Chapter XXI: The Minor Founders, 1800–1830 (4)

[239] Printing was introduced into Cambridge in 1521, when John Siberch printed Bullock’s _Oratio_ and seven other works. He styled himself the first printer in Greek in England, although none of his works were wholly printed in that language. The fount used for the quotations in the _Galeni de Temperamentis_ was probably procured from abroad. The residence of Erasmus at Cambridge lent undoubted impetus to the art, which progressed actively while the Oxford press was idle. The first University printers, three in number, were appointed in 1534, by virtue of a charter granted by Henry VIII, in terms considerably more liberal than those first granted to Oxford. At no period of its career has the Cambridge press boasted of a type-foundry. In 1626 Archbishop Usher made an effort to procure from Leyden, for the use of the press, matrices of Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic and Samaritan letters, which, had he been successful, might have formed the nucleus of a foundry. Unfortunately, the Archbishop was forestalled by the Elzevirs, who secured the matrices for their own press (Parr’s _Life of Usher_. London, 1686, fol., p. 342–3). The University made an effort in 1700 to enrich their press by the purchase of a fount of the famous Paris Greek types of Francis I, known as the King’s Greek. But as the French Academy insisted, as a condition of the purchase, that all works printed in these characters should bear the imprint “characteribus Græcis e Typographeo regio Parisiensi,” the Cambridge Syndics, unable to accede to the terms, withdrew from the negotiations (Gresswell’s _Early Parisian Greek Press_. Oxford, 1833, i, 411; and De Guignes’ _Typographie Orientale et Grecque de l’Imprimerie Royale_. Paris, 1787, p. 85).

[240] _Novum Testamentum. Cantabrigiæ. Apud Tho. Buck._ 1632. 8vo.

[241] _Anecdotes_, i, 119. Elsewhere (v, 111) Beloe asserts that the type thus used was the Greek of Sir Henry Savile. Although the same size, and in many points closely resembling this letter, it differs from it materially in other respects. This may possibly be accounted for on the supposition that some of the Savile characters having been lost, they had been replaced either by new matrices, or by the addition of letters from some other fount. Buck discarded many of the cumbrous abbreviations used in the _Chrysostom_, greatly to the advantage of his text (see _4th Report Historical MSS. Commission_, p. 464).

[242] _Rushworth’s Collections_, ii, 74.

[243] _Works of Laud._ Oxford, 1847–60. 7 vols., 8vo, v, 80.

[244] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New, etc. Printed at London by Robert Barker . . . and by the Assignes of John Bill._ _Anno_ 1631. 8vo.

[245] Bagford and others erroneously mention the fine as £3,000.

[246] _Clementis ad Corinthios Epistola prior._ 4to. Oxonii, 1633.

[247] Augustin Linsdell.

[248] _Wilkins (D.) Concilia_, iv, 485.

[249] According to documents in the Record Office, the fine was entered Feb. 18, 163 3/4, “Fined for errors in printing the Bible, Barker £200, Lucas £100.” It was allowed to stand over from time to time, “to see whether they would set up their press for the printing of Greek.” On June 23, 1635, it was ordered that all Bibles now in Stationers’ Hall which had been erroneously printed should be redelivered to them “with charge to see all the gross faults amended before they vent the same.”

[250] _Catena Græcorum Patrum in Beatum Job . . . operâ et studio Patricii Junii, Bibliothecarii Regii, etc. Londini, ex Typographio Regio._ 1637. Fol. In his dedication to the Archbishop, Young thus refers to the care taken by Laud in the purchase of the type: “Quod quidem si eâ fronte acceperis . . . quâ Britanniam denique characterum elegantiâ in omni linguarum genere locupletas, ac vicinis gentibus, non minus pulchrâ, quam politâ et accuratâ veterum scriptorum editione, invidendam reddis, etc.”

[251] The matrices of this fount, as will be seen hereafter, passed into Grover’s foundry, and were sold at the dispersion of James’s foundry in 1782.

[252] _State Papers, Domestic_, 1637–8. No. 75.

[253] Probably from the Elzevirs, who in 1626 (as noticed p. 66, _note_) had succeeded in outbidding the representatives of Cambridge University for the Oriental press and matrices of Erpenius.

[254] Thomas Smith at a later date referred to the same gift:—“Circa id temporis . . . D. Guilielmus Laudus . . . postquam ingentem Codicum omne genus manu exaratorum molem pecuniis largissime effusis, ubi ubi merx ista literaria erat reperienda, conquisivisset, elegantissimos typos, omnium ferè linguarum, quæ hodie obtinent, efformari procuravit” (_Vitæ, quorundam Virorum . . . Patricii Junii_, London, 1707, 4to., p. 27).

[255] _Works of Laud_, v. 168.

[256] _Ibid._, v, 236.

[257] Latham’s _Oxford Bibles and Printing in Oxford_. 1870, p. 46.

[258] The University supplied a press and type to King Charles I during the Civil War (Gutch, _Collectanea Curiosa_. Oxford, 1781. 2 vols., 8vo., i, 281).

[259] Lemoine, _Typographical Antiquities_. London, 1797. 8vo, p. 87. The office of Archi-typographus had been instituted by Laud, about 1637.

[260] He it was on whom Tom Brown wrote his famous epigram:―

“I do not love thee, Doctor Fell,
The reason why, I cannot tell;
But this alone I know full well,
I do not love thee, Doctor Fell.”

[261] Bagford (_Harl. MS._ 5901, fo. 89) mentions that Dr. Fell encouraged the fitting-up of a paper mill at Wolvercote, by Mr. George Edwards, “who was a cutter in wood of the great letters, and engraved many other things made use of in the printing of books, and had a talent in maps, although done with his left hand.” Of this mill, Hearne wrote in 1728, “Some of the best paper made in England is made at Wolvercote Mill” (_Reliq._, ii, 85, ed. 1869).

[262] This list, which was appended to the specimen of 1695, doubtless includes a few items acquired by the Press since Dr. Fell’s death. (_Harl. MSS._ 5901, 5929.)

[263] The Coptic fount included in his gift is said to have been cut, not only at his expense, but under his personal supervision, from a character (Mores states) delineated by Mr. Wheeler, rector of St. Ebbe’s, in Oxford.

[264] _Harl. MS._ 5901, fol. 85.

[265] Gutch, _Collect._, i, 271.

