heim, near to Mainz . G tenberg had quently appealed to this source for assistance , and o n this particul ar occasion 800 guilders were 300 advanced , w ith an additional to provide for

s . paper , vellum , ink , wage , etc The project of Gutenberg in bringing out a complete Bible was a great undertaking , for up to that time the Scriptures had only been issued s in fragments or parts . This , the ﬁr t completed ’ e Bible published , emanating from Gutenb rg s s pre s , was remarkable as much for its complete ness a s for its many peculiarities . It appeared in the prevaili ng style of Gothic Characte r (about 1450 u printed pon vellum , and contained

1282 a s s t - p ge , two column to a page , and for y two

- lines to a column , but without a title page , date ,

1 3 n His t o r y a d Pr og r e s s of Pr i n t i n g .

e . name of print r , or place of publication The headings and i nitia l letters at commencement of chapters were cleverly painte d in by han d . It is

k - commonly nown as the forty two line , or Mazarin so Bible , called from the discovery of a copy in the library of Cardinal Mazarin in Paris . It was s altogether a co tly and laborious undertaking, and reflects credi t upon the persevering i ndustry and noble aim of Gutenberg to carry through so large a work with such signal succes s . Every be e letter , be it remembered , had to engrav d separately , and , although conferring so much l s fi honour on the printer , in pub ishing thi , the rst s u n fo r complete Bible , the financial los entailed n t u a t e ly proved his ru in . Fabul ous sums have been realized at various times for copies of this rare edition , and as recently 1904 a s as , i n London , a good copy fetched much as £3850. Both in London and Berlin fine speci mens can be seen . n Faust , having got tired of advanci g money ,

- i nstituted a law sui t again st Gutenberg . He had now received a very cons iderable sum in order to enable the work to be carried on for ﬁve years ,

- and the law sui t terminated di sastrously for him . Gutenberg was ordered to refund a large part of s s the capital , with intere t , an d naturally a di so

- l ut i o n of the ao called partners hi p followed . A few years later Gutenberg had s ufﬁciently l i recovered himse f to take up the work aga n . Means were forthcoming to enable him to r e hi m f commence with the help of s for er cra tsmen . c hi s H um e r The Chan ellor of native city , Conrad y , s came forward and befriended him , upplied the

a ll s . mean s , and for a time seemed fairly succe sful Two year s after hi s t e - establishment ( 1460) he

P r o g re s s o f Typo g ra ph y ( u n d e r Fa u s t a n d Scho e fi e r ) — t hro u g h o u t E u ro pe Oppo s i ti o n f r o m m a n y q u a r t e rs — a C a m n No t bl e r fts e .

MME DIAT E LY followi n g u pon the dis solu t he i tion of partnersh p with Gutenberg, i s Faust , failing to recoup h m elf for the money advan ced the speculation not — realizing hi s expectation seized posses sion of h fﬁ se t t e o ce , and up with one named Peter h ffe r h Sc oe , an em ployee , who perforce had c arge b of the work , an d being an ingenious man , e

i n ve eff ecte d great improvements , n otably the n c s s te tion of matri e for ca ting the type , ins ad s o of cutting them by hand , which pleased his

co - u hi m patron and partner , Fa st , that he gave his only daughter i n marriage . ch ﬁ e r l h a u S o e , by his undeniable ski l , s pr od ced ﬁn P some remarkably e specimens of printing. e r haps the best known work w a s the P sa l m o r um s e Codex a hand ome production , print d

' - s upon ﬁne vellum with hand painted initial , the most ancient book know n printed with a date l or inscription . A notable American recent y

- s l purchased , from a well known book el er in s u m £5250 1459 London , a copy for the of ( edition) . Twelve copies of this edition are said to 1 457 be i n existence , and nine only of the edition .

Among other works emanating from this press , mention sho u ld be made of a book called the “ ” Dur a n di Rationale ; a Latin Bible (thought to ’ ’ be t he mos t importa nt of Faust and Schoe ﬂe r s

1 6 i s t r a n d r o r e s s r i n t i n H o y P g of P g . productions) ; a folio Psalter the large i a ls i n i n t of which were stamped by hand , a separate stamp being used for each colour . The psalms in this book were arranged in the order they were sung by the Benedictine monks . It is ’ one of the best examples of Faust and Scho e ffe r s printing , and , like most of their productions , is executed on ﬁne vellum . A copy belonging to Sir Joh n Thorold was sold i n 1884 for the large sum of £4950. The ﬁrst poster ever produced came from thi s di press . It was printed by order and rection of hi the Elector Diether, and contained s Declara I t tion against Adolphus , Count of Nassau c n measured t wo feet by sixteen inches , and o sisted of 106 li n es .

Faust , who had done so much to further the progress and development of the art by the ' di she a r t e n e d b means at his disposal , became y a series of misfortunes , culminating in the loss — of his ofﬁce by ﬁr e a period from which his pros pe r i ty seems to have somewhat declined . He afterwards went to Paris , to try and promote the sale of his Latin Bible , and remained there until 1 466 r e va his death , in , which was due to the p lence of the plague . A story is current that Faust sought to di spose of these Bibles as manuscripts . Knowing the strong opposition of the ca l igr a phi st s he tried to con ceal the printing of his books by issuing them in the character of the handwriting of the day, and f o fered them at sixty crowns apiece , while those writte n by the scribes were charged at 500 crowns ; but the price being so m uch lower than that usually charged , and the work so perfectly cor ' u a n s we r rect, the s spicions of the Parisi e aroused ,

l 7 n d r r f r n t n Hi s t o r y a P og e s s o P i i g .

i e whi ch led to Faust be ng indict d as a conjurer .

The supply was equal to the demand . and this , coupled with the fact that they were printed in — red i n k whi ch they averr e d was hi s own blood — gave rise to many suspicious charges of his being in leagu e with the devil ; hence arose the legend of the Devil and Faustus . The atte ntion w a s of the Legislature of Paris called to his work , who expre s sed their admiration for the beauti ful

ﬁn i sh and ali gn ment of the lettering of his book .

Faust , h owever , to extricate himself from the i had t hi m di fﬁculties wh ch apparently over aken , the s revealed ecret , with the result that they hi m e magnanimously exonerated , becaus of the util ity and value of the invention he had brou ght Schoe ﬁ e r hi s under their notice . Meanwhile , ,

cc - i late worker , continued the work in Ma nz , and issued the Mainz Psalte r and other meri t o r i ou s i examples of printing , all of which w ll bear comparison with many modern works . ’ There is an account at the end of one of Li vy s works of what purpo rts to be a privilege gran ted Schoe ffe r to by the Emperor Maximilian , of the ’ exclusive right of publishing that author s works as as for a period of ten years , well other conces sions bestowed , out of consideration for various improvements in the art of printing .

Type faces were brought to a much hi gher per . fect i o n f es choe ffe r , in point of use uln s , by S during d i his connection with Faust . As alrea y not ced , s a hi s r his abilitie , b cked up by pat on , Faust , enabled hi m to eff ect many im provements whi ch l h great y curtai led t e labour of the press . Contemporary with Schoe ﬁ e r there were other rival craftsmen , who introduced many devices to adapt the art and brin g it into requi sition as a

1 8 Hi st o r y a n d P r ogr e ss of Pr i n t i n g .

commercial factor in everyday life . Although ’ Scho e ffe r had vastly improved upo n Gutenberg s i n u method , he , t rn , had been superseded by others pos sessing the skill and ability necess ary to make i t s u s e become more general . A m ong the numerous printers who seemed to

s u u have pr ng up thro ghout Germany, one or two names (in addition to the more con s picuou s ones already mentioned) call for some special notice n n hm i dt 1470 w a s s Se se s c , i n , one of the mo t proliﬁc , as well as one of the most important t ypographers , and was the ﬁrst to i ntroduce the H i s i s craft into Nuremberg . publ cation include an edition of the German Bible . Z a i n e r s i s u , a craftsman of ome d tinction , bro ght ’ i fE so s s out an excellent ed tion of p Fable , at Ulm , 14 in 77. It was speedily copied in most of the large towns of Germany . P r ii ss s of Stra burg , made a speciality of printing theological and scholastic books . Schon s e r e r p g , the elder printed a Prayer Book i ntended for the private use of the Emperor

M i i a axim l an , by whom it was probably arr nged . 1517 He also printed , in , an Allegorical Poem , Pﬁ n t zi n s written by g, perhap with the help of ’ s Maximilian . on the occa ion of the Emperor s t marriage W i th Mary of Burgundy . Both of hese ' ’ examples of Schon spe r ge r s press are to be seen s a r e in the British Mu eum , and unique specimens r e d of ﬁne typographical work , printed i n and s u s d black , in bold character , and cleverly ill trate . ff A airs n ever , at any time , ran smoothly for long together with these early pioneers ; they were too often the objects of hatred and jealou sy of those who had more reason to befriend them , a n d not least by the monks and priests , who

| 9 i r a n d r r e s s n H sto y P og of Pri t ing .

u s attrib ted to them demoniacal pos ession . But i ll it is an wind that blows no one any go od . The war between the two rival archbishops of Mai n z (though causing a temporary lull in the spread of s typography in the city for the pace of two years , hence no books are known w ith the date s 1463 - 4) i was , however , after the sack ng of the city by

Adolphus , the means of scattering the craft a ll

. i i s over Europe , etc Follow ng upon this d sper al , se t n printing presses were up in Bolog a (Italy) , 1462 s 1464 1465 ; Pari , probably ; Russia , ; Rome , 1466 s 1473 1475 ; the Netherland , ; Spain , ; Brus 1476 1490 sels , ; Constantinople , ; and , as some 1462 l think , in England in , but more genera ly

- regarded as 1471 4. The art was not introduced n 1 0 into Sweden and Norway u til about 5 0. Sw e yn he i m and P a n n a r t z were two Italian printers who have given us some very ﬁn e

s i . example of typograph cal w ork Mention should , a however , be made of one book entitled L ctan ” i e . s i n tius It printed the Gothic charact r , with the Greek quotations introduced into the text , t he 1465— in red ink , bearing date said to be the ﬁrs t book having a precise date . Altogether it is a remarkable production . 1491 J o a un e s s At Basle , in , Frobeniu started a f printing o ﬁce , which became famous by reason of the correctness of its publications (some 300 i n u all) . M ch of the fame of this press was due to s its con nection with Era mus , the eminent scholar , ” s e t h who acted as corrector , and uperint nded e publication of many of hi s ow n writings .

Venice was one of the earliest settlements , and ha s produced some of the be st printers . The ﬁrst w a s 1469 s i book issued in by Joanne de Sp ra, wh o obtained a monopoly for ﬁve years , but died

2 0 n d r e s r n n H i s t o r y a Prog s of P i t i g.

1470 hi s early in , being succeeded by brother

Wendelin , to whom the privilege did not apply ;

J l - Nicholas enson , also a wel known craftsman , 1 w a s r 470. followed De Spi a , in He for some w a s ti me Master of the Mint at Tours , and one of t he most celebrated of the many Venetian printers . 1 Aldus Manutius followed J enson in 488. He l s a so obtained di tinction , not only for the valuable additions to the printing art bro ught about by his i hi s nventive genius , but also by scholarly ability , which enabled him to publish so many of the works of the old Greek and Latin authors . In d a dition to his own acquaintance with Greek , he was fortunately as sisted in many of his publica tions by the renowned Erasmus . This press was commonly known as the Aldine u press , and was disting ished by the device of a s dolphin and anchor , which Aldu printed on most of his books . So enthusiastic and energetic w as thi s Venetian printer that he could find no time for anything outside of his occupation . In writing t to a friend , several years af er the setting up of his press , he said , speaking of the time since his “ commencement , he had never enjoyed one hour of sound sleep and later he remarked on the stress “ hi s of s terribly severe occupation . Aldu was on the greatest terms of i ntimacy with the Italian Pi o hi s prince , Alberto , who also shared taste for l iterature . The following inscription , placed over ffi the door of the printing o ce of Aldus in Venice , is somewhat characteristic of the man— “ Whoever Al you are , dus earnestly entreats you to despatch your business as soon as possible . and then depart ; s unless you come hither like another Hercule , to lend him some friendly assistance ; for here will be work sufficient to employ you , and as many as

2 ] t r a n r e s r His o y d Pr og s of P i n t i n g .

enter this place . Although the work of the i s w a s Ald ne pres generally plentiful , there have be en times of great depres s ion . Ald u s attempted some alteration in punctuation marks . The oblique s troke which served for a s comma he formed into a better shape , and al o

- added the semi colon . 1 51 5 Aldus died in , at the comparatively early 69 s o n l age of , and was succeeded by his , Pau , who w a s t he s u also an enthusiast in tudy of literat re . The printing oﬁi ce continued for a long time to be one of the foremos t in Europe . Niccolo Ma le r m i brought out the ﬁrst ill ustrate d s l Italian Bible . It contains upward of 400 sma l u s w oodc ts , illu trating the chief biblical events , many of whi ch were adapted fr om pict ures of the

Cologne Low German Bible of about 1480 . T he date of the first book printed in Fran ce l r is doubtfu , but in the records of the ea liest s craftsmen w e find , in Lyon , that of Le Roy , w a s t he who first to set up a press i n that city , 1473 Du P r é 1486 a n d i n the year ; in Paris , ( )

Philippe P i go u che t The well - known ﬁrm of Stephen s was established i n P aris at the be o f w as ginning the Sixteenth Century , and con tinned by Stephens ’ descendan ts w ell into the following century . They enjoyed great reputation a s for accuracy and style , well as for the beauty i of the type faces they used . Prin ting was ntro du ce d into Rouen not later than 1487by G uillaume le T all e ur , who printed three law books for

Ri P n so n 1491 . s chard y , of London , in Beside P n so n Ta lle u r u y , Le also printed a Sar m Missal and other books for the use of E nglis h readers . u 1476 Col ar d i At Br ges , in , Mansion , a cal d t grapher , took up printing , and use a ype in

2 2

s r n n Hi t o y a d Pr ogr es s o f Pr i n t i g. In 1517 some enterprising Jews opened a

