Chapter XXI: The Minor Founders, 1800–1830 (6)

[625] “However desirous the proprietor of another Foundery may be to persuade the public into an idea of a superiority in his own favour, owing to _Rapid_ improvements for upwards of _Sixty_ years, a little time may, perhaps, suffice to convince impartial and unbiassed Judges that the very elegant Types of the WORSHIP STREET MANUFACTORY, though they cannot indeed boast of their existence longer than about _Twenty_ years ! will yet rank as high in Beauty, Symmetry, and intrinsic Merit as any other whatever, and ensure equal approbation from the Literati not only in this Country but in every quarter of the Globe.”

[626] For a short time following Mr. Fry’s death his widow is said to have been associated with her sons in the conduct of the letter-foundry. Mrs. Fry lived at Great Marlow, and afterwards in Charterhouse Square, London, where she died, Oct. 22, 1803, aged 83.

[627] _The Printer’s Grammar. London, printed by L. Wayland._ 1787. 8vo.

[628] We have the following volume very beautifully printed:—_C. Plinii Cæcilii Secundi Epistolarum Libri x. Sumptibus editoris excudebant M. Ritchie et J. Samuells. Londini_, 1790. 8vo. At end:—_Typis Edmundi Fry_.

[629] This excellent artist was a Scotchman, and printed in Bartholomew Close in 1785. He was one of the first who started in emulation of Baskerville as a fine printer; his series of Mr. Homer’s Classics (_Sallust_, 1789; _Pliny_, 1790; _Tacitus_, 1790; _Q. Curtius_; _Cæsar_, 1790; _Livy_, 1794) established his reputation. His quarto _Bible_ and the _Memoirs of the Count de Grammont_ are also celebrated. He printed on Whatman’s paper with admirable ink and most careful press-work, and is stated to have produced most of his books by his own personal and manual labour.

[630] From this press the following elegantly printed volume was issued in 1788:—_The Beauties of the Poets, being a Collection of Moral and Sacred Poetry, etc., compiled by the late Rev. Thomas Janes of Bristol. London, printed at the Cicero Press by and for Henry Fry, No. 5 Worship Street, Upper Moorfields._ 1788. 8vo. At one time Henry Fry appears to have had a partner named Couchman.

[631] _A New Guide to the English Tongue in five parts by Thomas Dilworth . . . Schoolmaster in Wapping. Stereotype Edition. London. Andrew Wilson, Camden Town._ 8vo. Contains portraits, tail piece and 12 fable cuts.

[632] _Pantographia; containing accurate copies of all the known Alphabets in the World, together with an English explanation of the peculiar Force or Power of each Letter; to which are added specimens of all well authenticated Oral Languages; forming a comprehensive Digest of Phonology. By Edmund Fry, Letter Founder, Type Street, London, 1799._ Roy. 8vo. A few copies were printed on vellum, one of which is in the Cambridge University Library.

[633] _The Printer’s Grammar or Introduction to the Art of Printing: containing a concise History of the Art, etc., by C. Stower, Printer. London. Printed by the Editor._ 1808, 8vo. The same work also shows extracts and specimens from _Pantographia_.

[634] Hazard was also the designer of a pair of cases, a plan of which is shown by Stower, p. 463.

[635] The Rev. Samuel Lee, B.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, was a constant visitor at Type Street, and personally directed the cutting of many of the founts.

[636] Dr. Fry’s system was virtually that first introduced by Mr. Alston, of Glasgow, to which reference is made _ante_, p. 78, where details are also given as to the other principal systems of type for the Blind. A “lower-case” was subsequently added to Dr. Fry’s fount by his successors, and in this form the type was largely used by the various Type Schools following Mr. Alston’s method. Full particulars of this award, with specimens, maybe seen in Vol. I of the _Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts_.

[637] Hansard mentions a Two-line English Engrossing, two sizes of Music, and the matrices of Dr. Wilkins’ _Philosophical Character_; none of which, however, formed part of this Foundry.

[638] Of the supposed antiquity of this interesting fount an account has already been given at pages 200–5, _ante_. By a curious confusion of names and dates, Dr. Fry, in his specimens stated that “this character was cut by _Wynkyn de Worde_, in exact imitation of the _Codex Alexandrinus_ in the British Museum” ! This absurd anachronism—the more extraordinary as emanating from an antiquary of Dr. Fry’s standing—appears to have arisen from the fact that at the sale of James’ Foundry the matrices lay in a drawer which bore the name, “De Worde.” This circumstance misled Paterson, the auctioneer, into advertising the fount as the genuine handiwork of De Worde, a printer who lived a century before the Codex was brought into this country. The further coincidence that Dr. Woide of the British Museum was, at the time of the sale, engaged in producing an edition of the _Codex_, with facsimile types prepared by Jackson the founder, doubtless added—by the similarity of the names De Worde and Dr. Woide—to the confusion. After its purchase, the fount first appeared in Joseph Fry and Sons’ Specimen of 1786, without note. But, in the subsequent specimens of the Foundry, bearing his own name, Dr. Fry introduced the fiction, which remained unchallenged for a quarter of a century.