[266] _Athenæ Oxonienses._ London, 1691–2. 2 vols., fol., ii, 604. Wood, in speaking of Mill’s _Greek Testament_, begun in 1681, says that the first sheets were begun at his Lordship’s cost, “at his Lordship’s printing house, _near the Theater_” (_Fasti Oxon._, 3rd ed., ii, 381). This was probably the hired house occupied by the University press prior to its removal to the Theatre, concerning the site of which Hearne remarks (_Reliq._, i, 254), “One part of the wall, being a sort of bastion, is now to be seen, just as we enter into the Theater-yard, at the west corner of the north side of the Schools, viz., where the late printing-house of Bp. Fell stood.” Moxon, in 1683, recognised the Bishop’s “ardent affections to promote Typographie” in England, by dedicating to him the second volume of his _Mechanick Exercises_, the first practical work on printing written by an Englishman.

[267] A copy of this letter may be seen in the preface to Hickes’ _Thesaurus_, 1705, p. xliii.

[268] The Gothic and Runic punches, and the punches and matrices of the Saxon, formed part of the interesting exhibit of the Oxford University Press at the Caxton Exhibition in 1877.

[269] Nichols, _Literary Anecdotes_, iv, 147.

[270] The Oxford Ethiopic types appear to have gone astray, if not at this period, shortly afterwards; for Dr. Mawer, writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1759 respecting his proposed Supplement to Walton’s _Polyglot_, says that the use of the University types had been offered him (in 1743) for printing a specimen of his work, “but,” he adds, “an obstruction was here thrown in my way by reason of the Ethiopic types being most of them lost, and incapable of printing half a page.” (Todd’s _Life of Walton_, London, 1821, i, 332.)

[271] Nichols, _Lit. Anec._, iv., 146. One of the first works printed in the recovered types was King Alfred’s Saxon version of Boethius’ _Consolationis Philosophiæ Libri_. Oxford, 1698, 8vo. It was edited by Mr. Christopher Rawlinson, from a transcript by Francis Junius among the MSS. at Oxford. Opposite the title is a head of Junius by Burghers, from a sketch by Van Dyck, in the Picture Gallery.

[272] A. J. Butler, _Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt._ Oxford, 1884. 2 vols., 8vo, ii, 257.

[273] These additions duly appeared in the second Oxford specimen of 1695, from which the inventory at p. 148 is quoted.

[274] There is an amusing account of a visit to the University Press in 1682 in Mrs. D’Anvers’ _Academia: or the Humours of the University of Oxford, in Burlesque verse_ (1691), pp. 25–27.

[275] _Harl. MS. 5901_, fo. 4. The _Specimen_ is given in 5929.

[276] _Oratio Dominica_, πολύγλωττος πολύμορφος, _nimirum, plus centum Linguis, Versionibus, aut Characteribus reddita et expressa_. _Londini_, 1700, 4to. 76 pp. The editor was B. M(otte). Typogr. Lond.

[277] This circumstance is thus frankly noted in the preface: “Porrò, ne Characterum alienorum copiâ me jactitare videar, scias velim, schedas duas, Linguas Hebraicam, et cæteras usque ad Slavonicam complexas, in Typographéo instructissimo inclytæ Academiæ Oxoniensis excusas esse, cui faustissima quæque comprecator quisquis est qui patriam amat, et bonam mentem colit.”

[278] These include the Malabaric, Brahman, Chinese, Georgian, Sclavonic (Hieronymian), Syriac (Estrangelo), and Armenian. The Anglo-Saxon versions are from type, as is also the Irish, which is Moxon’s fount cut for Boyle.

[279] A second edition appeared in 1713. In 1715 a similar work was published by Chamberlayne in Amsterdam, entitled _Oratio Dominica in diversas omnium fere gentium linguas versa et propriis cujusque linguæ characteribus expressa_. _Amstelodami_ 1715. 4to, with dissertations by Dr. Wilkins and others. This production is superior in general appearance to the English book, but the Oriental and other foreign characters being almost entirely copperplate, its typographical value is decidedly inferior.

[280] The Bible-side height is slightly above the ordinary English height. The Learned-side height is about the same as the French height. Ancient jealousies between the two rival “Sides” have much to answer for in the growth of this anomaly. Happily, the difference of “height” is now the only difference between the Bible and the Learned Presses.

[281] Writing in 1714, Bagford boasted that the Sheldonian Theatre, Plantin’s Office at Antwerp, the King’s Office in Paris, the King of Spain’s Printing House, (Plantin’s Office at Leyden—since Elzevir’s—is a sorry shed), Janson’s in Amsterdam, and that of the Jews in the same city, were not to compare with the Oxford House (_Harl. MS. 5901_). The imprint, _E Theatro Sheldoniano_, was continued on Oxford books till 1743.

[282] _Linguarum Vett. Septentrionalium Thesaurus Grammatico-Criticus et Archæologicus._ _Oxon._ 1703–5. Fol., 3 vols.

[283] This learned lady, mistress of eight languages besides her own, was the daughter of Ralph Elstob, a Newcastle merchant, and was born in 1683. Besides making the English translation which accompanies her brother’s Latin version of the _Homily on St. Gregory’s Day_, she transcribed and translated many Saxon works at an early age. “Miss Elstob,” says Rowe Mores, “was a northern lady of ancient family and a genteel fortune. But she pursued too much the drug called learning, and in that pursuit failed of being careful of an one thing necessary. In her latter years she was tutoress in the family of the Duke of Portland, where we have visited her in her sleeping-room at Bulstrode, surrounded with books and dirtiness, the usual appendages of folk of learning. But if any one desires to see her as she was when she was the favourite of Dr. Hudson and the Oxonians, they may view her pourtraiture in the initial G of the _English-Saxon Homily on the Birthday of St. Gregory_” (_Dissertation_, p. 29). Miss Elstob died in 1756, and was buried at St. Margaret’s, Westminster.

[284] It is interesting to note that among the money contributors on this occasion (a list of whom is preserved in Nichols’ _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, pp. 496–7), Robert Andrews and Thomas James, the letter-founders, appear as donors of five guineas each, and Thomas Grover of two guineas.

[285] Humphrey Wanley, son of Nathaniel Wanley, was secretary to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and afterwards librarian to the Earl of Oxford. He was an adept in the Saxon antiquities and calligraphy, and was an important contributor to Hickes’ _Thesaurus_, for which work he compiled the historical and critical catalogue of Saxon and other MSS. He died in 1726, aged fifty-four. Much of his correspondence is preserved among the Harleian MSS.

[286] Nichols’ _Anecdotes of William Bowyer_. London, 1782, 4to., p. 498.

[287] _The Rudiments of Grammar for the English Saxon Tongue._ London, 1715. 4to. A specimen of the letter is given in chapter ix, post.