Hebrew printing ofﬁce in Constantinople , and produced the apocryphal Book of Tobias ( un pun c i so ca li r a t ua t e d) . This publ cation enraged the g phi st s (who were very largely employed) that they entirely demolished the plant . The Sultan v was no less alarmed at the i n ention , and strongly favoured the cause of the wr ite rs . The i Venetians , upon the r own initiative , presented His Maj esty with a completely equipped printing f s w o ﬁce , but his suspicion , coupled ith his hi m Mohammedan notion s , compelled to part i company with it , which he did by pitch ng it into the waters of the Bosphorus . It is interesting to notice on another occasion how an Englishman attempted an innovation by f printing the Koran , and of ering it for sale in f the thoroughf ares of the city . The e fect of this outrage on the susceptible mi nd of Mohammed ’ s r e followers was alarming . A general uproar sult e d d , accompanied with in ignation and protest , followed by the S ul tan hastily buying up every co py that could be found and throw ing them t he i also into sea , at the same time threaten ng all who dared to introduce it again into his

s t he u se less . dominions , and tigmatizing art as ’ As most of M ohammed s followers hold that the

Koran must be a written book , they would n aturally have an avers ion to everything printed .

w a s 1 730 It not , however , until after the year that printing could be said to ﬂourish in the i d Ottoman Emp re , as from that ate it began to S enjoy a measure of patronage from the ultan , but thi s only to a very limited extent . He had an i nherent disli ke to the printing press and to literature generally , and very little urging

2 4 t n r f r i n i n His o r y a d Pr og e s s o P t g . was needed for hi m to checkmate the zeal of

- f the s e would be reformers . Printing o fices even d o fii ci a l to ay are rigidly kept u nder surveillance , and the State steps in a s a medi um through whom supplies for carrying out the work must be obtained . It is a noteworthy fact that from the first the Jewish race who settled in Turkey have been most persis tent in propagating the printing art . i They have , notwithstand ng a rigid censorship , issu ed many of the books of the Old Testament and other important publications , not only in u Turkey , but in several other E ropean countries . In the British Museum there are 2000 volumes alone in Hebrew character , printed in various f parts of Europe largely by Jewish e forts , a fact which shows how eagerly this people have s espoused the profes ion . s It is nece sary , before leaving this section , to speak of one of t he most prominent and wi dely

u . : known E ropean craftsmen , viz Christopher P lantin (born in Previous to removing 1555 s to Antwerp , in , he carried on busine s for s some time in Paris , but having ettled and established himself in the former city , with every convenience , he soon began to issue books in

. w a s various lan guages He , however , accused of printing an heretical Prayer Book , and had to take refuge in France , during which time his ﬁi c i o e and appl ances were sold up . He came back eventually under the patronage of the King of Spain , and from that time seems to have established himself securely with the enjoyment of the monopoly of printing of the State and ecclesiastical books used in Spain . Under such auspices he acquired, at immense cost , large and

2 5 i s t a n d s s n n H ory Pr ogr e of Pr i t i g .

d l handsome buil ings , now universa ly known as M the usée Plantin . Plantin w a s also appointed Printer to Leyden ni s U ver ity ; however , very soon after his fresh start the greater part of his ofﬁce was wrecked in the siege and fu ry of the Spaniards which broke 1 over the city in 576. Plantin had repeatedly s hi s fﬁ to pay ran som to ave o ce , but eventually came out somewhat reduced and much cr ushed u by the fearf l ordeal . Indeed it may be said that Antwerp itself has never recovered fr om this blow . ’ u Among Plantin s numero s publications , his P l olyglot Bible of eight fo io volumes , published in

1569- 72 , is a really marvellous production , com i bining learning and excellency of workmansh p ,

- and remains to day a book greatly adm ired . 1589 Plantin died in , an d was buried in the s cathedral of that city . John Moretus , his tru ted hi s s s manager , after death succe fully carried on s the busines , and it remained in the same family 1867 until , when the business came to an end . It has n ow been acquired by the nation a s a museum , and still remains intact as an object s of wonder and intere t to many , beyond those

a s - usually i nterested , an old time printery , inter woven so remarkably with s uch s tirring events o f history . Amon g other celebrated printers mention should be made of Abraham Elzevir (Holland) , born in “ Leyden in 1 592. Baillet describes him as the i n l Prince of Pri nters , not only Ho land , but ” throughout all Europe . Elzevir and his descend ants were responsible for the printing of a gr eat number of excellent books . Small editions of the

Classics were issued in di fferent sizes . These

2 6 n H i st o r y a n d Pr ogr es s of Pri ti n g . books met with great popularity on account of their cheapness and the excell ency of the type

- used , and to day are much sought after by book fanciers . Most of the ancient man u s cripts had foun d their way into print by the early part of the t Six eenth Century , and to this fact the ultimate

i o revival of learn ng throughout Eur pe , and the

Spread of greater taste for literature , is very largely due . Lu cko m be hi s refers , in preface , to the attitude of the Church to the printing press , quotin g Cardinal Wolsey . After speaking of the discovery of printing as contributing greatly n to the productio of learned men in Europe , the Cardinal stated the e ﬁ e ct s of this art to the “ Pope th us : That his holiness could not be ignorant what diverse effects this new invention of printing had produced ; for it ha d brought in and restored books and. learning , so together it had been the occasion of thos e s ects an d schisms which daily appeared in the world , but chieﬂy in Germany , where men begi n n ow to call in question the present faith and tenets of the ho w Church , and to examine far religion is de i t s parted from primitive institution . Since printing could not be put down it was best to se t up learning against learning ; and by introducing d s be able person s to ispute , to su pend the laity s tween fear and controversy . Thi at w orst would yet make them attentive to their superiors and ”

. O teachers Such pposition to the printing press , instead of retarding its progress , has helped to extend its inﬂuence for good in every direction .

Benjamin Franklin , the distinguished American philosopher and statesman , is often referred to as

2 7 i s r a n d r r s r n n H to y P og e s of P i t i g . one of t he most successful of transatlantic typo

r a he r s . U S 1706 g p He was born at Boston , , in , but learned his trade a s a printer i n the ofﬁce of

Samuel Palmer , in Lon don and rapidly made headway in the profession . He also became a very clever and succe s sful jour nalist . Franklin placed his sole reliance , as a means to success , upon his indomitable , persevering industry ; and a study of hi s life will best answer as to the full

z . 1732 reali ation of this high ideal From the year , hi s . we are told , prosperity began Soon after he married he commenced as a newspaper proprietor , d and further a ded to his r ole the duties of editor . Among his many occupations in London he found s time to carry on a shop , ca t his own type , and s even ﬁnd lei ure to pursue scientiﬁc study , i wh ch led to many discoveries . Franklin became likewi se succes sful as a statesman in his own country , and represented the United States for some time as Ambassador to the Court of France , returning to America in 1785. His proverbs are very apt illustrations of hi s philosophi c a n d ingenious mind . d 1790 Franklin ied in Philadelphia , i n , and the press at which he worked in England , in his early a s i n days , is carefully preserved a relic the Smith h so ian Institute in Washin gton .

2 8 — G o i c a n d R o m a n Ty e s Ca x o n a n d t he I n t r o d u c th p t — t i o n o f T ypo g r a ph y i n t o E n g l a n d No ta b le E n g l i s h — — Pri n te rs Fi ft e e n th C e n t u ry P u n ct u a t i o n P r o g r e s s o f t he A r t i n t he Un i t e d Ki n gd o m .

T is remarkable how tenaciously the early

printers , particularly on the Continent , adhered to the Black (more generally know n as Gothic) letter in most of their publications . It was the survi val of the style r used by the w iters , the commonest form of “ ” s which , ometimes called Secretary , was the r e one most imitated , though all more or less sembled each other , the most noticeable variation

5 20 ti poi nts poﬁmm bet swi m {nnaﬁ br a nd a s ( 16 pr int ?has nozmas

G o th i c ch a ra ct e r u s e d i n e a rl y pri n t e d b o o ks .

being in the design or form of the capital letters . The practice was not common to the German m crafts en only ; many in Italy , France , Spain , l and other European countries , fo lowing the pre vailing fashion as a matter of interest rather than from any idea of choice . Frequent attempts were made , in Paris , to introduce the Roman character, but were resisted by the prejudices and inclinations of those who were strongly predi s

2 9 s Hi tor y a n d Pr og r e s s of Pr i n t i n g . posed to maintain the imitated charac ter of the s s i s monki h writing , which were regarded w th o much veneration . The same may be said of the

ﬁrst introduction of printing types into England , ” i - E s distingu shed by the name of Monkish ngli h , ” s the parents of our pre ent Old English , or ’ a xt o n s Black Letters . C Black , used so much in hi s various books , is no improvement on the usual

Gothic style . It w as a letter , however , that found m f its way i nto any o fices i n Great Britain , and ha s s continued to be used down to the pre ent day , s though , of cour e , cast with more perfect alignment . u It was no ncommon thing in E ngland , in the u u a li fica Seventeenth Cent ry, that among other q l w a s tions required of schoo masters , the ability to write a good Secretary and a good Roman hand . In the nature of thi ngs printing from type was bound , sooner or later , to supersede the tedious and costly w riting of books by hand , perfect and u bea tiful though they were , both in printing and embellishment ; the time occupied was the greatest objection The oppos ition to t he continuance of the Gothic s style oon wore dow n , for we find a modified form i s of Goth c introduced , and very hortly after came the general adoption of the more legible Ro man characters , although a great many of the German and Dutch printers have continued to use the

Gothic even to the pre sent d a y . It is worthy of n ote that Prince Bismarck had a very marked i preference for the old form of lettering , wh le on the other hand the Kaiser strongly favours the

Roman character . s The monument of Richard II . , and other nota s s bles , erected in We tmin ter Abbey , date about

3 0

Hi s t or y a n d Pr ogr e s s o f Pr i n t i n g.

in the yea r 1 500. It was cut by a certain Fran “ ” w as cesco de Bologna , and ﬁrst called Venetian , c from the inventor being a resident in Veni e , but the name was afterwards changed to that already

mentioned . It was dedicated to the State of a r m It ly , to avoid disputes likely to arise f o as any other country claiming its origination , w s w as the case ith the ﬁr t inventor of printing . The type is s aid to be an imi tation of the hand o f w as writing Petrarch , and chieﬂy used for the s i smaller editions of the Cla sics , but without ts i own capitals , in the place of wh ch were used the

usual Roman characters . Italic type ﬁr st a p pe a r e d in an edition of Virgil and was

very quickly Copied by other printers . Copies of

both the original and the imitated books , showing to be the variation of type , are seen in the British

Museum . Greek type w as first i ntroduced by Schoe fi e r ’ “ " hi s Ofii ci i s in edition of Cicero s De , about 1465 ; and also use d by Sw e yn he i m and P a n n ar t z

in the same year . Hebrew type was ﬁrst used the in the publication of Pentateuch , printed in w 1482 S itzerland , in ; and later , from the same — si press , a Polyglot Bible was issued compri ng A Hebrew , rabic , Chaldaic , Greek , and Latin . The art of printing was ﬁrs t introduced into a l hi s Engl n d by Wi liam Caxton , who set up press e in the Almonry of Westminst r , at the sign of “ 1471 The Red Pale , sometime between and w a s s 1474. He a man pos essed of good sense c and sound judgment , bold and fearless in chara u r ter , and withal tactful and ind st ious ; full of s o e enthusiasm for the craft he had e p us d , and ’ he a s towards which acted England s pioneer . He seems to stand out conspicuously as a great

3 2 r a n n n Hi st o y d Pr ogr e s s o f Pr i t i g .

personal force in an otherwis e dark and stagnant ni lo w age , when lear ng was at a ebb ; and by his energy — not only by the introduction of w prin ting , to hich he had devoted so much study — in order to per fect hi s knowledge but also as a w ho w translator and. author , we kno well h e served hi s day and generation by the emancipa tion of hi s countrymen from the fetters of that

intellectual and moral ignorance , which then

- s . bound men like laves He was an epoch maker , and one of the most prono unced type ; his cultured i m nd , by reason of his superior education , had hi s given him a sense of the need of country , then suff ering acutely f r o m the eff ects of those civil commotions and turbulent outbreaks which have become a matter of history , and which he endeavo ured to allay by the diff usion of know f ledge . Caxton deplored the indi ference of the people to education and the obvious disad vantage s under which they laboured . His study and re i dence abroad for so long had enabled him to i observe the various Cont nental systems , and to devise means to bring about some alteration . Caxton was born in the Weald of Kent about 1412 h the year , but of the exact place we ave no

certain knowledge , nor of the rank and employ w m ment of his parents , who , ho ever , see to have — given hi m a thorough education a circumstance n h very u usual at t at time , except among the l r n n li s h most wealthy classes . I e e d myn e g s in ” e w e e ld Kent , says Caxton , in the , where I doubt not is spoken as brode and rode e n gli s sh ” as in ony place of England . The inhabitants of the Weald of Kent had a very strong admixture r of Flemish blood in their veins . Caxton obse ves , ’ i n speaking of hi s parents duty towards him I

3 3 s r a n d r r s s r n n Hi to y P og e of P i t i g . am bounden to pray for my father ’ s and mother ’ s s u s ouls , that in my yo th e nt me to school , by i s uﬂ e r a n ce wh ch , by the of God , I get my li ving

I hope trul y . At the age of abo ut ﬁfteen he was placed as L u apprentice to Robert arge , an inﬂ ential mercer , who was s ucces s ively . High Sheriff and Lord

Mayor of London . At the expiration of his apprenticeshi p he took up the freedom of the ’ e s n M rcer Compan y , and became a citize of