[639] In addition to which Dr. Fry possessed, in an imperfect condition (many of the characters having been recut), the Great Primer Arabic of Walton’s _Polyglot_. According to Hansard he also had a set of matrices, English body, from the first punches cut by William Caslon; but this seems to be an error.

[640] Used in Bagster’s _Polyglot_. The same fount was cast on Long Primer with movable points. Hansard is in error in stating that Dr. Fry cut a Nonpareil Syriac.

[641] An error still less explicable than that of the Alexandrian Greek, but which not only Dr. Fry’s successors, but Hansard himself has copied. The following seems to be the “good authority” on which the assertion is based. In 1819, Mr. Bulmer, the eminent printer, printed for the Roxburghe Club, Mr. Hibbert’s transcript of the MS. fragment of the translation of _Ovid’s Metamorphoses_, made by Caxton about 1480, and preserved in the library of Pepys at Magdalen College, Cambridge. The body of the work was set in the English Black bought by Dr. Fry at James’ Sale—but in two places a smaller size of type was required to print passages omitted in Caxton’s translation, but supplied by the Editor in the original French of Colard Mansion’s edition. For these passages the Pica Black was selected, and as the French text contained several accents and contractions, these had to be specially cut. This task Dr. Fry performed, and understanding that the letter was to be used for printing a work of Caxton’s, he appears, without further enquiry, to have assumed that the work in question was a fac-simile reprint, and that his old matrices had been discovered to bear the impress of the veritable character used by that famous man. Had he seen the book in question he would have discovered that not only was it a transcript from a MS. of which no printed copy had ever been known to exist, but that the very passages in which the boasted type was used, were passages which did not even appear in a work of Caxton at all. The matrices are very old. They were in Andrews’ foundry about 1700, and in all probability came there from Holland, as they closely resemble the other old Dutch Blacks in James’ Foundry.

[642] In the Small Pica, No. 2, was printed _The Two First Books of the Pentateuch, or Books of Moses, as a preparation for learners to read the Holy Scriptures. The types cut by Mr. Edmund Fry, Letter Founder to His Majesty, from Original Irish Manuscripts, under the care and direction of T. Connellan (2nd Edit.) Printed at the Apollo Press, London, J. Johnson, Brook Street, Holborn, 1819._ 12mo.

[643] Whatever singularity M. Didot may have indulged in in the first strikes from his famous punches for his own use, the matrices now in the possession of Dr. Fry’s successors are of most unmistakeable copper throughout. And it does not appear that more than one set of the strikes was needed to meet all the demands made upon this complicated letter by the printers of the day.

[644] _Gentleman’s Magazine_, May, 1836.

[645] Nichols’ _Lit. Anec._, ii, 358–9; and _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1792, p. 93.

[646] _Dissert._, p. 83.

[647] Probably as a rubber, in which occupation he is represented as engaged in the View of the Caslon Foundry given in the _Universal Magazine_ for June 1750 (see frontispiece).

[648] _Dissertation_, p. 83.

[649] Mr. Halhed thus refers to this circumstance in the introduction to his _Bengal Grammar_ (see post): “That the Bengal letter is very difficult to be imitated in steel will readily be allowed by every person who shall examine the intricacies of the strokes, the unequal length and size of the characters, and the variety of their positions and combinations. It was no easy task to procure a writer accurate enough to prepare an alphabet of a similar and proportionate body throughout, with that symmetrical exactness which is necessary to the regularity and neatness of a fount. Mr. Bolts (who is supposed to be well versed in this language) attempted to fabricate a set of types for it with the assistance of the ablest artists in London. But, as he has egregiously failed in executing even the easiest part, or primary alphabet, of which he has published a specimen, there is no reason to suppose that his project when completed would have advanced beyond the usual state of imperfection to which new inventions are constantly exposed.”