[288] “This type Miss Elstob used in her _Grammar_, and in her _Grammar_ only. In her capital undertaking, the publication of the _Saxon Homilies_, begun and left unfinished, whether because the type was thought unsightly to politer eyes, or whether because the University of Oxford had cast a new letter that she might print the work with them, or whether (as she expresses herself in a letter to her uncle, Dr. Elstob), because ‘women are allowed the privilege of appearing in a richer garb and finer ornaments than men,’ she used a Saxon of the modern garb. But not one of these reasons is of any weight with an antiquary, who will always prefer the natural face to ‘richer garb and finer ornaments.’ And on his side is reason uncontrovertible.” (Rowe Mores, _Dissert._, p. 29.)

[289] _i.e._, William Caslon.

[290] Nichols’ _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 319. _Literary Anecdotes_, ii, 361, etc.

[291] _Dissertation_, p. 28.

[292] A few of the punches and matrices were shown in the Caxton Exhibition of 1877.

[293] _The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest._ Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1759, 4to. This fine work is printed in Caslon’s Great Primer Roman. The copperplate initials and vignettes are very fine, the former containing views of several of the different colleges and public buildings at Oxford.

[294] _Novum Testamentum, juxta exemplar Millianum. Typis Joannis Baskerville. Oxonii e Typographeo Clarendoniano 1763. Sumptibus Academiæ_, 4to & 8vo. (See also _post_, chap. xiii). The Baskerville Greek punches, matrices and types still preserved at Oxford, are supposed to be the only relics in this country of the famous Birmingham foundry.

[295] Though dated 1768 on the title, this specimen appears not to have been completed for two years, as it bears the date Sept. 29, 1770, on the last page, and includes specimens of purchases made in that year.

[296] _Dissertation_, p. 45. These strictures we cannot but regard as somewhat hypercritical. It was no uncommon thing to cast a small face of letter on a body larger than its own; and in the case of Hebrew and other Orientals, where detached points were cast to work over the letter, it was by no means unusual at that time, and till a later period, to designate the latter by the name of the body which it and the point in combination collectively formed. With regard to the gradual lapse of obsolete and superannuated founts from the specimen, Mr. Mores’ antiquarian zeal appears to have blinded him to the fact that the Oxford press may have issued their specimens as an advertisement of their present resources, rather than as an historical collection of their typographical curiosities.

[297] _Harl. Miscell._, Lond., 1745, 4to, iii, 277. The full title and description of this curious tract is as follows:—“_The London Printer, his Lamentation; or the Press oppressed, or over-pressed. September 1660. Quarto, containing 8 pages. In this sheet of Paper is contained, first, a short account of Printing in general, as its Usefulness, where and by whom invented; and then a Declaration of its Esteem and Promotion in England by the several Kings and Queens since its first Arrival in this Nation; together with the Methods taken by the Crown for its better Regulation and Government till the year 1640; when, says the Author, this Trade, Art and Mystery was prostituted to every vile Purpose both in Church and State; where he bitterly inveighs against Christopher Barker, John Bill, Thomas Newcomb, John Field and Henry Hills as Interlopers, and, under the King’s Patent, were the only instruments of inflaming the People against the King and his Friends, etc._”

[298] Mores makes a serious mistake in calling this founder Arthur Nicholas.

[299] In the British Museum _Catalogue of Early English Books to 1640_, the name of John Grismand appears as publisher of twenty-four books between 1597 and 1636. It is probable that the earlier of these, at any rate, were issued by the father of our founder. The name of one Thomas Wright also occurs as a publisher in 1610.

[300] _Harl. MS. 5910_, pt. i, p. 148.

[301] Moxon, in his account of the Customs of the Chapel (_Mechanick Exercises_, ii, 363), gives a full description of this yearly Feast, which, he says, “is made by Four Stewards, _viz._, two Masters and two Journey-men; which Stewards, with the Collection of half a Crown apiece of every Guest, defray the Charges of the whole Feast.” The List of Stewards, above referred to, contains, among others, the names of nearly all the seventeenth century letter-founders. Seventy feasts were held between 1621 and 1681, the first few probably being half-yearly. Three or four Stewards officiated at each. The names of the founders occurring in the list are as follows, the figures appended to each indicating the number of the feast at which each served his stewardship, with the approximate date:

(24) Thomas Wright (1635). (26) Arthur Nichols (1637). (31) Alexander Fifield (1642). (42) Nicholas Nichols (1653). (61) James Grover (1672). (63) Thomas Grover (1674). (64) Joseph Leigh (Lee?) (1675). (66) Godfrey Head (1677). (67) Thos. Goring (1678). (69) Robert Andrews (1680).

[302] Arber’s _Transcripts_, iii, 363–8.

[303] _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic_, 1649, pp. 362, 523. Among the entries of admission to Merchant Taylors’ School occurs: “Johannes Grismond, filius unicus Johannes Grismond, Typographi, natus Londini, in parœciâ de Giles, Cripplegate, Aprilis 1, 1647: an. agens 8. Admissus est Aprilis 3, 1654.”

[304] _Domestic_, 1637–8. Vol. 376, Nos. 13 and 14.

[305] The list of matrices is given on p. 173, _post_.

[306] _Dissertation_, p. 40.

[307] The first project of a Polyglot Bible is due to Aldus Manutius, who, probably between 1498 and 1501, issued a specimen-page containing the first fifteen verses of Genesis, in collateral columns of Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The typographical execution is admirable. A facsimile is shown in Renouard’s _Annales de l’Imprimerie des Aldes_, 2nd and 3rd editions.

[308] It was begun in 1502; completed in 1517, but not published till 1522.

[309] In addition to the four great _Bibles_, the following polyglot versions had also appeared before 1657:―

1516. _Psalter_ in Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldee, Greek and Latin, published by Porrus at Genoa.

1518. _Psalter_ in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Ethiopic, published by Potken at Cologne.

1546. _Pentateuch_ in Hebrew, Chaldee, Persian and Arabic, published at Constantinople (but all in Hebrew type).

1547. _Pentateuch_ in Hebrew, Spanish and modern Greek, published at Constantinople.

1586. _Bible_ in Hebrew, Greek and Latin (two versions), published at Heidelberg.

1596. _Bible_ in Greek, Latin and German, published by Wolder at Hamburg.

1599. _Bible_ (portions) in Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek, Latin, German, Sclavonic, etc., published by Hutterus at Nuremberg.

[310] These _Proposals_ were printed by R. Norton for Timothy Garthwaite at the lesser North Gate of St. Paul’s Church, London, 1652.

[311] It is described by the Rev. H. J. Todd in his _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Right Rev. Brian Walton, D.D._ London, 2 vols., 8vo, 1821. Mr. Todd’s work contains much valuable information respecting the _Polyglot_.