London . The term mercer at that time generally applied t o traders i n all ki nd s of mer h n s s c a di e u . , and , of cour e , incl ded books At s Ro 1441 the decea e of bert Large , in , Caxton was left i n hi s will a small lega cy of t wenty marks (considered a good sum at that time) a circumstance which see ms to show that he u i s l cond cted h m e f , while an apprentice, to the s atisfaction of his mas ter . He afterwards left 1464 to travel on the Continent, but in we read of his being appointed , with one named Richard Whi t e hi i l u , a kind of j oint Envoy to the Co rt of the Duke of Burgun dy to negotiate terms for a n e w t Commercial Treaty . Cax on was commissioned to this high ofﬁ ce at the instigation of Ki ng w a s u Edward IV . , and it d ring this stay that he became acquainted with the unfortunate Earl hi Rivers . Caxton took advantage of s residence abroad and applied himself ardently to study , acquiring a greater hold of the French language , hi m whi ch enabled , at the request of the Duchess hi s of Burgundy , to complete translation of the ” Re cu e ll H i sto r e s y of the y of Troye , which was

1471 . w a s s printed at Ghent, in It the ﬁr t book l s printed in the E ng i h language, and was an object

s . of great intere t , hence its sale was rapid The

34 r a n d r s s r n H is to y Pr og e of P i t i n g.

s w a s - i n width was ﬁve i nche , it thirty one lines s length (the lines not being paced out) , and the book bore n either date nor s ignature . Finding this w a latter expedient s followed by other printers , he afterwards adopted the same style i n his future

Wi i a m C a x n ll to .

publications . The book was also devoid of a title — page , as was customary at that time a n omission which he w a s careful to remedy in hi s later

s . production Further , we ﬁnd that he applied himself to a thorough theoretical study of type graphy, and spared no expense in adding to his

3 5 s r a n d r r e s s r n n Hi to y P og of P i ti g .

w kn owledge of the craft . His effort s ere not di fii cult attained without some y , for the secrets “ ” o f the mysterious art were , by many , still jealously guarded . Caxton visited the metropolis of the craft , viz . , Mainz , besides visiting the s presse of Cologn e , Bruges , and other places , and t h 14 finally returned to England i n e year 71 . He brought ove r from Flanders h i s first printing s s pre s and outfit , and , as already mentioned , e t ffi up his o ce in the Almonry of Westminster , at “ ” s P the ign of The Red ale . The Abbot of West ’ minster was one of Ca x to n s most enthu siastic o fii c patrons , and often atten ded his printing e to r evise or correct the different reli gions publications brought out by him . In those days the Abbot s i m e xercised great ecclesia tical influence , with men s e privilege s connected with his position in the Abbey and in Parliament , but the Reformation s oon followed in the wake of the printing press , accelerated largely by this new means , and much o f the ecclesiastical power of the Abbey w a s s wept

m . away, including the Abbot hi self w a s Caxton joined by his father . at a time when hi s fame was at its height . They laboured t ogether with e n t hu si a s m a a n t i the output of their e ff W n k n orts , together with the help of y y de W P n so n orde and Richard y , t wo imported crafts

m e n . w a s a , was prodigious Caxton man who t horoughly believed in work , in order , he tells us “ o n s e sche w e slo uthe de ln e ss one occa ion , to and y , ” w h n w r sha r v hyc e is moder and o ys of yce s . His a dmiration came from those in the humbler as w ell as thos e in the learned and higher ranks of l ife . Many ﬂocked to behold and admire the w hi s ork of press . while Edward IV . and other m embers of the Royal house , besides Richard

3 6 r n Hi s t o r y a n d Pr og r e s s of P int i g.

i a ) f Gloucester , Earl R vers , the Duke of Cl rence , s an d the Abbot of Westmin ter , w ere among his r K m m e r o u s patrons and admire s . The i ng took ’ Ca x to n s special in tere s t in the work of press , su d man y beautif ul impressions were produced

' 11 H i s Majes ty s pre sence . In spite of this

‘ s n w a s n o n a r ch s unhappy and depres i g reign , he t cco m pli she d and learned s uﬂi ci e n t ly to appreciate he immense ad vantages of the i ntro duction of i he prin ting press into th s country , and found amid the multi pli city of wars and selﬁsh

n W i m a n Co l o ph o o f i ll a C x to .

i r o e n si ti e s u l p , to extend to Caxton m ch good y

uppo rt . How di fferent thi ng s w ould have been 11 the Continent had the early craf tsmen there e ce i ve d a like encouragement ! The high este em ’ n which the King held the printe rs craf t so x a lt e d the prestige of those crafts men in E n gland

a hat printers were cre ted Gentlemen , and were l . so entitled to w ear side arms . The productions of hi s pres s amounted to nearly

00 s s , besides the tran lations of various work ,

’ t JE n e i d he most no e worthy being Virgil s , already m E ’ entioned , and sop s Fables , a copy of which

3 7 Hi s t o r y a n d P r ogr e ss of Pr i n t i n g .

is in the Bodleian Library at Oxf ord . He ex pe r i e n ce d at one ti me doubt as to the sty le of language used in hi s publications . While some advi s ed hi m to adopt the most simple phrase “ ﬁn d ology he could , others , honest and great “ clerks , he adds , have been with me , and desired me to w rite the mo st curious terms I

l - cou d ﬁnd thus , betwixt , plain , rude , and curious , hi b I stand abashed . He published s ﬁrst ook, 1474 printed i n England , in , entitled The Game and Playe of the Che s se . Some authorities give “ his book called Dictes and Sa yi n ge s of the

P i hi s r . h losophers as ﬁ st production It was , at

any rate , the earliest book having an imprint , “ E m r n t e d which runs as follows p y by me , i We st m e str e 1480 W lliam Caxton , at , In “ ” his Chron icle and hi s Description of Britai n s i o k l were publi hed , both of wh ch b o s were popu ar, s u i and were reprinted many times . He al o p bl shed ’ “ ” s two edition of Chaucer s Canterbury Tales , a fact which seems to show how much is d ue to these two early English fathers for the subse

quent fixi ty of our English language . ’ “ ” Ca x to n s Mirror of the World , published in 1 481 w a s s i , the first E ngli h book llustrated with w a s e modern wood engravings . A copy r cently 0 sold for £35 . The Osterley Park copy of “ The Game and Che ss e £1950 Playe of the realized the sum of , and the first edition of the Dictes and Sa yi n ge s 1 of the Philosophers was s old in 1897for £ 320 . 1491 hi s Caxton died in , greatly lamented by “ c l ountrymen , and truly he deserved wel of ” posterity . He was buried at the Church of St. ’ a Marg ret s, Westminster, and in the registers o f that parish it is thus re corded

3 8

Hist ory a n d Prog r e s s of Pr inti n g .

r s eng aving , and the leave or pages had no dis i t n cti ve numbers until a later period . It w as n usual , at the begin ni g of chapters , to insert a small letter to denote where the ini tial had to be

- s put in by the illuminator . Title page came into ’ a x t n a use just before C o s death . Their doption w a s n o doubt suggested by t he heavy metallic and so u other forms of book covers m ch i n vogue then , which precluded the title of the book always appearing on the outside . w a s The ﬁrst English poster issued by Caxton , a copy of which i s preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; it contai ns a description of a s ervi ce w book , hich w as then on sale at Westmin ster . ’ Doubts were express ed as to Ca x to n s having s introduced the ar t into E ngland . The e were based upo n the di s covery of a book about 200 hi s years after death , at Oxford , said to have 1468 been printed in the year , three years before ’ the commencement of Ca x to n s labours at hi s w pres s in We stmi ns ter . The lite rary world a s agi a d bu t l u t t e for a time , the resu t of the disp tation appeared to sho w that Caxto n was undoubtedly t he s ﬁr t to print from metal types i n England , and Co r s e l li s that a printer , named , from Haarlem , also had previously printed with wooden types at Oxf ord . i s all It remarkable that Caxton , with his zeal s s and thoroughness in busine , should have per m i t t e d so many error s to creep into some of hi s publications . The unsightly marks cau s ed by the space line s ris ing i n the working of the press formes were ren dered still more objectionable by his having made red pencil correction s on t he printed sheet . However we may praise the work ’ Ca x t o n s t s s ur and progress of craf sman hip , it is

40 H i s to r y a n d Pr og r e ss of Pr i n t i n g . prising to ﬁnd him at times violating the most elementary rules in s imple forms of punctuation

s and division of word , which obtained at least s some slight ju tiﬁable use , since the better known writers had previou sly used them in their books Too mu ch attention s eems to have been bestowed e ha d on the print d matter after it left the press , instead of revis in g before printing . Some excuse f the may be made in mitigation , i we compare pri mitive means and material at his disposal with i the better facilitie s afforded h s successors . It does not appear to have su ggested itself to Caxton to have recours e to scholarly men to supervis e his w a s various publications , as commonly don e on u s the Continent , hence res lts in Engli h printing were lacking in that ﬁni sh and correctnes s which compared unfav ourably with thos e printed in

Germany an d the Netherlands . Caxton addresses some observations to the reader on the tran slating of a Dutch w ork into n : P r a e n E glish , thus y g alle them that shal see this lyt yl t r e a ti s to correcte and amende where ” n d they shal fy e faute . In most of the printed works of Caxton there is a mark us ed for punctuation very s imilar in appearance to a shilling stroke . It is used t o a n d denote the comma , is frequently met with in ’ other books printed after Ca x t o n s time . The two most di stinguished s uccess ors of Caxton were Wyn kyn de Worde (probably a fugitive printer a n d P n so n s from Mainz) Richard y , both erving under Caxton until his death . The former was a native of Lorraine . He succeeded Caxton in ’ P 1491 the capacity of King s rinter , i n , at the “ Re d P d sign of The ale , and made very rapi strides in the art .

4 1 i s r a n d r r e s s r n H t o y P og of P int i g .

W n k n t y y de Worde enjoyed ex ensive patronage , and produced many excellent publications . In “ 1493 he is sued The lyi of saint Ka therine of i " l i Sen s , and in the fol ow ng year printe d a book , ” P e r fe ct i o n i by Walter Hylton , entitled Scala s , ’ Ca x to n s both executed in type . The author dedicates the work to Margaret , Countess of s e Richmond . In ome lat r books , during King ’ V II I s i W n k n Henry . t me , y y de Worde frequently styles hi mself pri nter unto t he most excellent ’ princes s my lady the king s grandame .

Co l o ph o n o f Wy n ky n d e Wo r d e .

One of hi s most important pu blications was the ” s Ma u n de vi lle Voyages and T ravel of Sir John , in 1499. Soon afte r thi s date he removed from dw e ll n e ﬁe te r Westmin ster , and was y g in st ete at the sygn e of the sonn e a ga yn st the co n dyt h "

Sun . The , in Fleet Street Wy n kyn de Worde w a s also pri nter of numerous Whi tt i n t o n 1512 i books for , from onwards , ch eﬂy 1 521 e grammatical works , and in he execut d for the same author thir teen diff erent volumes . He w as an enthusiastic printer , and issued in all s be some 400 works . On mo t of these printed

a . similar device , or colophon , as did Caxton

4: t r a n d r r e s s f r i n i n His o y P og o P t g .

In 1509 Wyn kyn de Worde added to his imprint the statement that he was printer to the ’ King s mother , the Lady Margaret . It is believed by some that Wyn kyn de Worde first introduced the round Roman letters of n Swe y n he im and P a n a r t z into England . How i t P n so n 1518 ever , is certain that y , in , printed W n k a book entirely in the Roman character . y yn de Worde is also credited with being the fir s t A D 1495 printer of music in Great Britain , . . , , and u the first English printer to se Greek type .

He di ed i n 1534.

Pyn s o n was a native of Normandy . How long d he practised the art , or when he ied , are not s exactly known . His work , however , do not come up to the excellency attained by Wy n ky n I n s de Worde . his fir t production , printed with “ V a date , it is stated that it was printed the day 2 cccc. Lxxx of J uyl the yere of oure Lord God M . x ( ) by me Richard Py n so n at the Temple - barre of ” hi s london , where he had set up business outside e th city boundary . One of the finest productions o f his press is a work entitled Manuale ad usum ” a insignis ecclesi e , printed in red and black , on A fine vellum . copy of this book is preserved in n n s the Briti sh Museum . Py so al o styled himself ’ the King s Printer . Among the numerous craftsmen who arose in London a n d diff erent parts of the country about

this time , mention should be made of the fol lowing : William Copeland (who was for a time W n k n l employed by y y de Worde) , Wo fe , William Fa ue s q , Thomas Berthelet , Richard Grafton ,

Edward Whitchurch , and others , copies of whose s printed books are till to be found . A somewhat proliﬁc typographer arose about

43 s r a n r r r n Hi to y d P og es s of P int i g .

the time of the Reformation , named John Day . H e utilised the pri n ting pres s as a means of publishing attacks upon the intolerance of the s ecclesiastical power of that time . No doubt thi was one of the chi ef reasons that induced the Government to interfere and place the press u under heavy strict res , ostensibly to put an end s to trea onable and heretical p ublications . The freedom and honou r of the early days of the art i n Great Britain w ere succeeded by a period of

.petty interference and curtailment of liberty . A good deal o f persecution follow ed u pon the

publication , at one time . of some Puritan papers , h known as the Mar prelate Tracts . T ey were prose s atires upon the eccle s i a stici s m of the days u s of Q een Elizabeth , and the authoritie , acting ’ s s under the Bi hop s instruction , were very keen

to ﬁnd the authors an d prin ters . However , the

s n w a s pres was fugiti ve , for u der cover of ni ght it secretly removed from place to place to escape

s s s detection , at the ame time continuing to i ue s its atirical publications . An attempt w a s m ade i n the time of Wy n ky n de Worde to sy s tematize an improved method o f I punctuation . n a work said to have b e en pri nted by him we extract the following :

F T N O H E GR AFTE OF POY TI N G . “ The r be ﬁ u e o n t s di ui s i o n s t maner p y , mos u si d cu n n n : , with y g men the which , if they be u si d s e n t e n s e s wel , make the very light and y u n de r s to n d he r e r to both to the reder and the ,

: v i i l c m e a e n the si s and they be these rg , o , p r ,

l a n n A vi 'i l i s e t i n te r r a t i . p y p oy , and og f rg a

s e le n de r s t r ke : le n n e f o r wa r d e t hi s w se y y g y , be t o k n n e l t l s s y y g a y y , hort re t without any pe r fe t n e s yet of s e n t e n s : as be t we n e the ﬁn e

44 s r a n d r r e r Hi t o y P og ss of P i n t i n g .

h i c m e po yn ti s afore r e e r s d . A o is with tway t i ti ls thi s wyse : be t okyn yn ge a longer rest and the senten e yet ether is i m pe r f e t or els if : cu m e th lo n n it be perfet ther more after , gy g t o it : the which more com y n ly cannot be per fet by itself w i tho ut e at the leste s ummat of it a r e n the si s that goethe afore . A p is with tway cr o k d : y virgils as an olde mone and a new , bely to bely : the which be se t the to n afore the be n n l a t r gy y g, and the tother after the y ende of a clause : co m yn g withi n an other clause : co m n e that may be perfet thof the clause , so y g be t we n e wer a w e y and t he r fo r it is so u n dyde

co m n l . y y a note lower , than the uther clause If the senten e cannot be perfet w i tho ut e the s cr o k de y uner clau e , then stede of the first y vi r gi l a st r e ght vi r gi l wol do very wel : and n di s c m e A stede of the later must e e be 3. o . p la yn e p oyn t is with won ti ti l thi s w ys e and cum e th a l s e n t e n s it after the ende of the whole , n n An i n ter r a ti be t oky y ge a longe reste . og f is ‘ with t way t i ti ls : the upper r y sy n g t hi sw ys e 2 and it cu m e th after the ende of a whole r e so n whe r n i s s um a x si de t he w hi che y ther question , d r e so n a s en e of the , trying it were for an n w r : r th w r a s a e yse u p a de . We have made these r u li s in e n gli s s he : by cause they be as k t e profitable , and necessary to be e p in every l h n a t n . Se t n mother tu ge , as in y y we (as we wolde to god : every pr e che r wolde do) haue ke t e r u li s e n l i sshe p owre bothe i n owre g , and l a t n : se t h n o w n y what nede we . y owre e be ” n u h sufficient u o g to put any other e x e m pli s .

