APPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE IRiSH BUiLDER ‘The Rise and Progress of Printing and Publishing in Ireland’ This series of articles was written by Christopher Clinton Hoey, a frequent contributor to The Irish Builder. See Chap. 5 for information on Hoey and on the series itself. The transcription below retains some idiosyncracies in grammar and punctuation found in the original, though the most obvious errors have been corrected. See Fig. A.1 for locations of businesses men- tioned in the text. ‘The Caxton Exhibition’, The Irish Builder 19.422 (15 July 1877): 209 (This note about the opening of the Caxton Exhibition on 30 June 1877 at the South Kensington Museum [later the Victoria and Albert Museum] is not part of Hoey’s series, but is of contextual interest here.) As briefly announced in our last issue, the Caxton Exhibition opened on the 30th ult. at South Kensington. The daily papers have furnished the ordinary surroundings of the ceremonial of the opening. The exhibition, as a whole, is very interesting, and will well repay the little trouble and cost of a visit. Briefly described, the arrangement of the exhibits consists as follow(s): Class A is devoted to the exhibition of the works of Caxton, and shows the development of the art of printing in England. This collection of Caxton’s actual work is the most complete that has ever been attempted. Class B is intended to show the development of printing in foreign coun- tries commencing with block books in use before the invention of printing © The Author(s) 2020 169 E. Tilley, The Periodical Press in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, New Directions in Book History, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30073-9 170 APPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE IRISH BUILDER Fig. A.1 Map of Dublin, c. 1876. (Courtesy University College Dublin Library, Digital Repository.) from moveable types. Class C exhibits the same development, illustrated by specimens of the Holy Scriptures and Liturgies. This class is one of particu- lar interest, and may be briefly described as a unique and magnificent col- lection, beginning with the Gutenberg Bible from Earl Spencer’s library, and the Meutz Psalter on vellum from the library of Her Majesty the Queen. Classes D and E include specimens of printing noticeable for rarity and beauty, commercial printing, and a curious collection of early printed newspapers. Class F is devoted to specimens illustrating the great varieties of music printing, while Class G gives an epitome of the art of book illustra- tion. Class H is occupied with autographs and portraits of authors, printers, &c., and Class I contains books relating to printing, both technical and APPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE IRISH BUILDER 171 historical. Class K comprises curiosities and miscellanies. By the help of the typefounder, the printer, and the engineer, the actual processes of type- casting, composing, stereotyping, electrotyping, and printing are exhibited in operation in Classes L, M, and N. Class O exhibits antique papers with watermarks, and illustrates papermaking by hand in actual operation. In a general way we may add that the first objects that attract the eye on entering the building are specimen sheets of some of the oldest English newspapers of which copies are existing. The staircase is lined with a col- lection of about 300 prints of portraits of celebrated printers of all nations, classified in their respective countries, along with which are cases contain- ing exhibits of every description of Bible and prayer book, lent by the dif- ferent Bible societies, and specimens of types sent by the various founders. The first gallery contains the wondrous collection of Bibles lent by Mr Stevens, Mr Caspari’s splendid prints, the value of which is untold, adorn- ing the walls to the left, the right being occupied by specimens of every description of colour printing, and the finest collection of music in the world. Amongst the books exhibited in the cases in the centre of the room are a number printed in the East, in various languages, and the second edi- tion of Shakespeare, being the identical copy used by King Charles I, and bearing his autograph, this being lent by Her Majesty. In addition to this, there are the Queen’s Psalter and the first Mazarin Bible, already mentioned. On entering the ‘Caxton Room’, we find eight cases filled entirely with the product of his press, to the number of about 150 volumes, some score of which are unique. There are also documents bearing upon Caxton’s life, and giving the date of his apprenticeship, by which the date of his birth may be approximately calculated. Around the walls are hung por- traits in oil of celebrated printers, whilst over the dais—which is orna- mented with a trophy of flags—is Wehnert’s painting of the Caxton press