[650] This distinguished scholar and self-made typographer was born in the year 1751. He entered the East India Company’s Civil Service, where he devoted himself not only to the study of the Oriental languages, but to the actual production of the types necessary to extend the study of those languages among his fellow-countrymen, with extraordinary skill and perseverance. He succeeded in cutting the punches and casting the types for Halhed’s _Grammar of the Bengal Language_, published at Hoogly in Bengal in 1778, 4to. In his preface to that work, Mr. Halhed, after referring to Mr. Bolts’ failure, in the passage quoted in the preceding note, thus describes the undertaking:—“The advice and even solicitation of the Governor-General prevailed upon Mr. Wilkins, a gentleman who has been some years in the India Company’s Civil Service in Bengal, to undertake a set of Bengal Types. He did, and his success has exceeded every expectation. In a country so remote from all connection with European artists, he has been obliged to charge himself with all the various occupations of the Metallurgist, the Engraver, the Founder, and the Printer. To the merit of invention he was compelled to add the application of personal labour. With a rapidity unknown in Europe, he surmounted all the obstacles which necessarily clog the first rudiments of a difficult art, as well as the disadvantages of solitary experiment; and has thus singly, on the first effort, exhibited his work in a state of perfection which in every part of the world has appeared to require the united improvements of different projectors and the gradual polish of successive ages.” Mr. Wilkins persevered in his noble undertaking of rendering the Oriental languages available to the English scholar through the medium of typography. With this view he compiled from the most celebrated native Grammars and Commentaries a work entirely new to England on the Structure of the Sanskrita tongue. Of the difficulties and discouragements attendant on the execution of this self-imposed task he thus speaks in his Preface:—“At the commencement of the year in 1795, residing in the country and having much leisure, I began to arrange my materials and prepare them for publication. I cut letters in steel, made matrices and moulds, and cast from them a fount of types of the Deva Nagari character, all with my own hands; and, with the assistance of such mechanics as a country village could afford, I very speedily prepared all the other implements of printing in my own dwelling-house; for by the second of May of the same year I had taken proofs of 16 pages, differing but little from those now exhibited in the first two sheets. Till two o’clock on that day everything had succeeded to my expectations; when alas! the premises were discovered to be in flames, which, spreading too rapidly to be extinguished, the whole building was presently burned to the ground. In the midst of this misfortune, I happily saved all my books and manuscripts, and the greatest part of the punches and matrices; but the types themselves having been thrown out and scattered on the lawn, were either lost or rendered useless.” About ten years afterwards the Directors of the East India Company encouraged Dr. Wilkins, then Librarian to the Company, to resume his labours and cast new types, as the study of the Sanskrita had become an important object in their new College at Hertford. Dr. Wilkins complied, and the _Grammar of the Sanskrita Language_, London, 1808, 4to, duly appeared from Bulmer’s Press, and was allowed to be a monument at once of beautiful typography and erudite industry. Dr., subsequently Sir Charles, Wilkins died May 13th, 1836, at the advanced age of 85. Specimens of his Bengali and Sanskrit may be seen in Johnson’s _Typographia_, ii, 389–94.

[651] _A Vocabulary, Persian, Arabic, and English, containing such words as have been adopted from the two former of these languages, and incorporated into the Hindvi; together with some hundreds of compound verbs formed from Persian or Arabic nouns and in universal use. Being the seventh part of the new Hindvi Grammar and Dictionary._ London, 1785. 4to.

[652] The Domesday letter of Cottrell and Jackson may be seen in juxtaposition in Fry’s _Pantographia_, 1799, pp. 50 and 314; also in Stower’s _Printer’s Grammar_, 1808, p. 253. Jackson’s also appears in Johnson’s _Typographia_ (ii, p. 248), from which work our account is chiefly taken.

[653] _Domesday Book seu Liber Censualis Willelmi primi Regis Angliæ inter Archivos Regni in Domo capitulari Westmonasterii asservatus. Jubente Rege Augustissimo Georgio Tertio prelo mandatus. Londini. Typis J. Nichols._ 2 vols. Folio. 1783.

[654] _Domesday Book Illustrated._ London. 1788. 8vo.

[655] Dr. Woide was appointed Assistant Librarian at the British Museum in 1782.

[656] See _ante_, p. 200–5.

[657] A specimen of this letter may be seen in Dr. Fry’s specimens, also in his _Pantagraphia_, p. 126.