To wards the middle of the Sixteenth Century t he art had become a ﬂourishing industry . This

45 r d r r Hi s to y a n P og e s s of Pr i n t i n g .

successful state of things continued , from the time of Henry VII . , through a long period of some of k s the most stri ing phase of English history . We have already remarked upon the ﬁrst Ro yal W n k n W Printer and his successors , y y de orde and

P n so n . i s Richard y It , however , interesting to note that this ancient and responsible ofﬁce has

- o only been confe r red on thirty f ur persons . The ﬁrm who are at pre sent holders of this royal privi lege , Eyre and Spottiswoode , originated with the

Baskett family , the royal patent being renewed w a s to them i n 1739. Robert Baskett followed

- by Charles Eyre , the great grandfather of the e present Mr . Briscoe Eyre . Not b ing a practical

co - printer , he enlisted the operation of William

Strahan . Andrew Strahan succeeded William , and he was followed by his n ephe w , Andrew s s s Spottiswoode , who e son and succe or to the business , William Spottiswoode , became a very honoured Pres ident of t he Royal Society . He was also a man of some literary attainment , and

s i n a clever mathematician . His remain were r t e r e d i n We s tmin ster Abbey in 1883 .

' s a s n u The pre ent ﬁrm , King s Printers , conti e the right of printing the Prayer Book of the s s Establi hed Church , as well as numerou editions of the Bible . From a very early date Oxford seems to have s d ue adopted the advantage of typography , , n o doubt, to the fact of its being a centre of learning , and a depository for most of the English and many of the foreign manuscripts , which eventually found their way into print . o Theodoric R od , a native of Cologne , in con junction with Thomas Hunte , an Englishman , set f 1480 up a printing o ﬁce in , and issued many

s r a n d r r s s o f r n n Hi to y P og e P i ti g .

P n s o n di d y , a good deal of the work of printing for the University . Sco la r he f s , in a book printed at Ox ord , peaks of an edict of the Chancellor of the U nivers ity i se lli n o f prohibitin g the pr nting and g ‘ that book h for a period of seven years . During t e cen s or o f s ship the pre s throughout England , the Vice Chancellor w a s deputed licenser of all books printed at the University . Cr ut t e r d o n 1688 Henry , in , printed a book at s f Hi O xford , wherein he styles him el one of s ’ Majes ty s printers . t i 1635 r s Previous to h s date , viz , A chbi hop Laud obtained an important li cense with a vie w to publishi ng t he valuable Bodl eian Manuscripts on behalf of the University . The control of the printin g department of t he

— o r s University Press the Clarendon Pres , as it — is now called is managed by a Vice - Chancellor and ten members of Convocation . The building

— s comprises the North side , for the clas ical pub l i ca t i o n s t he cu s of University , books , and do ment ; i i s and the South side , for pr nt ng Bible and

Prayer Books .

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge , as ’ s s al o the King s Printer , enjoy a vested right in u printing the Bible . It is tho ght , however , that

Cambridge ﬁrst undertook the work . The O x ford s edi tion nowadays is omewhat unique , for the Pres s at the Un iversity manufactures everything i — requ red in its publication paper , type , ink , and

i n i . the preparation of leather , etc . , used the b nding

They also employ a large number of workpeople . The total Bibles issued by this Press num ber a mill ion copies yearly . 1521 Si be r ch set up a press at Cambridge in ,

48 i s t r a n d r o r e s s f r i n i n H o y P g o P t g . and spoke of himself as the ﬁrst Greek printer in England . i The U niversity , however , has had a pr nter si nce 1582 ; but the press as now existing w a s h complete d in 1833 . Although it a s a large out i t a put , by no me ns equals the sister University of Oxford . w a St . Albans s a very important town during h t e pioneer days of the printing press in England , and a great number of works were printed there , 1480 s who about , by an unknown craft man , styled ” s - hi m elf the Schoolmaster Printer . Many of i s s u h book are to be seen in the British Muse m . The earliest printing pre s s at Canterbury w a s conducted by the monks ; while that at Y ork was u set p by Hugh Goes , a somewhat noted printer , about t he year 1509.

Ipswich was a large and important centre , an d had its printing press during the time of Cardi nal ’ Wo lse s i s y School , which he establ hed there in 1 24 5 , but he had recourse to continental printers for what he required . We have n o deﬁnite record of date when printing w as introduced into Wales , but in the celebrated Martin Marprelate Tracts mention is made of one named T ha ckwe ll a s follows Knave Th a ckw e ll i s , the printer , wh ch printed popish and t r a yt e r o u s w e lshe bo o ke s in wales .

A s n Re v . Wel h minister , amed Walter Cradock , was instrumen tal in getting the New Testament e translated and print d in Welsh , two editions being publis hed in 1646 and 1647; and ten editions ~ of the entire Bible were i s sued in the same lan

guage up to the year 1690. Cradock was selected ’ ” as one of Cromwell s tryers during the Co rn m o n we a lth m , and previously had been ejected fro

49 n d e f r i n Hi st o r y a Pr ogr s s o P n t i g .

two curacies in the Principality for hi s lax sup

port o f the Established Church of that day . In Scotland it is necessary to obtain a special

licence to print the Bible . James IV . granted a

privilege or patent to two printers , named Walter M lla r Chapman and Andro y , in Edinburgh , in the

beginning of the Sixteenth Century . It was said that the printers of Edi nburgh ” were always agin the Government , whatever

party were in power . However , it was an easy matter to give irritation to the authorities at the 1745 time of the Rebellion of , and in consequence

the press were subj ected to some rough handling . Ged and the younger R uddi m a n suffered severely l for their Jacobite principles , and severer sti l was the treatment meted out to one named Robert

- t Drummond , a well known craf sman of Edinburgh ,

who published a satirical poem . The satire had reference to the trial and acquittal of Archi bald i a Stewart , Lord Provost of Ed nburgh , and his l ck of e ff or t against the rebels when they seized i possession of the city . Th s prosecution was viewed as a somewhat severe measure by those s who fav oured the Stuart cau e . In the poem were t lef a number of blanks and initials , intended to

be ﬁlled up by the reader . It dwelt strongly upon the cruelties perpetrated after the Rebellion

up to the trial of Provost Stewart, and directed s also again t the Duke of Cumberland and others , who were believed to be instrumental in bringing a bout the said trial . Copies of the publication o were seized , and R bert Drummond was accused

of printing and publishing the same . He was found gui lty and “ ordained to be carried to 25th prison , and thence , on the November , betwixt the hours of twelve and one , to the Cross of

50 Hi s t o r y a n d P r og r e ss o f P r i n t i n g .

i u Ed nb rgh , there to stand bareheaded , with a label on his breast , inscribed thus for printing and publishing a false , scandalous , and defamatory i ’ l bel , till all the copies seized of the poem should be burnt by the hang m an ; then to be i n prison till he should give bond to remove out of the city and liberties and not return for a year , on £100 ff payment of a sterling , and su ering imprison n me t till the remainder of the year was run , and to be deprived of the privileges of a freeman ” for a year . A fruitless appeal was made to the

Court of Justiciary to alter this sentence , and Drum m ond was accordingly brought to the Cross t s n and the copies burn i n his pre e ce , and then M a a zi n e u s . Sc ts r thle sly taken back to prison ( o g , 1747) Not long after hi s release he returned to the d t he city , but he was again seized by or er of Magistrates for another publication whi ch aroused

. H i s t their indignation types , ma erial , and copies of the print ( which was entitled “ The Ki ng ’ of Pru s s ia s Letter to H i s Royal Hig hness Prince ” d s Charles ) were seize , and he him elf lodged i n pris on . d He was ragged again , on a third occasion ,

- from his hiding place , and brought before the Magistrates for daring to publish an Exposition ” of the Commandments , which the powers sus e cte d o h p was favourable to the P pish Fait , but afterwards li berated on the phys ician certifying

that he wa s broken in health . He did not long

survive his release . 1638 At Glasgow , in the year , we have a rathe r interesting record of the introduction of the art l in the Scottish metropo is , whence it had been

conveyed fro m Edinburgh .

5 ! r n Histo y a d Pr ogr es s o f Pr int i ng .

In the records of the Glasgow Tow n Council it is thus recorded “ 4 1 640 . s or da i n Jan . , The aid day e s the

treasurer to pay to George Anderson , printer , u n di s s s hi one hundredth p , in ati faction to m of the s uperplus he di s bur si t in tran s porting hi s i s do ll o r i of gear to th burghe , by the ten s he gave him of be fo i r to that eff e ct : and al so in s ati sfaction to him of his ha i ll bygone fea ll i s " Wi t so n d a 1638 Ma r t i m e s s fra y in anno to la t . One of his ﬁrst production s was a qu arto s e pamphlet , sixteen pages , for the ﬁr t me ting (1638) of the General A s s embly of the Church

of Scotland . A copy of this rare specimen of printing in Glasgo w is carefully preser ved in the

Un i versity library of that city . Its title reads thus “ The Protestation Of the Generall Assem u blie Of The Ch rch of Scotland , And Of The

n r n l m n Bo r r N o ble m e , Ba o n s , Ge t e e , o we s , Mi n i s t e r s And Commons ; Subs cribers of the

Covenant , lately renewed made in the high M s Kirk . and at the ercate Cro se of Glasgow ,

28 29 e 1638. the , and , l of Novemb r Printed at d Y e a r e Glasgow by George An erson , in the of

1638. Grace , George Anderson ’ s imprint is to be found on numerous books is sued during the many years he f held ofﬁ ce a s printer to that city . A ter his

r 1647 o w m death , which occu red in , Glasg see s

to have been w itho ut a printer again . A s o n s i of George Anderson , al o a printer in Ed nburgh, was appealed to by the Magistrates and Council i a i of Glasgow to remove there , wh ch he ccord ngly ' did , but after four years stay he returned to f Edinburgh . His fare and cost of removal o

5 2 i s t r a n d r r e r i n i n H o y P og ss of P t g .

s u i good were defrayed , by vote of the Co nc l , ’ out of the Treas urer s funds . The events that followed no doubt were antici ’ s pated , and largely inﬂuenced Anderson return , for in 1663 he obtained the appointment of printer 1 671 to that city and college ; and later , in , he was appointed the King ’ s Printer for the whole i s of Scotland . Th s right was exerci ed i n a very

arbitrary way , and prosecution s for the slightest

infringements were very frequent . After his deceas e the right was rigorou s ly maintained by ’ Andrew Anderson s widow . An attempt to stop the publication of a black lette r edition of the New ’ Testament of Anderson s successor , Sanders , in s Gla gow , by inducing his workmen to leave n him , led to an actio being brought before the ’ s i n 1671 King Privy Council , who decided , , that he d should be allowed to ﬁnish his work , and ecreed further that every printer in Scotland had an equal right to print the New Testament and Psalm Book in the type or letter known a s

l . w Eng ish Roman Sanders after ards acquired , by purchase , some share of the Royal Patent , and hen ce was allowed to style hims elf as one ’ di of the King s Printers . Both i n E nburgh and Glasgow the character of printing generally w a s at — a very low ebb a state of things n o t altogether conﬁned to thi s part of the United Kingdom . It was prevalent everywhere . The days of brown sheets and sorry letter were eventually succeeded by a period of general m improve ent , chieﬂy brought about by the better casting of English types . One of the most promi nent names that obtained di stinction for good

. Fo uli s . printing was that of Fo uli s (R . and A ) P The ﬁrm were appointed University rinters , and

53 s t r a n d r r s s Hi o y P og e of Pr int ing .

s n s s publi hed a great umber of book , of ingular s beauty and excellence , in their Gla gow ofﬁce . Scotland has succeeded in maintaining a reputa i t s tion for typography to the present day . In Ireland was one of the last places in the United

w a s . Kingdom into which printing introduced , viz , 1 1 55 . s Dublin , in It is supposed that mo t Irish authors had their works printed in London . A

Book of Common Prayer was , however , printed there about this period by Humphrey Powell , in

s . black characters , and of a large quarto ize ’ Queen Elizabeth presented O Ke a r n e y with a w fount of Irish type , hich appeared in a publica 1 571 s u tion i n , an d also in a Catechism , i s ed in Fr a n k n t he s c t o . same year , from the pre s of It ” was not exclusively Irish , some of the sorts a bein g made up of Roman and Italic char cters . s A n ew fount of Iri h type was cut by Moxon , and s o 1681 u ed by R bert Everingham , in , in printing ’ Boyle s New Testament . u Several p blications , with Waterford and the 1 555 l i year printed on them , are genera ly bel eved to have been executed in London . A very remarkable printer named Baskerville aro se i n the Midlands about the middle of the

. 1706 Eighteenth Century Born at Wolverley in , se t n he did not , however , up as a printer u til 1750 ha d , and then not until he tried various other H i . s occupation s s work soon ecured him fame . Some seven years after hi s establishment at be Birmingham , where commenced , he brought

out a handsome quarto edition of Virgil . It a excited a good deal of admiration , and lso raised a storm of controversy in the literary t he world , on account of types used by him ,

made from hi s own designs . These letters were

Hi s t o r y a n d Pr o gr e ss of Pr i n ti n g.