[312] Among the MSS. in Sydney College is a letter written by Abraham Wheelock to the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, dated Jan. 5, 1652, in which, referring to the specimen, he says: “When the sheete, here sent, was printed off, I corrected at least 80 errata in it. It as yet serves to show what letters Mr. Flesher, an eminent printer, my friend and printer of my booke, hath” (Todd’s _Memoirs_, i, 56). James Flesher, son (?) of Miles Flesher (one of the twelve Star Chamber printers named in the Act of 1637), entered into a bond of £300 to the Stationers’ Company in 1649, and held the office of City printer in 1657. His name occurs in the list of the _Brotherly Meeting of Printers_ as Steward at the 42nd Feast. In 1664 he served, together with Roycroft, on the jury at the trial of John Twyn; see _ante_, p. 132.

[313] Walton’s _Polyglot_ is supposed to be the second book printed by subscription in England. In 1617, Minsheu’s _Dictionary in Eleven Languages_ was published by subscription, the names of those who took a copy of the work being printed. Minsheu’s venture, however, turned out a failure. In Dr. Walton’s case this mode of publication was, owing to the energy of the promoter and the number of his friends, successful. The subscription was £10 per copy, or £50 for six copies. The estimated cost of the first volume was £1,500, and of succeeding volumes £1,200 each. Towards this, £9,000 was subscribed four months before the first volume was put to press.

[314] Parr’s _Life and Letters of Usher_. Lond., 1686, fol., p. 590. Dr. Walton received the Protector’s permission to import the paper for his work, duty free.

[315] _Origine de l’Imprimerie de Paris._ Paris, 1694, 4to, p. 59.

[316] _Discours Historique sur les principales editions des Bibles Polyglottes._ Paris, 1713, 12mo, p. 209.

[317] This useful little tract was reprinted with improvements in the following year, entitled: “_Introductio ad lectionem linguarum Orientalium, Hebraicæ, Chaldaicæ, Samaritanæ, Syriacæ, Arabicæ, Persicæ, Æthiopicæ, Armenæ, Coptæ . . . in usum tyronum . . . præcipuè eorum qui sumptus ad Biblia Polyglotta (jam sub prelo) imprimenda contulerunt. Londini. Imprimebat Tho. Roycroft_, 1655. 18mo.” Republished at Deventer in 1658. The Armenian and Coptic alphabets were cut in wood, and reappeared in the Prolegomena of the _Polyglot_.

[318] “The latter part,” says Bowyer, “is much more incorrectly printed than the former, probably owing to the editor’s absence from the press, or to his being over-fatigued by the work. The Hebrew text suffered much in several places by the rapidity of the publication.”

[319] Rev. Mr. Twells, author of _Life of Dr. Pocock_.

[320] _Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, complectentia Textus Originales, Hebraicum cum Pentateucho Samaritano, Chaldaicum, Græcum; Versionumque antiquarum, Samaritanæ Græcæ LXX Interpr. Chaldaicæ, Syriacæ, Arabicæ, Æthiopicæ, Persicæ, Vulg. Lat. Quicquid comparari poterat. Cum Textuum et Versionum Orientalium Translationibus Latinis . . . Omnia eo ordine disposita, ut Textus cum Versionibus uno intuitu conferri possint. Cum Apparatu, etc. etc. . . . Edidit Brianus Waltonus, S.T.D. Londini. Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft_, 1657. 6 vols., fol.

[321] One of the compositors employed on the work was Ichabod Dawks (grandfather to Wm. Bowyer), of whose son and his curious script type, see _The Tatler_, No. 178, etc.

[322] See _ante_, p. 98.

[323] In some cases a few of the matrices have undergone renovation in the hands of their successive owners.

[324] “The Æthiopic of the Congregation,” _i.e._, of the Propaganda at Rome, “is not to be compared with ours. And Ludolphus, whose abode was at Gotha, sent his Lexicon to be published at London, where it was printed by Mr. Roycroft upon the type of the English _Polyglot_” (Mores, p. 12).

[325] “The elegant face of the Samaritan is justly attributed by Cellarius to the English, for it was first used in our _Polyglot_. It differs widely from the type used by Scaliger in his _Emend. Temp._, and by Leusden at the end of his _Scholæ Syriacæ_, and from another used in an encomiastic of Abr. Ecchelensis upon F. Kircher, which type belonged to the Congregation at Rome; and which was afterwards more neatly cut by Voskens” (_ibid._, p. 13).

[326] In his “loyal” dedication, Walton asserts that from the outset he had intended to dedicate the work to Charles II, and that Cromwell’s patronage of the work had been offered only as the price of a public compliment for himself (Todd, i, 82 _et seq._).

[327] “The first view of this dedication,” he says, “will prove it to have been printed with different and inferior types, the hasty produce of a courteous after thought” (_Introd. Classics_, i, 27).

[328] “Thomas Roycroft died August 10, 1677. In 1675 he was master of the Stationers’ Company, and in 1677 he gave to them two silver mugs, weight 27 ozs. 3 dwts. In the rear of the altar at St. Bartholemew’s the Great is this epitaph:—‘M.S. Hic juxta situs est Thomas Roycroft, armiger, linguis Orientalibus Typographus Regius, placidissimis moribus et antiquâ probitate ac fide memorandus, quorum gratiâ optimi civis famam jure merito adeptus est. Militiæ civicæ Vicetribunus. Nec minus apud exteros notus ob libros elegantissimis suis typis editos, inter quos sanctissimum illud _Bibliorum Polyglottorum_, opus quam maxime eminet. Obiit die 10 Augusti, ann. Reparatæ Sal. MDCLXXVII, postquam LVI ætatis suæ annum implevisset. Parenti optimè merito, Samuel Roycroft, filius unicus, hoc monumentum pie posuit.’ ”

[329] _Lexicon Heptaglotton_, _Hebraicum_, _Chaldaicum_, _Syriacum_, _Samaritanum_, _Æthiopicum_, _Arabicum_, conjunctim; _et Persicum_ separatim, _etc._, _etc._ _Authore Edmundo Castello, S.T.D._, _etc._ _Londini, Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, L.L._ _Orientalium Typographus Regius, 1669_. Two vols., fol.

[330] _State Papers, Domestic_, 1665. Vol. 142, No. 174.

[331] _State Papers, Domestic_, 1667. _Ent. Book 23_, p. 337.

[332] In the List of Stewards of the _Brotherly Meeting_ of printers referred to p. 166, Nicholas Nicholls’ name occurs with James Flesher’s as a Steward at the 42nd Feast.

[333] _Dissertation_, p. 46.

[334] See _ante_, p. 148.

[335] Nicholas Nicholls’ tiny specimen, printed four years earlier, exhibited only a few lines specially cut, and dedicated privately to the King.

[336] In 1677 he published _Geometrical Operations_, London, 4to, translated by himself from Dutch into English.