[658] Gough, writing in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, vol. lvi, p. 497, says:—“It was reserved, therefore, for the industry and application of Dr. Woide . . . to rescue this valuable MS. from the fate which befel a MS. of the Septuagint in the Cottonian Library of equal antiquity, type, and, value, of which a very few fragments escaped the fire in 1733, by adopting the facsimile mode of reproduction, which, from the great expense attending it, has unfortunately been adopted in so few instances.” The facsimile of the Laudian Codex, comprising the _Acts of the Apostles_, published by Hearne at Oxford in 1715, had been the only previous successful attempt of this kind in England. Hearne’s facsimile, however, was engraved, and not from type. A list of the most important subsequent facsimile reproductions from Codices of the Holy Text is given in Horne’s _Introduction_ (edit. 1872), iv, pp. 682–3.

[659] _Novum Testamentum Græcum è Codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliothecâ Musei Britannici asservatur, descriptum a Carolo Godofredo Woide . . . Musei Britannici Bibliothecaria Londini. Ex prelo Jeannis Nichols. Typis Jacksonianis, 1786._ Folio.

[660] _Psalterium Græcum è Codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliothecâ Musei Britannici asservatur Typis ad similitudinem ipsius Codicis Scripturæ fideliter descriptum. Curâ et labore H. H. Baber. Londini, 1812._ Folio.

[661] _Vetus Testamentum Græcum è Codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliothecâ Musei Britannici asservatur, Typis ad similitudinem ipsius Codicis Scripturæ fideliter descriptum. Curâ et labore H. H. Baber, Londini, 1816–21._ 4 vols., Folio. Mr. Baber, the better to preserve the identity of the original in his fac-similes, introduced a considerable number of fresh types as well as numerous woodcuts.

[662] _Codex Theodori Bezæ Cantabrigiensis, Evangelia et Acta Apostolorum complectens, quadratis literis, Græco-Latinus. Academia auspicante summâ qua fide potuit, adumbravit, expressit, edidit, codicis historiam præfixit, notasque adjecit T. Kipling. Cantabrigiæ è prelo Academico, impensis Academiæ, 1793._ 2 vols., Folio.

[663] _Gent. Mag._, 1793, p. 733.

[664] Mores’ _Dissert._, Appendix, p. 98.

[665] _Prosodia Rationalis, an Essay towards establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech by Symbols._ London, 1779. 4to.

[666] _An Essay towards Establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech, to be expressed and perpetuated by peculiar Symbols._ London, 1775. 4to.

[667] _The Holy Bible, embellished with Engravings from Pictures and Designs by the most eminent Artists. London: printed for Thomas Macklin by Thomas Bensley, 1800. 7 vols._ Folio.

[668] See p. 336, _post_. Jackson’s fount is used to the end of _Numbers_.

[669] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 360.

[670] _The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution in 1688. By David Hume. London: printed by T. Bensley, for Robert Bowyer, 1806._ 10 vols. Folio.

[671] _Gent. Mag._, 1792, p. 166.

[672] John William Pasham, originally of Bury St. Edmund’s, where he published the _Bury Flying Weekly Journal_. He removed to Blackfriars in London, where, in 1776, he published a beautiful pocket edition of the _Bible_ in 24mo, which obtained the title of the _Immaculate Bible_, on account of the rarity of its errors. It had foot-notes, which could be cut off in the binding if required. Of this _Bible_, Lemoine says “it is spoiled by being dried in a kiln, which has entirely changed the colour of the paper; besides, the colour of the print is uneven, one side being darker than the other.” This _Bible_ is said to have been printed in a house on Finchley Common. Mr. Pasham died Dec. 1783.

[673] See _ante_, p. 250.

[674] The prefatory note to this specimen runs as follows:—“Sir, Having completed my new Specimen, I take the opportunity of sending you a copy, and flatter myself it will meet with your approbation. I shall be happy to receive your future orders, and you may be assured of every possible attention being paid to the execution of those you may favour me with. I remain, your obedient humble servant, William Caslon. Salisbury Square, Jan. 1, 1798.”

[675] He made an offer in 1817 to travel on commission for the founders generally, but his services in this direction were not made use of.

[676] The Circular announcing this improvement is dated Salisbury Square, Jan. 1, 1810. The new types are offered at 1_s._ 10_d._ per lb., and, as an encouragement to buyers, 1_s._ per lb. is offered for old metal.

[677] See _ante_, p. 120. This appears to have been intended as an improvement on the invention of Nicholson, who was the first (in 1790) to suggest the casting of types wedge-shaped, for fixing on cylinders. (p. 119.)

[678] Considerable prominence is naturally given to the large letters “cast in moulds and matrices” by the new “Sanspareil” method.

[679] See _ante_, p. 281.

[680] George Nicol was born in 1741, and was for many years bookseller to King George III. He married a niece of the first Alderman Boydell in 1787. The idea of the Boydell _Shakespeare_ originated with him. He was a prominent member of the literary clubs of his day, and a personal friend of the Duke of Roxburghe. He died in 1829, aged 88.