’ “ " s Ca x t o n s o n Hammer mith , are G lde Legend , ’ a William Morris s own rom n ce , The ” Plain , and several of Chaucer p r inting was exec u ted in the old way by the s l m iron pre s , on antique paper and vel u , having i l n d previously been damped . Th s method e s l s itse lf to that mode of printi ng . The il u trations ’ s are no less a feature of William Morris s pre s , being s pecially draw n by Si r Edward

Jon es , and printed from woodcuts . — T he E a r i e s Fo m o f Wo o d e n P r e s s e s I n e n i o n o f l t r — v t Iro n Pre s s by E a r l S ta n h o pe l n t r o d u ct i o n o i t h e C i n e r F a Be d a n d o a r M a c i n e s — M u i yl d . l t , R t y h lt u r a h i n — C o l o M c e s E t c.

ITH the invention of movable types came al so the beginning and develop

ment of the printing press . The earliest form of printing apparatus s resembled in appearance that of a cheese pre s . It was worked by the aid of a screw and movable bar , by which mean s a wooden block was lowered on to the type forme , the resulting impression “ being a heavy , dead pull . Such a method w as l alike cumbrous and laborious to manipu ate , and l natural y lacked in evenness , yet this type of w press , ith scarcely any variation , continued to s be u ed up to the Seventeenth Cen tury , after whi ch time improvements followed i n somewhat rapid succession . It i s interesti n g to note that a craft sman named — Mentel or Me n t e li n clai med the inventor of typography — mentions in the colophon of his 1460 German Bible , in the year , that he was printing as many sheets per day as Gutenberg ,

vi z . 300 s w a s , , which number we may a sume a ’ record day s work of this primitive form of print

ing . A number of these early specimens are still to

be seen , and compare very favourably with many m a odern productions , and cert inly surpass those o f the latter end of the Sevente enth Century in a Engl nd . Considering the indiff erent means at

57 r n n Hi s t o r y a n d Pr og e s s of Pr i t i g .

d their isposal , the early pressmen are deserving of the greatest praise . For fully 1 50 years the wooden press had been in use before a change took place . Then came a simpler form of moving in and out the carriage, followed by a new arrangement of the screw , to ensure a more perfect impression on t he type formes . ‘ s To Charle Mahon , Earl of Stanhope , we are indebted for an altogether new departure in the construction of presses . He introduced a new k principle of wor ing the pressure by levers , while the press its elf was made of iron . At ﬁrst the experiment was attempted of adapting the levers to the old style of press , but eventually the iron d built press isplaced entirely the wooden pattern . The adva n tages of the new style were obvious i n the platen , hitherto clumsy its working , was brought down on to the type bed with more e ease and regularity , and convert d , at the right s moment , that motion into pressure . Thi treat ment was easy of control , and though the build of e x e n the press was heavy , there was really less p di t ur e of energy . In 1813 John Ruthven patented a press on s the lever principle , with several improvement , ’ mu ch after the style of Stanhope s . T he 1816 Columbian Press came next, in , and still continues to be very extensively used in thi s

u . co ntry A new device is introduced , and the screw is di spen sed with altogether . George

d i U . . Clymer , of Phila elph a , S , was the patentee of this improved make . Various other develop s o n e ment followed , notably by Peter Smith , an i A n h . H o e . s merican , con ected wit Messrs Th w a s s press further perfected by Samuel Ru t , of

58 H isto r y a n d Pr og r e s s of Pr i n t i n g .

“ Y the . New ork , and was named Washington s Brieﬂy , the frame had the upright at the side hollowed for the introduction of wrou ght - iron m l u bars , which were ﬁr y sec red at the top and

The S ta n h o pe I r o n Pre s s .

f s bottom of the casting . The ef ect of thi hi s departure added strength , w le dimini hing the Fo r amount of metal used in its construction . f light and even impress ions this particular build o

press was undoubtedly the best yet invented .

59 H i s to r y a n d Pr og r e s s of Pr int i n g

A workm an in the London Times ofﬁ ce was

the ﬁrst to introduce an au to matic press . He received a good deal of encou ragement from young ’ s so n but Walter , the proprietor , became unpopular i hi s - w o r km e n w a s w th fello w , and by none he O pposed more than by those who worked at the

hand pres ses . As far back as the year 1790 we ﬁnd that a patent was taken out by one named William s r Nichol on , the te ms of which covered the idea i s l of cyl nder pres es , i n which the formes shou d be placed upon a ﬂat bed or cyli n der at will and receive the impression from a cylinder covered with cloth or some s imilar material . Bet ween c li n the bed and cylinder , or between the two y

s s . der , the heet was to be fed i n and printed The ink was to be put on by a roller b u ilt up of cloth ” e and covered with leather . Robert Hoe , whos s de cription we have quoted , thi nks these patents ’ ” s s of Nicholson w ere mostly scheme , and that he did not posses s s ufﬁcient practical knowledge to I n realize them . the words w e have quoted there is al s o an indi cation of the development of the roll er by which the forme is inked . They were made of the same texture as that used in the s e old form of hand balls , until upersed d by a

s s r o . compo ition , imila to that used t day T he introduction of the continuous ly revolving cylinder steam press is due to a German named s o n s l Frederick Koenig , of Eisleben , the of a ma l

hi s s e 1814. Un farmer , who took out ﬁr t pat nt in fortunately he received but little encouragement hi s e to from own countrymen , henc he decided 1806 make the journey to London , where (i n ) he met with the ki ndly assistance of Thomas Bens l i hi s ay , a pr nter , and so was enabled to perfect

60 i a n d r e r n n H s t o r y Pr og s s of P i t i g .

hi s s invention . One of ﬁrst pecimens of steam “ ” printing was the issue of The Times its elf on 1814 28 November , (printed one side only at a s 800 1 100 time) , at a varying peed of to sheets ‘ o pe r hour . K enig s machines were afterwards adapted for printing one or two sides as required .

These models proved very satisfactory for a time , ” until displaced by another perfecting press , A le a t h of a simpler kind . made by pp g and Cowper .

1812- 1813 Koenig had previously, in , printed a ’ a p rt of Clarkson s Life of William Penn , by way of experiment , assistance being ably rendered

l - hi m by a fel ow German named Bauer . ’ s i s Koenig device , which he invented , still con si de r e d the most efﬁ cient reciprocating motion of the type bed the forme w a s placed on a ﬂat

- bed , the cylinder over having a three fold motion , s r or stopping three time , the first third of the tu n receiving the sheet upon on e of the tympan s and securing it by the frisket ; the s econd giving the impres s ion and allowing the sheet to be removed by hand ; and the third returning the tympan ” empty to receive another sheet . From an interesting publi cation i s s ued by The ” s 1904 u Time in , we fi nd that the introd ction of machinery to work by power called forth a good deal of opposition a n d res entment by the e mployees at that time . Quoting from the “ pamphlet we read : An attempt was made in 1810 o to st p publication , by a strike of the workmen , which lasted five months . When fresh workmen were employed they were waylaid , an d

- the police had to intervene . Twenty one persons were tried at the Old Bailey , and of these nineteen were sentenced to punishments ranging ” w from nine months to two years . Follo ing upon

0 1 i r n H st o y a d Pr og r e s s of Pr i n t i n g . these events came the introduction of Koenig ’ s

r e - machines , when the obstruction manifested itself . They threatened destr uction to Koenig s i O and his trap , so ferocious was the r pposition m to the smallest improve ent in any way , or “ change of s tyle of produ ction . While the dis ” “ f - a fection was at fever point , we read , on a dark i ’ W s x M . November morning at o clock , r alter entered the press - roo m (the presses of Koenig had been worki ng hard d uring the night in printin g) . The clamour subsided into an n expectant silence , upon which the followi g words fell with a memorable precision of utter ‘ a e : The Ti m es nc is already printed by steam .

If you attempt violence , there is a force ready If u to suppress it . you are peaceful , yo r wages shall be continued until similar employm ent can be proc ured for s The table of progre s hereunder is interesting , a s showi ng the progress ive rate of speed

Max n um e o f . b r She t e r H o u e s p r .

The ﬁrst power or steam press upon the be d and platen system was that made by Daniel Tread

o U . S 1822 well , of Bost n , in , but it does not seem c to have ever got upon the market . Other ma hines of this type were devised by Isaac Adams in 1830 1836 1834 and , and Tufts in , capable of a speed of

1000 sheets per hour .

n r r s Hi s tor y a d P og e s o f Pr i n t i n g .

i placed in a horizontal position . Th s was aecom — pli she d by the makin g of cas t - iron beds one for each page of the newspaper . Column rules had

V - e to be adapted somewhat to a shap , tapering s e toward the foot of the page , and secur d by a proper system of locking up . The speed attained 2000 s by this method was about sheet per hour , and without any risk whatever of the type falling d from the revolving cylinder . Ad ition al impres u sion cylinders were added as req ired , thereby ensuring greater output . Altogether it was a n advance on what had already been attai ned . “ ” The Stop - Cyli n der machine was devised Dut a r t r e and pate n ted by a Frenchman , named , w s in 1852. This press a considered a great boon to fine letterpress printers . It is very extensively o d b used t ay , and has been brought down to date y many excellent improvements . It would be supe r fluous to enumerate a ll th e di fferent stages of d e ve lo pm e n t in the construction i of the prin t ng machine , but we have endeavoured to trace the more important invention s which have been p u t forth to meet the ever - increas ing H demand for machines of greater speed . ithert o machine s were con s tructed more or le s s with a special view of turning out equally fine letterpre ss and w oo dcu t work upon a stop - cylinder pri nciple with a flat bed ; whereas on t he rotary principle e a e o (construct d for f st news printing only) , st re plates were substituted for the type pages . These e s s plat were ca t on the curve to fit the cylinder ,

' whi lst the sheets were printed from a reel o f s l m paper , u ua ly containing about four iles in o f length , with an average , in rotary machines e o ff the modern make , of twenty minut s to ru n

Spindl e .

64 i s t r a n d r r r n H o y P og e s s o f P i t i n g .

The ori ginal idea of printing from a continuou s B roll of paper emanated from a William ullock , s of Philadelphia , who con tructed the ﬁrst machine of that modern order now known as rotaries . This was followed by the proprietors of the London “ ” s 1868 a n d Time with a rotary perfecter in , later by Marinoni , both machines being similar in ’ - - principle to the ﬁr st named . Hoe s fast printing — web machines came next one of which , the “ ” s 1887 Quadruple , con tructed in , was made to produce eight - page papers at a running speed of copies per hour , delivered with exact s cut nes , at the head , pasted , and folded ready for distribution . We are enabled to show an illustration of t he t h latest and fastest rotary machine , made by e

- H o e Ne w Y well known ﬁrm of Messrs . , of ork , seven of which have recently been erected i n h ’ t e . London , at ofﬁce of Lloyd s Weekly News

It is styled a Double Octuple , and has a capacity for turning out thirty - t wo page newspaper s s per hour , equivalent to of ixteen pages , or

of eight pages , at the usual run n ing speed .

A still further adaptation of the rotary prin ciple , hitherto conﬁned to printing new s papers from the reel , is now made for job work (black or colour) . s s s The de ign of the new pre se , as they are more generally termed in America , is a radical departure

i . a from the ord nary type of machine Comp ct , and occupying but little space , they are capable of turning out work at the rate of 3000 and d upwar s per hour . Much attention is being given in America to u Of the art of colo r printing , and evidence this is seen in the weekly editions of several New Y ork s t papers . This clas e work is executed on a

65 i n n . Hi st o r y a n d Pr ogr e s s o f Pr ti g i r a n d r r e f r i n i n H s t o y P og ss o P t g .

~Co lo ur ca bl Multi Electrotype Web Perfecter , pa e ~ of printi ng hi gh cla ss illustrated work in as m any as eleven di ff erent impressions or colours at one O e peration , as well as b ing able to do the same work as an ordinary news machine . It will print i n si x colours on one side of the sheet and ﬁve on

e - the other , at a sp ed of eight page papers per hour, or , in other words , at every revolution of the cylinders produce a result equal to two

- perfect eight page papers in colours . From four

- s to thirty two pages may be printed on thi press , s with either one , two , or three double width roll of paper (four p ages wide) . It is also claimed to produce magazine work (with pages half the size of the regular issue of the paper) at from to an hour from sixteen up to forty - eight s l page , delivered folded , cut , an d automatica ly

- wire stitched , with all the pages printed in colours

- or half tones . Machines of this description have contributed gr eatly to the development of a higher gr ade of colour work , and in the United States there is a tendency to introduce portions of colour work into all classes of periodical publications . What apparently, at one time , seemed an insuperable

l l - di ﬂi cu t . y , viz , to print ha f tones at one operation , o n both sides of the sheet , without slurring , is n o w claimed to be a matter of everyday occur rence . “ ’ s Y Collier s Weekly , publi hed in New ork , is the best known example of ﬁne half- ton e work done on a perfecti ng machine printing from the

. s s reel In such cases as thi , when using ﬁne ink , s i l it is not neces ary to make mmediate de ivery , therefore before reaching the public t he sheets have ample time for drying .