[337] _Regulæ Trium Ordinum Literarum Typographicarum; or the Rules of the Three Orders of Print Letters, viz.: the Roman, Italick, English,—Capitals and Small; showing how they are compounded of Geometrick Figures and mostly made by Rule and Compass. Useful for Writing Masters, Painters, Carvers, Masons and others that are Lovers of Curiosity; by Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. London. Printed for Joseph Moxon on Ludgate Hill at the Sign of Atlas._ 1676. 4to. (Dedicated to Sir Christopher Wren.)

[338] The theory of the proportion of letters had been dealt with by several foreign authors in the sixteenth century. In 1509 Fra Luca Pacioli’s book, entitled _De Divinâ Proportione_, was printed at Venice, containing woodcut illustrations of the various letters of the alphabet. In 1525 Albert Dürer published in Nuremberg his _Unterweisung der Messung mit dem Zirkel und Richtscheit_, reducing all letters to a combination of circles and straight lines. In 1529 Geofroy Tory’s _Champfleury_ appeared at Paris, an extraordinary treatise, deriving every letter of the Latin alphabet from the goddess IO, of the letters of whose name every other letter is formed; and proportioning each to the human body and countenance in their various poses and aspects. Fantastic as his work was, it is credited with having revolutionised the form of the Roman letter in France. Like Moxon, Tory sub-divided the square of each letter into a number of minute squares, in which he constructed his model letters. A somewhat similar work was published at Saragossa, in Spain, in 1548, by Ycair, entitled _Orthographia Practica_, containing specimens of alphabets, and intended, like all of the above-named works, more for the use of the caligrapher and sculptor than for the printer.

[339] _Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy-Works. Began Jan. 1, 1677. And intended to be Monthly continued. By Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. London. Printed for Joseph Moxon on Ludgate Hill at the Sign of the Atlas._ Two vols., 4to.

Vol. I (14 numbers). _The Smiths, the Joyners, the Carpenters, and the Turner’s Trades._ 1677–80.

Vol. II (24 numbers). _Applied to the Art of Printing_, 1683–6. (Dedicated to Dr. Fell, Bishop of Oxford.)

[340] Mores says that before Moxon’s time letter-cutters worked by eye and hand only, and practised their art by guess-work (_Dissert._, p. 43).

[341] See chap. iv.

[342] Or rather a hair space, of which seven go to the body; so that one such space divided by six would give a 42nd part!

[343] See _ante_, p. 109.

[344] Of the eighteen letters of the alphabet, the b, c, h, l, m, n, o, s, u, are in Roman, the _a_ and _e_ in Italic.

[345] A copy of this rare broadside is in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

[346] The full title of this rare little tract, consisting of eight leaves only, is translated as follows:—_Aibidil Gaoidheilge Caiticiosma, etc._ (_The Irish Alphabet and Catechism, precept or instruction of a Christian, together with certain articles of a Christian faith which are proper for everyone to adopt who would be submissive to the ordinance of God and the Queen of this Kingdom. Translated from Latin and English into Irish by John O’Kearney . . Printed in the town of the Ford of Hurdles, (Dublin), at the cost of Master John Ussher, Alderman, at the head of the Bridge, the 20th of June 1571, with the privilege of the great Queen._ 1571.) 8vo.

[347] _Tiomna Nuadh, etc._ (_The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, faithfully translated from the Greek into the Irish by William O’Donnell._) _Séon Francke: a mBaile athá Cliath_ (_Dublin_), 1602. Fol. This work was printed in the house of Sir William Ussher, Clerk of the Council.

[348] _Leabhar na nurnaightheadh gcomhchoidchiond agus mheinisdraldachda na Sacrameinteadh, etc._ (Translated from the English by W. Daniel, Archbishop of Tuam), _a dtigh Shéon Francke, alias Franckton, a Mbaile athá Cliath_ (_Dublin_), 1608. Fol. Not published till 1609. In his dedication, Daniel says that, “having translated the book, I followed it to the presse with jealousy and daiely attendance, to see it perfected; payned as a woman in travell desirous to be delivered.”

[349] _A B C_, _or the_ _Institution of a Christian_. _Printed by the Company of Stationers_. Dublin, 1631. 8vo.

[350] _The Catechism, with the Six points of W. Perkins_, _translated into Irish by Godfrey Daniel_. Dublin, 1652. 8vo.

[351] “The publication of everything valuable in this language by the fathers of Donegal was unfortunately prevented by the troubles of the time of Charles I, by Cromwell’s usurpation. These fathers had procured a fount for this purpose, which, when forced to fly, they carried with them to Louvain, where some fragments of this fount are yet to be found” (_Theoph. O’Flanagan on the Ancient Language of Ireland. Transac. of the Gaelic Soc._ 8vo, Dublin, 1808, p. 212). Others stated that the fount had been removed to Douay, and there used to print several Catholic tracts. No Irish work whatever is known to have been printed at Douay. Respecting the various foreign Irish founts, the reader is referred to the account given in chapter ii, p. 75.

[352] _Life of William Bedell, D.D._, by H. J. Monck Mason. Lond., 8vo, 1843, p. 287.

[353] In addition to the _A B C_ _and_ _Catechism_, already referred to as published by Bedell in 1631, some of his biographers record that he had printed a later edition about 1641, and at the same time the following tracts in Irish, viz.: Some forms of prayer, a selection of passages from Scripture, the first three of Chrysostom’s Homilies on the rich man and Lazarus, and some sermons by Leo. Copies of these have not been seen.

[354] Most of the copies were stated to have been bought up, like the type, by Roman ecclesiastics.

[355] Of this work a copy has not yet been seen.

[356] _Tiomna Nuadh._ (_The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, faithfully translated from the Greek into the Irish by William O’Donnell_). London. Robert Everingham. 1681. 4to.

[357] “Mr. Everingham and Mr. Whiteledge,” says Dunton (_Life_, p. 331), “were two partners in the trade; I employ’d ’em very much, and look’d upon ’em to be honest and thriving men. Had they confin’d ’emselves a little sooner to Household Love, they might possibly have kept upon their own Bottom; however, so it happen’d, that they lov’d themselves into Two Journey-men Printers again.” Everingham was the printer, in 1680, of a _Weekly Advertisement of Books_ for some London publishers.

[358] Writing to Dr. Marsh of Dublin, Jan. 17th, 1681–2, Boyle refers to a projected Irish Grammar, and offers the use of his type. “I am glad that so useful a designe as that of frameing a compendious Irish Grammar has been conceived by one that is so able to execute it well; but I presume you will want letters for many of the Irish words; in which case you may please to consider what use may be made of those I have already, that may be consistent with the printing of the Old Testament in the language they relate to; for all the designe I had in having them cut off was, that they might be in a readiness to print useful bookes in Irish, whether there or here” (Mason’s _Life of Bedell_, p. 301).