in Westminster Abbey. In the centre of this room are the two cases con- taining what may not inappropriately be termed the backbone of the exhi- bition. The first isThe Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, translated from the French by Caxton, 1469–1471, printed shortly after, probably at Bruges, in 1474. This work, lent by the Duke of Devonshire, is the first book ever printed in English. Caxton says of this that it was during the progress of this book through the press that he learnt the new art. In this copy is the autograph of Elizabeth Grey, Queen of Edward the Fourth. It was pur- chased at the Roxburghe sale in 1812 for 1000 guineas. The other, felici- tously termed ‘the foundation stone’ of the present celebration, is The Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophers, translated by Earl Rivers, and printed by Caxton in 1477. This is the first book from Caxton’s press, 172 APPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE IRISH BUILDER with an indisputable date, with the printer’s name and date of printing. This unique volume has been lent to the collection by Mr S. Christie-Miller. The printing machinery—a marvellous collection of printing plant, showing what has been in use for the last two centuries—is to be seen in the basement floor of the building. What the exhibition may be financially, and bring substantially to the Printers’ Pension Corporation, we cannot anticipate; but the request of the committee of the exhibition for loans of exhibits has, at all events, been highly successful, both in especial relation to Caxton in particular and in the printing art in general. It would appear that some umbrage has been taken on the part of the working printers to the fact of the exclusion of the names of one and all of their body from the list of the committee of management. This exclusion of the toiling printer will not unnaturally be construed into a studied slight by some; but the least that can be said is that it is certainly a serious mistake, and it is so considered by other of our contemporaries. The exhibition was not only organized to do honour to the memory of Caxton, but was got up for the avowed purpose of aug- menting the Printers’ Pension Fund, and therefore the working craftsman should be represented upon the committee in the person of one or more members of the trade. Apart from this mistake, we trust that the exhibi- tion, while it remains open, will continue to be well patronized, and that at its close all parties will have reason to feel satisfied on the score of its success, not only as a practical exhibition of all that concerns printing tech- nically, but in its financial outcome, for the benefit of that worthy object, the Printers’ Pension Fund. Part One: The Irish Builder 19.421 (1 July 1877): 183–185 In view of the Caxton Celebration and exhibition of printing materials, works, and appliances, just opened, we thought it would not be amiss in an Irish journal devoted to literary and professional interests to give some historical account of the rise and progress of printing and publishing in Ireland. […] The first attempts at printing in Ireland are enveloped in much doubt, and the few disciples of Faust and Gutenberg who found a footing in this Insula Sanctorum had no unusual obstacles to contend against in the exer- cise of their mystic art, and the preservation of their lives and household effects. It was not the rage of the rabble or the superstition of the mob that APPENDIX: EXCERPTS FROM THE IRISH BUILDER 173 beset them, but high-handed and irresponsible authority often swooped down upon them, seized their plant, and, if failing to capture the unlucky printers, outlawed them by warrant or ukase for their ‘seditious and trea- sonable practices’. The early printers, publishers, and booksellers of Ireland, in the eye of the law, were always a contumacious and stubborn race of daredevils, who had not the fear of God nor respect for the Executive before their eyes. They were narrowly watched, and though licensed betimes, were scarcely trusted, except when State printers, to pur- sue their calling without a constant espionage. The truth of these state- ments will be seen as we proceed. Ireland was one of the latest of the European nations into which the art of printing was introduced, but it is not to be inferred from this that learning was at a very low ebb in conse- quence. The monastic establishments of the country were nearly all of them seats of learning, and the pens of the monks and their assistants and contemporaries, the native genealogists and historiographers, were busy. Piles of Irish manuscripts in the native dialect and the Latin tongue were to be found in every ecclesiastical institution, and art as well as caligraphy [sic] was encouraged and assisted to live in the composition and illuminat- ing of manuscript volumes on various subjects.