67 i r a n d r r s s r H st o y P og e of P i n t i n g . It is thought that the next important move in the direction of colour printing will be the de ve l o pm e n t of coloured half - tones on these rotary perfecters , where speed and quick delivery are essential factors . The multi - colour proce ss recently invented

. Or lo ﬁ t by Mr Ivan , of the Bank No e Printing

Establishment of the Russian Government , was claimed to be a very great advance on anything before attempted in the way of colour printing . A syndicate was formed to introduce the novelty , and a machine put upon the market . It w a s c k a comparatively small ma hine , but , li e many i t s other things of utility , principle was simple . A large colour block comes into contact with a composition roller , where it deposits its colour . u Each colour , in short , is bro ght into contact with a transfer roller , till the whole of the design , no matter how many colours , is on the transfer

r e - roller . Then a transfer of the whole picture is made to the printing plate , the printing plate A goes to the paper , and the thing is printed . 1000 s a speed of perfected sheets per hour , y , in i x s colours , with accurate register , was claimed for it . On the score of economy , compared with o n e c the old system of forme for ea h colour , the saving ought to be very considerable , as well as in matter of ﬂoor space , material , etc . The story of development from the rude and clumsy wooden press of Gutenberg (with all its tedious manipulation) down to the marvellously constructed machi nery of to - day se ems to read i ndeed more like a romance , but the limit of invention is yet scarcely reached, j udging from the part electricity may be called upon to play in the

n . ear future The complicated shafting , and the

6 8 Hi s t o r y a n d Pr o gr e ss of Pr i n t i n g .

paraphernalia necessary thereto , hitherto driven by gas engines , are being gradually superseded by the electric motor, and with much greater — smoothness and cleanness a n important factor in the further evolution of t he printing press . — Pro g r e s s o i t he Ne w s pa pe r Pre ss Da ys o i P e r se cu — — ' t i o n Re m a rka bl e Sta t i s t i cs So m e C u r i o u s Pr i n t e r s ' a n d a n s a o s E o r s Tr l t r rr .

HE development of the newspaper press ,

in its struggle for liberty and freedom , h a s often been associated with so me of k n the most stri i g events of history . Its portrayal of the content of man ’ s existence and work ha s not always been rightly expres sed ; but if the prosecution of its mission ha s not been with o n i ts has mn ded out failure , the whole work to the wards elevation of mankind , and the best proof of the attainment of its object is seen in the part and inﬂuence it exercises in the da ily aff ai rs of

life . By its means we are familiarized with every s part of the globe , and with all that is pa sing of

interest among i t s inhabitants . As far back a s the days of the Ro man Empire w as s use there an official n ew paper (written) in , but not u ntil nearly 200 years after the i n t r o duc tion of movable type do we find a record of the first

e i n 1615. modern newspaper , start d at Frankfort , The oldest newspaper in Great Britain is the i ofﬁcial Gazette , of which two ed tions weekly have been issued uninterruptedly since its start ’ 1666 - 7 ll s i in , by John Bi , in the King Print ng

Works at Blackfriars , erected on the site of the

e . Theatre , aft r the great Fire of London About the same date Nathaniel Batter ﬁrst “ ” e l n t issued the W ekly News , but fai i g to mee

Hi s t o r y a n d Pr og r e s s of Pr int i n g .

journ al when only nineteen years of age . It was

- the equivalent of The Times of to day . Being a u i fﬁ printer he s per ntended all the detail of the o ce , and as a man of fearle s s courage an d i ntegrity he did not hes itate to expose what he cons idered

corrupt and w rong , and hence came into conﬂict

s . with the power To quote his ow n statement , “ he says he had been ﬁned by the House of Lords ,

confined by the House of Commons , fi ned and ’ a s confined by the Court of King s Ben ch , as w ell ” indicted at the Old Bailey . The celebrated “ “ Letters of Junius appeared in The P ublic

Advertiser durin g his editorship . hi s e William Woodfall , brother , was also a print r, a n d u but eq ally remarkable , chieﬂy as a Parlia s s mentary reporter . He as i te d in the pri n ting and editing of The Public Advertiser as well

as other London papers . Reporters at that time

were entirely forbidde n in Parliament , and it was considered a high misdemeanou r for any one to

s s . make note in the gallery of the Hou e Ho wever , Woodfall gave the public full reports of the pro ce e di n s hi s s o g , mem ory being retentive that it was an easy matter for hi m to ﬁll his paper with 1 4 columns of debate . In 78 he was invited to

report the debates of the Irish Parliament , and so great had his fame become that crowds would w s i follo him in the street , eager to get a gl mpse s of a man po sessing such supernatural powers . 1803 w as He died in , but the printing business i carried on until qu te recently , and known un der i s the style of Woodfall and Kinder . It now

closed . “ The Times h a s always exerte d a very powerful inﬂuence on great questions of the d a y , and no effort is spared to produce the

72 Hi s t o ry a n d Pr ogr e s s o f Pr i n ti n g. very best lite o u r n a li s rary , j t o r a tic , and yp g phi ca l results and with d i 8 ti nct s u c c e s s . An entirely new set of type is tak en to the print i n g ofﬁce f o r ’ each day s issue , after which it i s returned to the founder for r e casti n g . In the early part of the Nine t e e n t h Century it was 0 u s t 0 mary to illus trate the daily paper by vari o u s k i n d s o f w o o d e n gr a v ings The Times frequently a p pe a r e d with e n gravings of the scenes of mur ders , battle and naval s c e n e s , and ot her simi lar events , but great a l t e r a tions have taken

73 i st r a n e s s f r n i n H o y d Pr o gr o P i t g . place in the style of newspapers since those days . The introduction of the halfpenny newspaper has revived the use of illustrations with happier effect . A great deal of persecution was meted out in the early days to newspaper writers ( when the penal code b r istled with monstrous penal ties on very trivial pretexts) , and oftentimes were made the objects of bitter resentment if they dared to express anything in the nature of i “ criticism . One of the earlier ed tors of The ” Morning Post , named Nicholas Byrne , on account of his sarcastic writings in that paper , was attacked and m u rdered in his o wn room . Many other writers during the reig n of George IH . were severely punished and ﬁned , apparently for very slight off ences . It i s stated that more money is spent in Russia i n curtailing the inﬂuence of the press than is

I n 1 2 - h e Spent on education . 90 eighty t re news s i n s papers were su pended , various period ,

- - am ounting to thirty one years . Twenty six were 259 forbidden to accept advertisements , and editors were threatened with trans po rtatio n to

Siberia if they did not alter their conduct . The Russian authorities did not mark the commenceme n t of the Twentieth Century with any relaxation of the stringent regulati ons governing printing and publi shing in the Czar ’ s dominions . A new edict was issued proscribing s l i n all trade adverti ements circu ating Russia . It stated they were to be printed in that m country , and sub itted to an ofﬁcial censor before publication . The edict fu r ther prescribed that the printing was to be in Russ ian type

faces .

74 i t r n r f r n H s o y a d P r og e s s o P i t i n g . That the action of the censor in limiting the newspaper publications and “ blacking out i m portant n ews had an unfavourable eff ect upon

- Russian arms during the Russo Japanese war ,

is generally well known . A good deal of trouble was caused by the s s Sociali t Pre s in Germany some years back , ending with the suppression and conﬁscation of one s or two of the leading paper , which had advanced opinions beyond the ordinary limits of news

- paper criticism . However , to day there is freedom

accorded to the press in most civilized countries ,

except in time of war , when a rigid censorship

is carefully exercis ed for obvious reasons . The

late war in S . Africa was a lamentable exception . There are in stances existing of the printing of news s heets i n the different languages of its “ var ious cosmopolitan contributors . The China ” i f Times , which is printed in seven d ferent lan s i guage , hails from Pek n , and is published in s Engli h , German , Italian , and Russian , as well as

- i c. P a n t o b bli o n in Chinese and Japanese , The Magazine ” is another remarkable periodical of

s . thi class . published in St Petersburg, containing l critical reviews of the pub ications of the world . Each article is printed in the language corre s spo n di n g to the publication reviewed . It is tated that articles have appeared in as many a s ﬁfteen s bi languages . In Au tria there is circulated a Co m a r a t i o n i s monthly review, the Acta p Litera ” Un i ve r sa r um rum , containing as many as thirty u s lang age in one issue , and having contributors

in a ll parts of the world . Some idea of the developme nt of the modern s newspaper press , ince the beginning of the Vic

torian era , may be gathered from the followin g

75 H i s r t o y a n d Pr og r ess of Pr i n t i n g . s tatistics : The news papers at the be ginning of n 300 that epoch umbered under , of which there

s - k were thirteen dailie , forty two wee lies , pub li she d in London 1 50 in the provinces ; and les s than 100 in Scotland and Ireland — none of the latter being dailies . Of the London dailies , at “ Th CO i e that time , e Times sold about p s , e qual to the total circulation of the other twelve d e ailies . Proprietors of provincial w ekly papers were con s idered fortun ate if they could dis pose of 1 000 copies per week . In 1839 the London dailies had not i ncreas ed m in nu ber , but the London weeklies and most of the provincial journals had con s iderably s wollen i n numbers , and from that period they continued c onsiste ntly to increase . The abolition of the s tamp duty on newspapers w a s 1855 the brought about in , and from that time reign of the cheap daily newspaper began . This objectionable tax was first imposed in the year 1 712 , and made still more severe by the Act of 1820 , which fixed the amount at fourpence per sheet , and three shillings and sixpence duty on e ach advertisement . The Whigs reduced the d 1836 but uty in to a penny , during the Crimean s a War , when the demand for new was very gre t , e ven a penn y was found intolerable . The repeal of this obnoxious duty marked a new era of freedom for the British press . s The downfall of the fir t French Republic , and

r e - s the imposition of a tamp duty , put an end to newspaper enterprise in France for a long time . “ ” The Newspaper Press Directory gives the total nu mber of newspapers published in the 2441 l : U nited Kingdom as , distributed as fo lows 431 1432 s London , ; English Provinces , ; Wale ,

76 H i s t r a n d r r e s s o f r i n i n o y P o g P t g .

113 25 190 1 8 7. ; Scotland , ; Ireland , ; Isles , Of 187 these , are dailies published in England , 7 W 18 18 in ales , in Scotland , in Ireland , and — 4 in the British Is les a combined circulation of nearly copies per day , as against upwards of in all the rest of Europe .

- It is computed that sixty eight per cent . of the newspapers of the world are printed in the o f E nglish language , and the total number His Majesty ’ s subjects who read these pages is said to be nearly According to the calculation of the “ Fourth ” E s tate there are throughout the world

s 5410 d - f newspapers ; of the e are ailies , one hal of which are produced in the United States . In all there are some papers i n the States , s s m i c l compri ing new papers , magazines , and s e l a n e o u s reviews . The first newspaper in Australia a ppeared in 1803 , some fifteen years after the first settlement in New South Wales . A printing press had gone 1788 out with the first fleet in , but no one knew how to work it , and con sequently it remained

unused until that time . It is worthy of remark that in Japan there w a s

a notable increa s e in the number of news papers .

- recorded during the present Russo Japanese War . Altogether there are some 4500 news papers and 2300 n periodicals , of which are dailies , and o 120 less than of these are published in Tokio ,

the capital . The Secretary of the Brussel s Bibliographic

Institute , M . Paul Otlet , estimates the number

of printed books , from the invention of movable 1900 type until January , , at separate

works , and the number of periodicals at between

77 i s t r a n d r r e s s f r i n i n H o y P og o P t g .

ﬁfteen and eighteen million s . Germany and Ger i n man Austria together , point of numbers , take

the lead ; France , Italy , England , the United

States , and the Netherlands follow in order of output ; Germany excels in book production ; and the Unite d States leads the world in the pro

duction of periodical literature . From ten to twelve milli ons i s the total s given of books old in this country in a year ,

not reckoning the cheap sixpenny. reprints and

- second hand volumes . Nearly 2500 magazines s i are publi hed in the United Kingdom, of wh ch a t least upwards of 500 are of a decidedly

religious character .

If the style of printing , and the means for turning it out , have progressed so wonderfully in s a the past ﬁfty or sixty year , it is also s tisfactory to chronicle equal progress i n the correctness of the various publications as compared with days gone by ; much greater care is being exerci s ed n o w in the matter of revision . I n the past some curious mis takes in printing a s and translating have been made , which serve a warning agains t the lack of vigilance of former “ s . correctors of the pres The Breeches Bible , a copy of which recently passed i nto possession of the King , is a grotesque example . It was 1560 printed about , and derived its name from 7 e i s the odd rendering of Genesis iii . The e o f them both were opened and they sewed

ﬂ e - gg tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches . a s John Baskett , who succeeded John Bill ’ “ ” t e King s Prin er of The London Gazett , was responsible for the production of what is known “ ” a s the Vinegar Bible . He had acquired , by

— Ty e fo u n d i n g : Pa s a n d P e s e n The Du t c M o d e p t —r t h l R e v i v a l o f E n g l i s h Type s M a ch i n e - m a d e Le tte r s e Co m o s i n a n d C a i n M a i n e — t Typ p g s t g ch s E c.

T was not for some years aft er the invention of typography that letter cutting began to

be a separate industry . The principle of casting type was continued for a long time l on the ines of the ﬁrst craftsmen , who moulded l e their designs in plaster and clay , and then ﬁ l d

them in with the molten metal . A separate

mould was required for each letter , which was

ﬁnally ﬁnished by hand . Poster ty pe , at a much

later period , was cast in sand and clay moulds ,

s . before the invention of san pareil matrices These ,

in their turn , have been superseded by wood

letters for t he printing of posters . The matrices

referred to were made of brass . In casting from clay moulds i t would be impos sible to repeat the but di ffi operation by using the same mould , the culty was sur' mounted by utilizing the old types

(afte r being touched up) for making fresh moulds .