[681] A history of this celebrated Press would almost involve a history of fine printing in the first quarter of the present century. Dibdin, in the second volume of his _Bibliographical Decameron_, has given a list of its most famous impressions. Bulmer was a personal friend of Thomas Bewick, the engraver, many of whose blocks were cut for his books. He spared no pains to render the typography of his press the most correct and beautiful England had hitherto known. He retired in 1819, leaving Mr. Wm. Nicol, only son of his friend George Nicol, to carry on the business. Mr. Bulmer died Sept. 9, 1830, in his 74th year, greatly honoured and respected.

[682] _The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare. Revised by G. Steevens._ London: 1792–1802. 18 parts in 9 vols. Atlas folio. With 100 engravings.

[683] _Bibl. Decam._, ii, 384.

[684] _The Poetical Works of John Milton, with a life of the Author by William Hayley._ London: 1794–7. 3 vols. Folio.

[685] See _ante_, p. 251.

[686] _Bibl. Decam._, ii, 384.

[687] _Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell._ London: 1795. 4to. This work was illustrated with woodcuts by Bewick. It is said that George III ordered his bookseller to procure the blocks of the engravings for his inspection, that he might convince himself they were wood and not copper.

[688] _Typographia_, p. 311.

[689] Nichols, _Illust. Lit._, viii, 485.

[690] _Musæus. The Loves of Hero and Leander. (Greek and English.) London. Printed by W. Bulmer & Co. Typis Gulielmi Martin._ 1797. 4to. This work was privately printed by Mr. Bulmer for Mr. Grosvenor Bedford, the translator.

[691] _The Press: a Poem. Published as a Specimen of Typography by John M^cCreery. Liverpool: printed by J. M^cCreery._ Houghton Street, 1803. 4to.

[692] _Typographical Antiquities, &c., greatly enlarged, with copious notes, by T. F. Dibdin_, London: 1810–12–16–19. 4 vols. 4to. The work was not completed. The first volume was not printed at the Shakespeare Press.

[693] _Bibliotheca Spenceriana; or, a Descriptive Catalogue of Books printed in the XV Century, and of many valuable First Editions in the Library of George John, Earl Spencer._ London: 1814–15. 4 vols. 8vo.

[694] _The Bibliographical Decameron; or, Ten Days’ Pleasant Discourse upon Illuminated Manuscripts, and Subjects connected with early Engraving, Typography and Bibliography._ London, 1817. 3 vols, 8vo.

[695] Amongst which were the early publications of the Roxburghe Club, instituted by Earl Spencer, in 1812, for the republication of rare books or unpublished MSS. M. Renouard censures Bulmer for the use of worn type in the Edition of _Ben Jonson’s Works_, 1816. 9 vols. 8vo. “L’habile M. Bulmer aurait dû jeter à la fonte les caractères usés dont il a fait usage pour cette volumineuse édition, et les libraires entrepreneurs n’auroient pas dû lui en permettre l’emploi.”

[696] _Illust. Lit._, viii, 485.

[697] An early specimen of Thorowgood’s shows a Black, the matrices of which, it is stated, “were purchased by Messrs. Fry & Steele at the breaking up of the Cleveland Row Foundry.” As, however, Messrs. Fry & Steele’s partnership terminated about 1808, we consider the whole statement doubtful.

[698] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 361.

[699] Hansard. _Typographia_, 359.

[700] See _ante_, p. 323.

[701] _The Seasons. By James Thomson. Illustrated with Engravings by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., and P. W. Tomkins, Historical Engraver to their Majesties, from original pictures painted for the work by W. Hamilton, R.A. London: Printed for P. W. Tomkins, New Bond Street. The letter press by T. Bensley. The Types by V. Figgins._ 1799. Folio.

[702] _Typographia_, p. 360.

[703] _Paradise Lost, by John Milton, with Notes and Life of the Author. . . . By Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Engravings by Heath, &c. London: Printed for J. Parsons, 1796._ 2 vols. 8vo.

[704] Sir William Ouseley was born in 1771, and accompanied his brother Sir Gore Ouseley, the ambassador to Persia, to that country as secretary. He published _Persian Miscellanies_ in 1795, and _Oriental Collections_ in 1797–1800. In the advertisement at the close of the 1st volume of the latter work, he states, “I have employed a few leisure hours in superintending the execution of a new Persian Type, which will, I trust, exhibit as faithful a representation of the true Taleek character as can be effected by any imitative powers of the Typographick Art.” Of this new fount he shows a single line as specimen, which, however, if cut by Mr. Figgins, is not the Paragon Persian which subsequently appeared in his specimen books. Nor did it appear, as promised, in the _Oriental Collections_ of 1798, the quotations in which continued to be printed in Arabic characters.