[359] Leabhuir na Seintiomna, etc. (_The Books of the Old Testament translated into Irish by Dr. William Bedell, late Bishop of Kilmore._ _London._) 1685. 4to.

[360] _An Biobla Naomhtha._ (_W. Bedell’s and W. O’Donnell’s Irish Bible, revised, and printed at London by R. Everingham._) 1690. 8vo.

[361] Mason’s _Life of Bedell_, p. 305.

[362] _The Book of Common Prayer, Irish and English, with the Elements of the Irish Language_, by John Richardson. London, 1712. 8vo.

[363] _Practical Sermons._ London, 1711.

[364] _Dissertation_, p. 33. It is worthy of note that at the date when Mores wrote an almost universal cessation in Irish printing was taking place at home and abroad. At Louvain no work had appeared since 1663, at Rome since 1707, or at Paris (with the exception of the specimen in Fournier’s _Manuale Typographique_, 1764), since 1742. In the few Irish works issued at home during this period (with the notable exception of Miss Brooke’s _Reliques of Irish Poetry_, printed by Bonham of Dublin in 1789, in a new fount, apparently privately cut) the Irish character is generally rendered in copperplate, or in Roman type. It was not till Marcel published his _Alphabet Irlandais_, at Paris in 1804, and Neilson his _Irish Grammar_, at Dublin in 1808, that a revival of Irish typography took place, both abroad and at home.

[365] _An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, by John Wilkins, D.D., Dean of Ripon. London, printed . . . for the Royal Society._ 1668. Fol.

[366] _Dissertation_, p. 43. Mores mentions a James Moxon who in 1677 lived near Charing Cross, and sold Joseph Moxon’s books at his house (p. 44).

[367] Joseph Leigh (_sic_) served at the sixty-fourth Feast (_i.e._, about 1675), and Thos. Goring at the sixty-seventh (1678). In the same List occurs the name of John Goring, probably a relative of Thomas Goring, at the forty-sixth Feast (1657).

[368] His name occurs in the list of Masters and Workmen Printers, as having served as Steward at the sixty-ninth Feast (1680).

[369] Mores’ _Dissert._, p. 13.

[370] See _ante_, p. 157.

[371] The names of both occur among the stewards who had served office at the annual Brotherly Meetings of Masters and Workmen Printers; James Grover at the sixty-first Feast (1672), and Thomas Grover at the sixty-third (1674).

[372] See _ante_, p. 96.

[373] See _ante_, p. 90.

[374] See _ante_, p. 144.

[375] “The Arabic (of the _Polyglot_) is Great Primer, in our (_i.e._, James’s) foundery; and it came from Mr. Grover” (Mores’ _Dissert._, p. 13; and again, p. 63). Mores, however, only mentions an imperfect set of Double Pica matrices in the summary of this foundry, whereas Andrews possessed a complete fount of Great Primer. A few odd punches of the _Polyglot_ Arabic are still in existence.

[376] Mores’ _Dissert._, p. 46.

[377] _Ibid._, p. 67.

[378] This distinguished ambassador belonged to an honourable family, of whom by no means the least worthy member was Miss Elizabeth Rowe, who in 1785 married Henry Caslon, and subsequently—first with her mother-in-law, and afterwards by her own exertions—ably conducted the affairs of the Chiswell Street foundry. See _post_, chap. xi.

[379] See _ante_, p. 144.

[380] _Gent. Magaz._, vol. 56, p. 497. Nichols’ _Lit. Anec._, ix, 9.

[381] Proposuit quidem D. Junius multis antehac annis MS. hoc typis evulgare, cujus etiam specimen impressum vidi; sed consilium illius, multis viris doctis merito improbatum, ejus progressum retardavit; dum multa pro arbitrio ex MS. detruncaret et mutaret, idque cùm nulla premebat necessitas, prout ex Catalogo satis magno vocabulorum per pauca _Geneseos_ capita, quæ ipse mutaverat et expunxerat (quem mihi ostendit Typographus) constat (_Proleg._, sec. ix, § 34).

[382] _Vitæ quorundam eruditissimorum et illustrium Virorum.—Patricii Junii. Lond._, 1707. 4to. “Utcunque futuri operis specimen, quod jam præ oculis meis habeo, primum nimirum caput libri _Geneseos_, una cum doctissimis Scholiis, edere placuit. Omnes illud certamen arripiunt, avidisque oculis legunt perleguntque, ac optimâ spe de promissâ editione, quam cum maximo et vix continendo affectu exspectant efflagitantque, conceptâ, quasi moram pertæsi, Orbem Christianum hoc eximio thesauro, quod dudum fuisset locupletandus, nimium diu hactenus caruisse amicè queruntur” (p. 32).

[383] Parr’s _Life of Usher_, 1686, p. 621. Usher to Boate, June 1651: “ . . . the Alexandrian copy (in the Library of St. James) which he intendeth shortly to make publick, Mr. Selden and myself every day pressing him to the work.”

[384] Wood, _Athen. Ox._, 1691, i, 796; also Edwards, _Libraries and Founders of Libraries_, Lond., 1865, 8vo, p. 168.

[385] _Lansd. MSS._, No. 231, fo. 169.

[386] See _post_, chap. xvi.

[387] The matrices of all these curious founts have survived to the present day, and, indeed, lie before us as we write. They bear strong evidence of having been justified and finished by the same hand.

[388] From this assertion we except, of course, the letter of the first printers, which, if not imitating the actual handwriting of one particular scribe, was a copy of the conventional book-writing hand of the period. Some of the earliest scripts, italics and cursives are also reputed to have been modelled on the handwriting of some famous caligrapher or artist. One of the first instances of printing with facsimile types was the copy of the famous Medicean _Virgil_, produced at Florence in 1741. The types are for the most part ordinary Roman capital letters with a certain number of “discrepants” or peculiar characters. The title of this fine work is:—_P. VergiliI Maronis Codex Antiquissimus . . qui nunc Florentiæ in Bibliotheca Mediceo-Laurentiana adservatur. Bono publico Typis descriptus Anno MDCCXLI. Florentiæ. Typis Mannianis._ 8vo.

[389] This is possibly the printer respecting whom Nichols (_Illust. Lit._, viii, 464) notes that on Nov. 20, 1732, John Mears, bookseller, was taken into custody for publishing a _Philosophical Dissertation on Death_ . . . Meares succeeded to the business of Richard Nutt, and printed the _Historical Register_. Among the Bagford Collections (_Harl. MS._ No. 5915) is a _Specimen by H. Meere, printer, at the Black Fryar, in Blackfriars, London_. No date.