These primitive methods , slow and uncertain s at their best , oon gave place to the metal form d te s of moul , which was the sys m adopted by tho e

who took up the typefoundi ng as a distinct trade . The variety of metals u sed at diff erent times in s the making of type embraced steel , bras , copper ,

e tc . tin , lead . pewter, The art of forming letters was genera lly r e garded as a secret , and the few , at this time,

80 i s t r a n d r r s i n n H o y P og e s of Pr t i g . able to cast at all satisfactorily were extremely careful lest they should be the mean s of com m u n i ca ti n g their knowledge to others . This was particularly the ca se with the early letter cutters . Mr . Moxon remarks , in his book on “ ” 1 . 683 Mechanical Exercises published in , in speaking of letter cutting for printing purposes , “ that it w a s a handiwork at that time kept so concealed among a r ti ﬁce r s of it that he could not learn any one had taught it any other ; but that every one that had used it learnt i t of his own genuine inclination and , further , he says by s the appearance of some work done , a judiciou eye might doubt whether they went by any rule at all , though geometric rules in no practice what ever ought to be more nicely or exactly observed ” than in this .

Mr . Moxon , ho wever , seems to have been the ﬁrst of English letter cutters to reduce to rule the art of cutting letters . He invariably brought to m bear geo etrical , mathematical , and mechanical m h ski ll in the for ation of i s type . He left many u examples , which he p blished , as a guide to others , and what had hitherto been obtained by guesswork w a s n o w made according to the precise rule he laid down . It was everywhere apparent that the Dutch had acquired some pre - eminence for the beauti ‘ of ful shape of their Rom an types . Moxon Speaks “ s them as the true shape , and say they were “ formed so exactly of t he mathematical regular

ﬁgures , straight lines , circles , and arches of circles , ” s and with uch a true placing of fats and leans , that he se t himself to anatomize the proportion t ” of every par and member of them , and being a a s s practical man , Moxon adopted , the proportion

8 1 i s r n s s f i n i H t o y a d Pr ogr e o Pr t n g.

hr i sto fel of his own type , the shape of those of C i Van Dyck . So celebrated was this Dutchman n hi ar t t s branch of that , when the Stadthouse at t to Amsterdam was completed , he was reques ed

give the ﬁnishing touch to these buildings , and w a s offered £80 sterling for drawing on paper the names of the several ofﬁces that were to be

painted over the doors . Although jealousy appeared to be rife amongst

the early letter founders and cutters (which , per

haps , helped to make them more secretive) on

the other hand , there were all sorts of prohibitive

legal restraints . The spread of knowledge , which f the printing press was calculated to e fect , was

not altogether viewed with favour . Many were

alarmed , and eventually , by an order of the Star e 1 l th 1637 w as Chamb r , dated on the July , , it “ decreed that there should be four founders o f ” e letters for printing, and no more , and as the plac s of these became void they were to be ﬁlled up by

the Archbishop of Canterbury , or the Bishop of

London , with six other High Commissioners . On 1 the di ssolution of the Court ( 6 Charles I . ) these

restrictions were removed , but , unfortunately,

- t e . were imposed in the time of Charles II , when “ it was further enacted that no founder was to cast any letter or to bring from parts be yond the se as any letters founded or cast for s printing , nor was any person to buy any letter or other materials belonging to printing without application to the Masters and Wardens of the ” Company of Stationers . This Act expired in 1693 , and from that time the art of typefounding became more generally known , and improvements followed both in shape and in the uniformity of the letters .

82 i t r a n d r r e s H s o y P og s o f Pr i n t i n g . Up to within half a century ago typefounding t di was carried on wi h steel es and hand moulds , the latt er manipulated to accommodate varying widths of type bodies . A good caster would pro 25 duce about 00 letters per day, after which the type had to be dressed , and the superﬂuous metal removed before the type was ﬁt for use . This was the ordinary method in vogue up to about

1850 - 1860 - , when machine type casting was intro

duce d . The cutting of punches was a much more tedious process , and required great care and judgment . A punch c utter of the old days would cut one fount of type in a twelvemonth . This method is now being superseded by a punch cutting machine —the latest invention for producing original faces of type .

The striking of matrices , hitherto performed i s f solely by hand , now being ef ected by the

’ aid of machinery , each matrix taking about ten minutes to make , with every appearance of per feet exactness and ﬁnish . A common practice of some founders is to copy other designs by the use of electrotype matrices . The simplicity and quickness of this method is s a chieﬂy the rea on why it is so l rgely resorted to .

At the beginning of the Eightee nth Century, printing had fallen to a very low ebb in England . The productions of the press were at best but slovenly exhibitions of typography compared with those of continental craftsmen . This was no doubt largely due to the “ sorry ” letter turned out by

English founders . Recourse was had to the

Dutch type for the better kind of work , which was i cons dered the model at that time . The Uni versity Press of Oxford was largely stocked with

83 n t i n Hi s t o r y a n d Pr ogr e s s of Pr i g .

- these foreign made letters , many of which had been presented by the Bi shop . o f Oxford in the year 1670. Shortly after this depression in printing and typefounding arose William Caslon , an ingenious s workman , skilled in engraving of gun barrel , and design ing of tools for bookbinders . Having shown unusual skill and accuracy in the making o f ’ bookbinders punches , attention was drawn to l his marked abi ity , insomuch that he was induced s ub to take up letter making , with promises of w a t a n ti a l . s s support His success phenomenal , and by his u n aided eff orts he eventually succeeded in divert ing the preference for Dutch types to hi s that of own manufacture ; hence , to some

degree , he was largely responsible for the revival of English printing . In the year 1720 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge entrusted Caslon with the cutting of a new fount of Arabic for use i n t he printing of a Ne w Testament and P salter in that language . The work was executed , and gave great satisfaction , and from this time his types

generally began to be sought after . The beautiful shapes of the Roman and Gr eek ’ letters which appeared in an edition of Se lde n s 1726 Works , published in , were cut by Caslon ; ’ also a Pica Coptic, used in Dr . Wilkinson s edition of the Pentateuch . He was also entrusted with ’ casting fresh types for Bis hop Hall s Hebrew 1733 Psalter , published by Bowyer in , the types e i of Palmer (cast by Athi s) , wh ch were originally l intended for the pub ication , being rejected a s “ " to o worn . Caslon also introduced a Black i W n k n letter, an mitation of the style of y y de ’ Worde . An Armenian type for Whi st on s edition

84 i s r a n d r r e s s n H to y P og of Pr i t i n g.

“ o f Chor o n e n si s s Moses , and an Etru can lette r f for Mr . Swinton , of Ox ord , the learned antiquary hi and philologist , who published s De Lingua ” E tr ur i ae 1738 in , were also the work of his foundry .

AT T A n n SAK «1 m TN h I M I N AM : ve rh mu N AM SZ rpe m : u I MAI rpI n d I N ASSN S i t e m s :

G o i c th Ty pe .

Fmo e u e u e e a 'c o n he o e n u p p p p p p . ‘ 81 m n am a e hal o o T o - be cu m e p g g . ’ i n i e E e u de m i lla o n co p p c . p p p p p

S a x n o Type .

m 74 ul m wm r m m u m 2 7i 1 ul n . h qﬂ q

t fl ra L gn mu ry i 7: LLbl ﬁ ‘U

Arm e n i a n Type .

( Il e r uw T GT b e r m; PR O?! u s . pe g T o wfi o fix e ue kpx n ” s pe c l fl XGT GKL LG T O' t O H GT G H A K p QJ

C o pti c Type .

’ Cas r o m m o e n m a i ces s uck r o m Casi on s o i i n a t f d r tr , tr f r g l pun che s (a bo ut

It was in the nature of things that Caslon should issue a Specimen Sheet of his various

1734. type s , which he published in It contained s - ome thirty eight founts of types , besides borders a n d ornaments , most of which were his personal handiwork . A Specimen Sheet , emanating from the same foundry , appear ed as a supplement in

85 n Hi st o r y a d Pr og r e s s of Pr i n t i n g .

’ Cha m ber s s a an edition of Ephraim Cyclop edia, 1738 Al l in , with the following comment cast

the u . . o in fo ndry of Mr W Caslon , a pers n who, i ha s though not bred to the art of letter found ng , ,

by dint of genius , arrived at an excellency in it k i un nown h therto in England , and which even surpasses anything of the kind done in Holland

or elsewhere . That this was the general opinion ’ everywhere entertained of Ca slo n s work we may also infer from Ged ( in his work on “ Block 1730 Printing adverting to the period of , wherein he observes that Caslon had already eclipsed most of his competitors and introduced his type

into the principal houses in the metropolis , as ’ t he n e well as secured the custom of Ki g s Print rs , ” to the exclusion of others . To go back for a brief period we ﬁnd it recorded that the typefounding bu siness of the Grovers came into the market for sale (in and Cas

lon was seriously considering a purchase , but

fortunately the project fell through , and he was

left free to pursue his origi nal ideas . Although Caslon had produced such excellent i designs in types , he had no doubt im tated largely

the style of the Dutch printer , Elzevir , whose

types were much admired by the English founder . About the time Caslon commenced type ma king in England it was begun in Scotland by Ja mes

Duncan , whose ﬁrst results were crude and badly be designed , but eventually produced some excel lent and original faces . When the ﬁrst John Walter (of “ The Times took the premises in Printing House Square i n “ 17 4 w a s 8 , it in order to develop a system of t prin ing whole words , or parts of words , instead of single letters from metal blocks . It was as

i t r a n d r r s s r n i H s o y P og e of P i t n g .

the rotary machine , as invented by Mr . Frederick f Wicks , this change is claimed to be ef ected in

s . two minute Moreover, the type is said to be produced in a ﬁnished condition the moment the i i mach ne beg ns to revolve . The quickness and cheapness of the type cast ’ by these Wicks rotary casters rendered the di s

i n R o ta ry Ty pe C a s ti n g M a ch e .

i n e t r i but o of the lett r after use , in newspaper work , “ s i s unneces s ary . Thi the plan adopted by The ” d Times , as alrea y alluded to , where the type made by these machines i s suppli ed fresh ever y day , to the extent of about three tons per week , and set up by the Kastenbein compo s ing machi nes ha s e used in that ofﬁce . After the type be n

88 Hi s t o r y a n d Pr og r e s s o f P r i n t i n g.

s tereotyped for the purpose of printing , it is then

- tr ansferred to the melting pot for r e casting . Passing from foundry - cast types we come to the system of Type Composing and Casting

Machines , and here it may be observed that we a r e at once confronted with one of the most wonderful of all the modern developments of the i s printing art . The genius of invention , it s aid , can scarcely go farther than the present

h Li n o M a c i n e T e type h .

- m a printi ng and type composing chines , unless it be possible to endow iron and steel with conscious so intelligence , nearly do they , in their mechanical l movements , approach to intel igent action . While positive perfection in mechanics may safely be asserted as unattainable by human science or s i l i n ve n k l , we are confronted with a succession of tions that are nothing less than startling in their

89 i st o r a n d r e s n H y P o gr s o f Pr i n t i g . m anifold claims to perfect the various proces ses ' of the printer s art . Judging by results already achieved it would appe ar that a state of compara t ive completeness had been reached . The Linotype was the invention of a German named Ottmar Mergenthaler (a countryman of G ' th utenberg s , but resident in Baltimore , in e 44 Unite d States) , about 0 years after the i n ve n

e . 1880. tion of movable typ s , viz , Ten years were spent in designing the ﬁrst Linotype , which was , e of course , by no means so p rfect as the present w a s machine however , a large fortune reaped by

‘ di e d i n 18 its sale . Mergenthaler 99 at the early age of 46 . : The modus operandi is , brieﬂy, thus The

Operator works from the keyboard in front , which he manipulates much in the same way as a type i wri ter . Each key depressed causes a matr x to be released from a magazine , which , when completed in a line and interspersed with space bands , is then , by a movement of levers , cast into a solid line of type . This is repeated in quick c s su cession , and the matrices , by an ingeniou v e de ice , are carried to the head of the machin

r - and di stributed for e using . The matrices here referred to as taki ng the place of types are made of brass , and each has the face of a letter impressed on its side . Their use constitutes the great principle of the Linotype as di s tinct from other composing machines . d the With regard to speed , this is determine by deftness Of the Operator in manipulating the key An 6000 board . average of ens per hour for an Operator would be considered equivalent to the work of ﬁve compositor s setting type by hand . The m achi ne is capable of turning out almost

r H i st or y a n d Pr og re s s of P in ti n g .

d iff erent principle to the Linotype . The original s m patents date back o e t we nty years , when the La n sto n i M . mach ne was inven ted by r Tolbert ,

o f . Washington , i n the U nited States Like the

Linotype , the machine has been greatly simpliﬁed an d brought up to its pre sent s tate by a number

of improvements , which experience has proved s s has neces ary , although its ba ic principle not u ndergone any change . The main feature of the

M o n o e Ke o a ty p y b rd .

M onotype is the casting a utomaticall y of a s eparate type for each character , much after the same manner as a rotary type caster . The ad van tage of the Monotype sys te m is that the machi ne a is lso valuable as a type caster , inasmuch as the printer is supplied with type for use in general s W work, or to di pose of by sale if necessary . hile t he type itself is made of slightly softer metal i than that made by ordin ary founders , ts r eplace a f ment is e sily and cheaply e fected .

92 Hi s t o r y a n d Pr ogr e ss o f Pr i n t i n g .

As many as impressions are said t o Off have been taken Monotype printing for one job , whilst it has been used in case for years without

- t e casting .

The Keyboard of the Monotype is , in appearance , i m uch the same as a L notype or Typewriter , but only on a much larger scale . Any number of

n a t M o o ty pe C s e r .

d Keyboards can be in operation , as they are use apart from the Caster . They are manipulated with the assistance of compressed air , the object being the perforation of a paper strip or ribbon , which , when put upon the casting machine , governs the movements of the latter . The Key — board is made up Of three principal parts a

93 r H i st o r y a n d Pr og e s s of Pr i n t i n g.