[705] _The Persian Moonshee, by Francis Gladwin, Esquire. Calcutta. London, reprinted 1801._ 4to.

[706] This important enquiry was the result of an address of the House of Commons to the King, in 1800, setting forth the necessity of a better provision for the arrangement, preservation and use of the various Public Records scattered among the numerous offices of the kingdom. The Commission thereupon appointed were empowered to take all necessary measures to “methodize, regulate and digest the records, etc.”, preserved in all Public Offices and repositories, and “to superintend the printing of such calendars and indexes and original records and papers” as it should be deemed desirable to print. With this large task before them, the Commissioners went actively to work, and in 1800 and 1806 published their first Reports. The following important publication, issued under the Direction of the Commission, was commenced in 1800:—_Reports from the Commissioners appointed to execute the measures recommended by a Select Committee of the House of Commons respecting the Public Records of the Kingdom, etc._, London, 1800–19, 2 vols., folio. The appendix forming the second volume contains facsimiles of all the Charters (including Magna Charta) and Inrollments from Stephen to William and Mary, with the Seals inserted in the several works printed under the Commission. The list of the subsequent publications of the Commission is very extensive, and includes verbatim copies, with all abbreviations and contractions, of the most important documents in the kingdom.

[707] The first important work in connection with the Scotch Record Commission was _Inquisitionum ad Capellam Domini Regis retornatarum quæ in publicis Archivis Scotiæ adhuc servantur Abbrevatio cum Indicibus_, Edinburgh, 1811–16, 3 vols., folio, and a Supplement.

[708] These types perished in the fire of Mr. Nichols’ printing office in 1808, see _ante_, p. 321.

[709] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 361.

[710] _Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, Textus Archetypos, Versionesque præcipuas ab Ecclesiâ Antiquitùs receptas complectentia._ London: 1817–28. 5 parts, 4to, 4 vols., 8vo. This Bible comprises the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament, the Vulgate Latin and the Authorised English version of the entire Bible, the original Greek of the New Testament, and the venerable Peschito or Syriac version of it. This _Polyglot_ was republished with the addition of Spanish, French, Italian, and German versions in 1831, with learned prolegomena by Dr. Samuel Lee.

[711] See _ante_, p. 308.

[712] _Novum Testamentum Syriace denuo recognitum atque ad fidem Codicum MSS. emendatum. Impressit R. Watts._ London 1816, 4to. Dr. Buchanan was born in 1766 and went to India in 1796, where his researches led to the discovery, among other things, of some interesting Hebrew Manuscripts of portions of the Bible, on goat skins and tablets of brass. He died in the year 1815. The Syriac _Testament_ was corrected by him as far as the _Acts_, and completed by Dr. Lee, Arabic Professor at Cambridge. See _ante_, p. 68.

[713] _Typographia_, p. 360.

[714] The matrices of the Long Primer and Brevier cut for the Scotch Record Commission were given up to the Government.

[715] Hansard omits the Double Pica Greek cut for Oxford University, the matrices of which were retained by Mr. Figgins. A specimen appears in the book of 1823.

[716] The fount for Bagster’s _Polyglot_.

[717] The punches, matrices and moulds of this fount were deposited in the East India Company’s Library.