[390] Richard Nutt, printer in the Savoy, died March 11, 1780, aged 80 years.

[391] Grover contributed £2 2_s._ in 1712 towards defraying the loss incurred by the elder Bowyer on the occasion of the fire at his printing-house.

[392] His name occurs in the List of Masters and Workmen Printers in 1681; see _ante_, p. 166.

[393] See _ante_, p. 149.

[394] Cotton’s _Typographical Gazetteer_. Second Series, 1866, p. 17.

[395] Vol. ii, p. 120.

[396] Some of the matrices are without sides, which were probably supplied by a peculiar adaptation of the mould.

[397] Bagford (writing in 1714) states that Walpergen “was succeeded by his son, who has long since been succeeded by Mr. Andrews.” If this be the case, the Peter Walpergen whose death occurred in 1714 was probably the son, of whom nothing is known as distinguished from his father.

[398] We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. F. Madan, of the Bodleian Library, for our transcript.

[399] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New, etc. Oxford, Printed by John Baskett, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, for Great Britain; and to the University_, 1717, 1716. 2 vols., folio. The running title of Luke xx reads, “_The parable of the vinegar_.”

[400] This, in all probability, was the fount used for printing the “Vinegar” _Bible_.

[401] The contents of this very interesting document were communicated to the _Athenæum_ of September 5, 1885, by Mr. J. H. Round, in whose possession the original is.

[402] Timperley’s _Songs of the Press_. London, 1833, 8vo, p. 85.

[403] Nichols’ note on the James family (_Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer_, pp. 585, 609) is at variance with the account given by Rowe Mores. According to the former, Thomas, John and George James were all brothers, and sons of the notorious half-crazy Elianor James, whose husband, Thomas James, the printer, was a large benefactor to Sion College, and died in 1711. On this point, however, Mores, whose relations with the family gave him special opportunities for information, may be considered as more correct in representing Thomas and John as sons of the Rev. John James. George James, the son of Thomas and Elianor, was City Printer in 1724. His office was in Little Britain, where he wrote and printed the _Post Boy_. He was Common Councilman for the Ward of Aldersgate Without, and died in 1735. His greatgrandfather, Dr. Thomas James, Dean of Wells, was the first Keeper of Bodley’s Library at Oxford in 1605. Portraits of this Dr. Thomas James, and of Thomas and Elianor, the parents of George James, are preserved in Sion College, as is also a portrait of Elizabeth, their daughter, who married Jacob Ilive, the printer, and who was herself a benefactor to the College. Nichols mentions another member of the family, one Harris James, who, he says, was originally a letter-founder, and “formerly of Covent Garden Theatre, where he represented fops and footmen.”

[404] _Dissertation_, p. 51, _et seq._

[405] Rabbi Joseph Athias, son of Tobias Athias, who printed a Spanish Bible for the use of the Jews, was a printer, publisher and typefounder in Amsterdam. He succeeded to the Elzevir foundry as improved and added to by Van Dijk. In 1662–3 he issued an edition of the _Old Testament_ printed in Hebrew type, specially cut by Van Dijk, for the accuracy and beauty of which he received great renown; and in 1667, when a new edition of the _Bible_ was published, the Government of the United Provinces signified their satisfaction by presenting him with a gold medal and a massive gold chain. He is said to have printed a great number of English Bibles. Van Dijk, whose models were so warmly applauded by Moxon, was a letter-cutter only, and worked for various foundries. His founder was John Bus, who cast in Athias’ house, as the title of the following specimen-sheet, issued about 1700, indicates:—_Proeven van Letteren die gesneden zijn door Wylen Christoffel van Dijck, welke gegoten werden by Jan Bus, ten huyse van Sr. Joseph Athias woonst in de Swanenburg Street, tot Amsterdam_. Demy broadside (showing five Titlings, sixteen Roman and Italic, eight Black and two Music). After passing through several hands, Athias’ foundry was purchased by John Enschedé of Haerlem in 1767, in whose family it still remains.

[406] This should be Dirk Voskens of Amsterdam, who bought the foundry of Bleau in 1677, and was the first Dutch founder who kept types for the Oriental and recondite languages. Like Athias and others, he was a founder only, his punches and matrices being cut and sunk by Rolij. The foundry descended to his great-grandson, and was ultimately put up to auction in 1780, and purchased by the brothers Ploos Van Amstel, and subsequently became absorbed by the Enschedé foundry.

[407] Rolij seems to be Rowe Mores’ way of spelling Rolu, of whose types the following specimen-sheet exists:—_Proeven van Letteren dewelcke gegooten worden by Mr. Johannes Rolu, Letter-Snyder woonende tot Amsterdam in de laetste Lelydwars-streat_, _c._ 1710 (probably the specimen referred to by James further on).

[408] Voskens.

[409] “The matter was first composed in the usual way, then the form was affused with some sort of _gypsum_, which after it was indurated, became a complication of matrices for casting the whole page in a single piece” (_Mores_, p. 59). As early as the year 1705 a Dutchman, named J. Van der Mey, had, with the assistance of Johann Muller, a German clergyman, devised a method of soldering together the bottoms of common types imposed in a forme, so as to form solid blocks of each page. By this method, two Bibles, a Greek Testament and a Syriac Testament with Lexicon were produced, the plates of all of which, except the last named, were preserved in 1801. See T. Hodgson’s _Essay on the Origin and Progress of Stereotype Printing_, Newcastle, 1820, 8vo.

[410] “Being called into our company,” says Ged, in his _Narrative_, “he bragged much of his great skill and knowledge in all the parts of mechanism, and particularly vaunted, that he, and hundreds besides himself, could make plates to as great perfection as I could: which occasioned some heat in our conversation.”

[411] Hansard (_Typog._ p. 823), shows an impression of two pages of a _Prayer Book_, from plates which had escaped “Caslon’s cormorant crucible.”

[412] _C. Crispi Sallustii Belli Catilinarii et Jugurthini Historiæ. Edinburgi; Guilielmus Ged, Aurifaber Edinensis, non typis mobilibus, ut vulgo fieri solet, sed tabellis seu laminis fusis, excudebat._ 1739, 8vo (reprinted 1744). According to the account given by Ged’s daughter in the narrative above referred to, the _Sallust_ was completed in 1736. No copy of that date is, however, known. Some of the plates of the work are still in existence.

[413] The story may be read in detail in _Biographical Memoirs of William Ged, including a particular account of his progress in the art of Block printing_. London, 1781, 8vo. Fenner died insolvent about the year 1735. James Ged, after working for some time with his father, engaged in the rebellion of 1745, and narrowly escaped execution. He ultimately went to Jamaica, a year before his father’s death.