Of bank keys , corresponding with the characters i n the fount used , a series of punches , and a scale Of action , registering the body sizes the type . T here are in all some 225 matrices in the die c case , orresponding with the keys on the Key a board . Rom n , italic , clarendon , ﬁgures , frac f t ions , and other signs are indicated by dif erent coloured keys . The measure and type are governed u by the index on the adjustable dr ms , and the width of the matter can be se t to any measure up 4 t o 2} ems pica . For spaces and quad lines no perforation of the ribbon takes place . The Mono type machine meets precisely the same condi

- se t t ions that are met by hand type , and the all n output is subject to the manipulatio s , changes

- i n u . text , correction of errors , make p, etc , to

- e which foundry made typ s are now subjected . O sa the The Keyboard can be perated in , y, count

- O ing house , by one perator , the perforated spools Of paper , as completed , being automatically rolled n up in readiness to put upo the Caster . It ha s been shown that a speed of from 7000 to

letters can be attained per hour , and one Caster Operator is able to superin tend the work of h several mac ines . It is of importance to know t u hat fo nts are readily interchangeable , and the Of various sizes of types , or styles faces , may be s i ubstituted for one another in the same mach ne , without any undue loss of time , or complicated

m . echanical adjustments , etc By casting one size u pon a larger body leaded matter can be produced . The type is cooled almost instantaneously by means of a continuous current of cold water , pass ing through a channel surrounding the casting f c hamber O the mould . One other important thing about this system

C o n a e B a n c e s o f r i n i n : Wo o E n r a i n g t r h P t g d g v g ,

P o ce s s B o cks S e e o y i n g a n d E e c o t y i n , r l , t r t—p — l tr p g E e ct i ca i n t i n E t c. T r i ch r o m Li l r l Pr g , y th o g ra phy A r a — e i e s —C o n c u s i o n lg phy Typ wr t r l .

h to T now remains , in t is closing chapter, tr eat of the more important auxiliaries o f — the art those cognate branches s o indi s — pensable to a ll modern printing and i n so doing we ca n only refer to the principal a ids i which are in da ly requisition . As regards the minor paraphernalia of the s f f has printing ofﬁce it el the limit of use ulness , perhaps , been reached , and the next advance would seem to lie in the di rection of the artistic i rendering of the work , as the varying d cta of fashion or taste shall decide . Science and di scovery are ever contributi ng their s hare of material wi th which to either or increase the volume of output from the press , to embellish the printed page , and hence many of the hazy theories that stood for so long a s dreams have at length become concrete facts in

- w the realm of printerdom to day ; and yet ithal , perhaps before this Twentieth Century has barely emerged from its infancy , many of these same i i ideas , and other projects yet in the r exper mental s stage , will have lap ed into disuse . or will have yielded place to something better . One of the most important features of t he modern press is the improved method of ill ustra

. I i vi z . t t on , , the process or photographic block

96 r a n d r r s s r i n n Histo y P og e o f P ti g. is a complete departure from the severe style of so i n woodcut illustration long i n use , not only the mode itself, which allows events to be de i ct e d u p more acc rately to n ature , and not as hitherto after the imagination of the engraver , but it has called into use an entirely new manu facture of paper , adapted to this modern style , s s posses ing a more highly ﬁni hed surface , for the

fine printing of the photo block . If the appear w ance is more pleasing . it , ho ever , lacks the keeping qualities that characterized much of the paper made in the past . Modern typography may be described , in comparison , as ephemeral , and h confined in its object to t e existing generation . It may be that before the present century has s closed , the sentiment of taste and fa hion will Old Of revert agai n to the time standard practice , and choose once more a method of lin e illustra tion for t he more permanent n ature of its printed literature . The time - honoured wood engraver ha s been s so ha s almo t driven from the field , general be come the u se of this style of block . Most of the s a s ancient book , already observed , were illus t r t e d a by the woodcut method , even before the introduction of typography itself , and therefore i t s - place to day , when expedition is such an s important factor , would be omewhat out of keeping . The first wood engraving is usually given a s s h that representing St . Chri topher and t e Infant u 1423 Savio r , , found in the library of Lord p but R i ffe n bur S encer , at Althorp ; Baron g has discovered an earlier woodcut of St . Katherine , “ 4 R i ff n bu r 1 18 c . e date ( p g, La Plus Ancienne s Gravura connue avec une date , Brus els ,

97 i s t r a n d r r e s s H o y P og of Pr i n t i n g .

Engraving on wood was kno wn in Venice com a r a t i ve l p y early in the Fifteenth Century, as seen “ by the publication Meditations of I . do Turre — crem ata a book illustrated with wood e n gr a v ings , and printed about that period .

An important change aff ecting roller - making also became a necessity . The hardness and lack of sensitiveness were not qualities that helped to produce satisfactory results , added to which the s faulty block at the outset , and the unsuitable ink , O were bstacles that had to be surmounted . Ink of the right consistency , suitable to ﬁne distribution , and rollers equally sensitive , were forthcoming , with the result that tod ay we have printed specimens surpassin g the photograph itself . One other important consideration in regard to this style of printing had to be met , and that was to lay down machines that would produce these results , now increasingly in demand . Especially is this the case with the ﬁne catalogue illustrations . Such machines as we have already dealt with in another place were made of perfect rigidity, accurate in register and impression , and capable of working the most delicate form of block . It required many years to perfect this clas s of i machinery , and not only was th s the case , but the actual printer had to undergo a n entire change of s tactics . The overlaying of the old tyle block was s l no longer required as essential . The succes fu negative of the photograph , combined with the s aid of uperior machi nery , ink , paper , and rollers , s were now the importan t de iderata , coupled with the in creased facilities afforded for the worker by the instituting of technical instruction class es in all the large centres of indus try throu ghout the world .

n n Hi s tory a d Pr ogr e s s of Pr i ti n g . Advantages of modern machinery in the rapid output of news are particularly Obvious in the ”— case of the Au t o pl a t e a machine for making

r . cu ved stereotype plates It casts automatically ,

after which the stereos are hardened , ready for

attachment to the rotary presses . The surfaces

are made perfect for printing purposes , and the — plates are instantly adjusted the whole Operation occupying a comparatively brief space of time thus enabling late news to be i n serted up to the

very last moment . The number of runs obtainable from a stereo varies in proportion to the hardness of the metal

use in making , but for long numbers a still harder i s i s ff face necessary , and this a orded in the

s . a Electrotype proce s One advant ge , however , of having the matrices is that the stereos can be

easily replaced at any future time . Celluloid has d also been utilized , it is sai , for the same purpose ; but the objection to this compound would appear

to be its highly inﬂammable nature .

Electrotyping was simultaneously invented by

Professor Jacobi (of St . Petersburg) s and a Mr.

1837. Spencer (of Liverpool) , in the year The method of making electrotypes (generally termed electros) diff ers somewhat from that of the stereo s proce s , the mould or matrix in this case being

taken in wax . This is then dusted with plumbago , to give it a conducting surface and to ensure the

adherence of the metal . The positive pole of a the battery is attached to matrix , and the negative to a copper plate , and both are suspended in a

bath of sulphate of copper in solution . The cop per deposits on t he impress ed face of the mould

in the form of a thin ﬁlm , which increases in

1 0 0 t a n r r s s n i His o r y d P og e of Pr i t n g .

thickness a s the proce s s continues . Having

attained the desired thickness it is then removed , the shell detached and strengthened by a deposit

or backing of type metal . Before the type metal the will adhere to the copper , back of the shell is

coated with tin , and the shell placed face down o u wards a plate , by which it is suspended over

a bath of molten metal . When it has attained the requisite heat a quantity of the metal is

dipped up and ﬂoated over the back of the shell .

After it is cooled down , it is mounted and ﬁnished ff o in the same manner as the stereotype . Wood engravings are usually reproduced by

this electro process , the original being rarely used

for printing , but kept for reproduction purposes . Another method of obtaining electros from letterpress formes is that of taking impressions

on to gutta percha , brushed with graphite , and

then immersed in the electroplating bath .

We have already alluded to the importance of

photography relative to modern illustrations .

The dry plate will , no doubt , in this connection , u prove a very important aid in the near f ture , as already some masterly reproductions of scarce and valuable books have been copied by this e means for printing purposes . It is highly probabl

that movable type may have , in the future , to meet with formidable rivalry i n the camera and dr y pl a te .

Printing without ink by an electrical machine u s was promised , but for the moment it seems , for some reason or other , to be held in abeyance , d However , its a aptability is only a matter of time . m i s Modern ake of machines , it claimed , has

1 0 ! r i n n Hi s t o r y a n d Pr ogr e s s of P t i g .

— been successft demonstrated with all equippe d for electrical operation with wire connections , and “ the resist arrangement in place of the usual inking appliances . Formes for their testing were locked up with wood furniture only , while the chase was covered with tin foil (or zinc) to permit of insulation . The paper used being damp , but made susceptible to the magneto - electric inﬂuence of light by the addition of certain chemicals n the while it was in the pulp state . Whe paper was fed into t he machine an electric current was sent across the face of the forme . The paper r responded to the cu rent , and the result was a clear w and dry impression , hich is claimed to be perma nent and of a dense black ink . It is at any rate a process that can n ot be ignored , and must be reckoned with , although only in an embryonic c s stage at present . Allowing for the variable o t l of current , at from a halfpenny to three ha fpence per hour , it probably will allow a large margin s of proﬁt on the ink bill , and the co t of the w i ll chemically prepared paper , we are told , be O but little more than that f other paper . As the prints come from the machine dry , annoyances and delays arising from t he use of i n k are apparently

i . obviated . The patentee and inventor s Mr

- Friese Greene . Fr i e e ~ r e n e Mr . s G e e has also demonstrat d to a photographic society some recent experiments on electrically printed images , much after the mann er of the electrical inkless printing machine . s s A heet of white paper being damped , a tereo e type block is pl ac d upon it , and an electric current passed through the block and paper . The paper becomes impressed with a latent image , and is then treated in the same way as a photographic

I O)

n d r r s s n n His to r y a P og e of Pr i ti g .

The discovery of lithography was made by an l 1 . actor , named A ois Senefelder , in the year 800 He enjoyed the exclusive privilege of practising

- u his ne wly discovered art in M nich , a city where l he eventu a ly died in 1834. A statue has been

recently erected to hi s memory at Solnhofen . Some years elapsed before t he discovery found

i t s way into England . Ver y little improvement has taken place in — the original lithogr aphic machines which have a capacity of turnin g out but 500 impressions in

the hour , while modern machines have a speed of

from 800 to 1000 per hour . There is a tendency to every where improve this state of things , and

hence we have the introduction of the rotary . s s In various other way (among t others , the u se dressin g and grai nin g the stones , and of i s f mechanical tint plates) , it shown that ef orts n are o t wanting in bringin g about some revival . The introduction of Algraphy in connection

. u w ith Lithography , viz , printing from al minium t pla es , is making headw ay in many litho houses The bas ic princi ples Of the two method s are ” identical , says Mr . Jos . Goodman , in an article The B i t i s h P r i n t e s we quote from r r , the grea y ink of the design formin g a fatty compound with a s t he s luminium , as it doe with litho tone , the remaining clear parts of the alumin ium or stone surface having an aq ueous and non - greas y s u r u face , prod ced by means of etching and gum s t com pound formed i n those parts , the grea y par s of the design havi ng an afﬁn ity and attra ction for s i n k s the grea y on the roller , whil t the clear aq ueou s or g ummed parts imbibe the w ater an d rej ect the grease ; thus the desi gn is maintained ” and printing effected .

1 0 4 i s r a n d r r e s s f r i n n H t o y P og o P t i g .

Aluminium woul d seem to have many a dva n tages over stones on account of its lightness and cheapness , not to speak of its immunity from breakage and freedom from veins and silica patches . However , zinc is found much more acceptable to work upon to a good many , yielding b Z etter results . inc should also prove acceptable fr om the fact that clear and sharp transfers can be more readily made therefrom . In the same category we must also class Collo types as a most successful style of printing .

The Typewriter , though an innovation , should be mentioned as representing a useful and impor

- tant adjunct to the counting house , where it is a n d largely used for correspondence , by authors a n d writers for the preparation of cop y for the 1855 printer . It was invented in by a Frenchman named M . Foucault . Its general use has de veloped an extensive industry . In reality it is a type l printing machine , and that in a smal and com The o f i pact compass . work the Typewriter s u of a somewhat temporary nat re , as compared with the more permanent re sults of letterpress printing .

— There are numerous other a uxiliaries more or les s the outcome of the printing art in i ts e ver — widening circle that it would be impos sible to enumerate in detail l l] this work . The more important phases treating upon the art itself have been dealt with for the most part in their his t o r i ca l bearing . s s Enough has been hown , even whil t running the risk of some degree of bias , to give a little — idea of the rise and progress of Typography u n

1 0 5 n Hi st o r y a n d Pr ogr e s s o f Pr i n t i g .

doubtedly the most royal of all crafts . In the “ Da u n o n words of a writer ( ) , We live too near the epoch of the di scovery of printing to judge ﬂ accurately of its in uence , and too far from it to know exactly the circumstances which gave birth ” to it . The Fourth Estate of the realm is the title by which its unique position is recognized d to ay . It is the most potent force of modern Ox on i de s times , and yet , as expresses it , The art of printing , which has given light to most other ” things , holds its own head in darkness .

It is only necessary to add , in conclusion , that — the common be n e ﬁt s the fruit of the printing — press are the heritage , as well as the privilege , of all . Ed ucation has become general largely through the instrumentality of the press . The forces of ignorance and superstition have been

swept away , and the invention of typography in the Fifteenth Century inaugurated the dawn

- of a new era . To day its power has indeed become the “ mainspring of all our transactions " in life , and the race and governments of men are under the deepest obligation to its world - wide n ﬁc n and be e e t sway .

Mi h i e s t he m i h m e an s g t t of g ty , n hi ch t he a r m o e ss e a s O w of pr gr l n , ’ M s o e s m i ssi o t o d a ce an n bl t n a v n , H i s e s s sua e hi s e a e ha ce wo a g , w l n n , H i s i h s e o ce hi s n s e d e ss r g t nf r , wro g r r , — ’ Mi h i i s h ss Si r . B wm n g ti e st of m ghty t e P re J o g .

' v r e P P I G A t r iu m 8 . ru n s , L r n . , xc o n u r u s , E N .