[718] It would be an omission not to mention here Mr. Vincent Figgins II’s interesting reprint of the 2nd Edition of Caxton’s _Game of the Chesse_, London, 1855, sm. folio. Mr. Figgins cut a fount of type after the original, “which” he remarks, “is a mixture of black-letter and the character called secretary,” the black predominating. The “Caxton Black” so produced has been the only attempt made to approach a facsimile of Caxton’s letter by means of type. In his remarks, Mr. Figgins gives his reasons for concluding, from the variety in the form of the letters, that they were not cast from a matrix but cut separately by hand. This theory Mr. Blades, in his “_Life of Caxton_,” disproves, pointing out that the Type No. 2* used in the second edition of Caxton’s work is really an old fount originally cast from matrices, and, when worn, trimmed up by hand to form the punches for a new fount—a circumstance amply sufficient to account for the irregularities observed. These irregularities are, of course, sufficient to prevent the absolute possibility of anything like an exact facsimile by means of type. It is, however, interesting to note that John Whittaker’s famous restorations of Caxtonian and other early printed works, were to a certain extent accomplished by means of typography. Mr. Dibdin, in his _Bibliographical Decameron_ (ii, 415), describes the operation as follows:—“He has caused to be engraved or cut four founts of Caxton’s letter. These are cut in the manner of binders’ tools for lettering, and each letter is separately charged with ink, and separately impressed on the paper. Some of Caxton’s types are so riotous and unruly that Mr. Whittaker found it impossible to carry on his design without having at least twenty of such irregular letters engraved. The process of executing the text with such tools shall be related in Mr. Whittaker’s own words:—‘A tracing being taken with the greatest precision from the original leaf, on white tracing paper, it is then laid on the leaf (first prepared to match the book it is intended for) with a piece of blacked paper between the two. Then by a point passing round the sides of each letter, a true impression is given from the black paper on the leaf beneath. The types are next stamped on singly, being charged with old printing ink prepared in colour exactly to match each distinct book. The type being then set on the marks made by tracing, in all the rude manner and at the same unequal distances observable in the original, they will bear the strictest scrutiny and comparison with their prototype; it being impossible to make a facsimile of Caxton’s printing in any other way, as his letters are generally set up irregularly and at unequal distances, leaning various ways,’ ” etc.

[719] See _ante_, p. 241.

[720] _Printers’ Grammar_, p. 31.

[721] See _ante_, p. 212, _n._

[722] Mr. Ilive the elder is named in Samuel Negus’s list of Printers, published by Bowyer in 1724, as one of those “said to be high flyers”. He was a benefactor to Zion College, and printed the classical catalogue of their library from the letter P.

[723] _Marius de Calasio. Concordantiæ Bibliorum Hebr. et Lat. edente Guil. Romaine_, 4 vols., Lond. 1747, folio.

[724] _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 130.

[725] “Emboldened by his first adventure, he determined to become the public teacher of infidelity. For this purpose he hired the use of Carpenters’ Hall, where for some time he delivered his Orations, which consisted chiefly of scraps from Tindal and other similar writers” (Chalmers’ _Biog. Dict._, xix, 228).

[726] _The Book of Jasher. With Testimonies and Notes explanatory of the Text. To which is prefixed various Readings. Translated into English from the Hebrew, by Alcuin of Britain, who went a Pilgrimage into the Holy Land, etc. Printed in the year 1751._ 4to. The fraud was immediately detected and exposed. The work was reprinted, without acknowledgment and with some variations, at Bristol in 1829, by a Rev. C. R. Bond. Both editions are now rare.

[727] _Dissert._, p. 65.

[728] These are enumerated in Gough’s _British Topography_, i, 637.

[729] _British Topography_, i, 597.

[730] See _ante_, p. 260.

[731] _A Specimen of the Printing Types and Flowers belonging to John Reid, Printer, Bailie Fyfe’s Close, Edinburgh, etc._ Edinburgh, 1768. 8vo. All the other founts shown are either Wilson’s or Caslon’s.

[732] _History of Printing in America. 2nd Edit. Albany_, 1874. i, 31.

[733] The first attempt to introduce type-founding in America had been made by Mitchelson, a Scotchman, in 1768, and failed. In 1769, Abel Buel, of Connecticut, succeeded in casting several founts of Long Primer. Christopher Sower, in 1772, brought over a foundry from Germany to Germantown in Pennsylvania. John Bay also founded in the same town about 1774. Benj. Franklin and his grandson Bache brought over a foundry from France in 1775 to Philadelphia, which, however, had ceased its operations when Baine and his grandson, some ten years later, established their foundry in the same city.

[734] See _Abridgments of Specifications relating to Printing_, p. 87. See also _ante_, p. 78.

[735] _Typog. Antiq._, p. 81. This appears to be the person whom Gough, in his list of departed worthies of the eighteenth century, includes among the letter founders, as “Jurisson, d. 1791”. (_Gent. Magaz._, lxxiii, part i, p. 161.)

[736] See _ante_, p. 269.

[737] “British Foundry. S. & C. Stephenson respectfully submit the present edition of their Specimen to the public with the hope that they shall continue to experience the flattering encouragement hitherto received, and for which they beg to return their most sincere thanks.

“To those of the Trade who have not hitherto used the Types of the British Foundry, it may be necessary to observe, that they are composed of the very best Metal, and that they are justified to paper and body agreeable to the usual standard.

“As the Establishment of this Foundry comprises eminent engravers on wood and brass, orders in either of these branches will be executed in the best stile of the Art. _February_, 1797.”

A first part of the specimen appears to have been issued in 1796, and the whole book in 1797.