[414] Despite Mores’ prophecy that Ged’s invention, even if at first successful, would soon have sunk under its own burden, the method was successfully revived, or rather re-invented, about the year 1781 by Dr. Tilloch of Edinburgh, in conjunction with Mr. Foulis, printer to the University of Glasgow, at whose press were printed a stereotype edition of _Xenophon’s Anabasis_ in 1783, and several chap-books. Messrs. Tilloch and Foulis did not persevere with their venture, which was about the year 1800 successfully revived and perfected by Mr. Wilson, a London printer, aided by Earl Stanhope. In France, Firmin Didot, in 1795, attempted a method similar to that of Van de Mey in 1705; but abandoning this, succeeded in 1798 in producing good stereo plates by a system of _polytypage_, as described _ante_, p. 13. The reader is referred to Hodgson’s _Essay_ for specimens and particulars of the successive efforts to perfect the stereotype process at home and abroad.

[415] Mores contradicts himself as to this date, giving it as 1738 in one place, and 1736 in another. As, however, he is particular to mention that John James, in 1736, _after his father’s death_, commenced his specimen of the foundry, the earlier date may be assumed to be correct.

[416] Timperley, who quotes this document (_Encycl._ p. 655), gives no particulars as to the letter in which it is printed.

[417] See _ante_, p. 206.

[418] See _ante_, p. 205.

[419] The Oxford University foundry must, of course, be included as a fourth foundry existing at this time, but does not rank as a trading establishment. Cottrell’s foundry was also started in 1757, but it is doubtful whether he had yet finished cutting his punches. Smith, in _The Printer’s Grammar_, 1755, in comparing the standard bodies in use at that time in England, names Caslon and James as the only English founders.

[420] Smith’s _Printer’s Grammar_, 1755, in referring to the use of flowers in typography, makes mention of “the considerable augmentation which Mr. Caslon has made here in flowers, and in which Mr. James likewise has so far proceeded that we may soon expect a specimen of them” (p. 137).

[421] Nichols, _Illust. Lit._, viii, 450.

[422] Edward Rowe Mores was born about the year 1729, at Tunstall in Kent, of which place his father was rector. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Queen’s College, Oxford, and being originally intended for holy orders, took his M.A. degree. He did not, however, enter the Church, but devoted himself to literary and antiquarian pursuits. Besides his _Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders_, he spent some time in correcting Ames, and in other investigations into the early history of printing. On one occasion, as he himself narrates, he assisted Ilive in correcting the Hebrew proofs of _Calasio’s Concordance_ for the press. His latter life was marred by habits of negligence and intemperance, which hastened his death in 1778 at Low Leyton. His valuable library of books and MSS. was sold by auction by Paterson in August 1779, on which occasion the eighty copies of the _Dissertation_, being the entire impression, were bought up by Mr. Nichols and given to the public with a short Appendix.

[423] _A Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Founderies, by Edward Rowe Mores, A.M. and A.S.S._ (London) 1778. 8vo (only 80 copies printed).

[424] Consisting of eight founts of Hebrew, four of Samaritan, three of Arabic, four of Greek, five of Roman or Italic, three of Saxon, one of Anglo-Norman, and four of Black.

[425] “Such as those which being uniques cannot be perfected without new punches, and if they were made complete, it would be no more than _oleum et operam, etc._, because they are either out of use or the times afford better, as the Antique Hebrew (spec. 7); Leusden’s Samaritan (spec. 27); 2-line Great Primer Hebrew (spec. 38); the Runic, Gothic, and some other recondites, the matrices for which are incomplete or useless. But of the founts which are in daily use the imperfects will continue, as they mutually aid and help out one another. For the same reason also will continue those which have been cast aside (not by their owner) under the name of _waste_.”

[426] In another place Mr. Mores states that the “waste and pye” of the foundry contained upwards of 6,000 matrices.

[427] This is the old Black from Grover’s foundry; see _ante_, p. 199.

[428] This sly allusion leaves little doubt as to the light in which Mr. Mores viewed the Coster legend so industriously defended by such writers of his own day as Meerman, Bowyer and Nichols.

[429] “Excusatos nos habeant eruditi quibus obvenerit typorum _Jamesianorum_ specimen accuratis perlustrare oculis, quod minus quam expetendum esset, in linguis præsertim reconditoribus, elimatum prodeat; in animo erat de dedisse emendatissimum et si sat se fecisse existiment opifices, si, posthabitis preli, ceterisque maculis, ostendatur literarum facies—limæ non defuit labor,—at cessante Fusore cessavit Fornax et defuerunt fusi ad emaculandum typi.”—_Preface to the Specimen._

[430] _i.e._, [P.] Polyglot, [A.] Andrews, [G.] Grover, [R.] Rolij, [N.] Nicholls, [S.A.] Sylvester Andrews, [Anon.] “Anonymous.” Of founts marked *, punches or matrices still exist.

[431] Two sets of Small Pica and two sets of Pearl not shown in Specimen, were also sold. A Canon, 2-line Great Primer, three Great Primers, an English, Pica, and Bourgeois, had been lost.

[432] It is to be borne in mind that Andrews’ foundry included that of Moxon, from whom many of his oldest founts doubtless came.

[433] A Great Primer, Pica, Small Pica and Long Primer had been lost, but the Long Primer punches remained.

[434] A 2-line English, Double Pica and Pica had been lost.

[435] There were also, not in Specimen, a 2-line Great Primer, Double Pica, Pica, two Small Picas and a set of 2-line Nonpareil Capitals. A Paragon, Bourgeois and two sets of Nonpareil had been lost.

[436] This was the fount used in the _Catena on Job_, 1637.

[437] “Remarkably beautifully cut and justified.”

[438] A Double Pica, Pica and Long Primer had been lost.

[439] A 2-line English had been lost.

[440] Also a Double Pica not in specimen.

[441] _i.e._, Black—of which the following sets, not in Specimen, were also sold:—Double Pica, two Great Primers, two English, four Small Picas, Long Primer, three Breviers and Nonpareil. A 2-line Great Primer, Double Pica, Long Primer and Bourgeois had been lost.

[442] Of these, one was a 4-line, to which belonged a set of “leaden” lower-case matrices.

[443] There is more difficulty in tracing these to their original sources than in the case of the matrices, as not only are the numbers not given, but the bodies named may very likely vary from the actual bodies to which the matrices were justified.

[444] See p. 191. Though the matrices of this fount do not appear in the Catalogue, they were evidently in James’s foundry, as they are mentioned in the list drawn up by James in 1767, and are not specified among the matrices lost. They were acquired at the sale of Dr. Fry, and may possibly have been included with the Saxons, or with the imperfect lots.

[445] _Lit. Anec._, iii, 438.

[446] See our facsimiles from the Specimen at pages 200 and 204, _ante_.