[738] _Bibliography of Printing_, ii, 42.

[739] _Typog._, p. 366.

[740] _Ibid._, p. 361.

[741] A specimen of this type “the smallest ever manufactured in this country,” was exhibited, and contains the whole of Gray’s _Elegy_ in 32 verses, in 2 columns, measuring 3 3/4 inches each in depth.

[742] _Dictionary for the Pocket; French and English; English and French, &c., by John Bellows, Gloucester, from type cast specially for the work by Miller and Richard, Type founders to the Queen, Edinburgh._ 1873. 24mo.

[743] Sheffield, 3rd edit., 1841, 12mo. A similar proposal, only with Nonpareil as the standard, was made about 1824 by James Fergusson, whose scheme is quoted _in extenso_ by Hansard in his _Typographia_, p. 388.

[744] _The Printer’s Assistant, containing a Sketch of the History of Printing, etc. London, 1810._ 12mo.

[745] _Typog._, p. 382.

[746] See _ante_, p. 253–4; also Johnson’s _Typographia_, ii, 652.

[747] Mr. Branston was an engraver, and resided at Beaufort Buildings, Strand, in 1824. He attempted a new system of printing music, by striking the punches deeper than usual in the plate, so that when a stereo cast was taken from it, the notes appeared sufficiently in relief to be printed at a type press.

[748] See _ante_, p. 121. M. Didot’s invention had been previously tried by Henry Caslon, but unsuccessfully.

[749] This appears to be an anachronism. There was no association of Type Founders between 1820 and 1830.

[750] Hansard, _Typog._, p. 361.

[751] Johnson, in 1824, gives a list of nine founders (including Pouchée), at that time trading in London. (_Typog._, ii, 652.)

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Original spelling and grammar have generally been retained, with some exceptions noted below. Original printed page numbers are shown like this: {52}. Original small caps are now uppercase. Italics look _like this_. The transcriber produced the cover image and hereby assigns it to the public domain. Original page images are available from archive.org — search for “historyofoldengl00reed”. Single superscripted letters are shown like this: “M^cCreery”. Superscripted groups of letters (e.g. “er”) are shown like this: “I^{er}”.

Footnotes have been renumbered 1–751 and converted to ENDNOTES. Anchors and labels for endnotes are shown as numbers within square brackets, e.g. “[751]”. However, there are two exceptions: on page 256, “[11]” and “[2]” do not reference footnotes or endnotes, but are shown as originally printed.

Ditto marks have generally been eliminated, using text replication when necessary. Large curly brackets “{ }” used as graphic devices to combine information over two or more lines have been removed from the text everywhere. Example: in the table on page 35, first column, 9th and 10th rows, there was a two-row bracket “{” suggesting that “9.” applies to both rows. Herein, “9.” was simply duplicated to indicate that fact. The row headed by “17. Pearl” contains in the second column, in the original printed book, two rows containing “Parisienne or Sedan.” and “Perle.”, enclosed in two-row brackets “{ }”. Herein, table-cell borders have been drawn to suggest this combination.

Page xi, CONTENTS. Chapter 3 page reference was changed to 83, from 13.

Page 32n. “fromer” to “former”.

Page 35. “Grobe” to “Große”, in two places in the table.

Page 38. “Geeek” to “Greek”.

Page 49. The left double quotation mark in ‘observed in 1825, “have left’ has no closing mark. Several other puzzling usages of quotation marks elsewhere have also been retained.

Page 51n. The proofreading code “[*pro]” is used herein to represent a symbol originally printed as a latin small p with a hook, used as an abbreviation for _pro_.

Page 52. The proofreading code “[*Q]” on this page represents the stylized Q originally printed.

Page 138. The proofreading code “[*Q]” on this page represents two glyphs, a Gothic Q, and the same glyph turned about 90° clockwise.

Page 156. The illustration has been changed from number 41 to 31, to agree with the List of Illustrations.

Page 159. The proofreading code “[*AT]” on this page represents a glyph that appears to be a ligature of T and A.

Page 190n. The phrase _or here (Mason’s_ was changed to _or here” (Mason’s_, by inserting the missing right double quotation mark.

Page 205n. The phrase “P. VergiliI Maronis Codex” is retained as printed.

Page 274n. A matching right double quotation mark was inserted after ‘Η Καινη Διαθηκη’.

Page 320. Changed “emploeyd” to “employed”.

Page 369 INDEX. The use of punctuation, particularly semicolons, colons, and the 3-em dashes that function as ditto marks, seems often inconsistent or strange. It is generally retained herein as printed. The organization and structure of the original index is retained as well.