Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=.

This certifies that four hundred and fifty copies only, all on hand-made Holland paper and printed from types, of this edition of Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises,” in two volumes, were completed in August, 1896, and that the types have been distributed.

_Joseph J. Little._
_S. P. Avery._
_Walter Gilliss._
_Douglas Taylor._
_Theo. L. DeVinne._
_David Williams._
_W. W. Pasko._

_Committee of the Typothetæ._

MOXON’S

MECHANICK EXERCISES

MOXON’S
MECHANICK EXERCISES

OR THE DOCTRINE OF HANDY-WORKS
APPLIED TO THE ART OF

PRINTING

A LITERAL REPRINT IN TWO VOLUMES OF
THE FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1683

WITH PREFACE AND NOTES BY
THEO. L. DE VINNE

VOLUME I

NEW-YORK

THE TYPOTHETÆ OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK

MDCCCLXXXXVI

PREFACE

JOSEPH MOXON was born at Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, August 8, 1627. There is no published record of his parentage or his early education. His first business was that of a maker and vender of mathematical instruments, in which industry he earned a memorable reputation between the years 1659 and 1683. He was not content with this work, for he had leanings to other branches of the mechanic arts, and especially toward the designing of letters and the making of printing-types.

In 1669 he published a sheet in folio under the heading of “Prooves of the Several Sorts of Letters Cast by Joseph Moxon.” The imprint is “Westminster, Printed by Joseph Moxon, in Russell street, at the Sign of the Atlas, 1669.” This specimen of types seems to have been printed, not to show his dexterity as a type-founder, but to advertise himself as a dealer in mathematical and scientific instruments. The reading matter of the sheet describes “Globes Celestial and Terrestrial, Large Maps of the World, A Tutor to Astronomie and to Geographie”—all of his own production. Reed flouts the typography of this sheet: “It is a sorry performance. Only one fount, the Pica, has any pretensions to elegance or regularity. The others are so clumsily cut or badly cast, and so wretchedly printed, as here and there to be almost undecipherable.”[1] The rude workmanship of these early types proves, as he afterward admitted, that he had never been properly taught the art of type-founding; that he had learned it, as he said others had, “of his own genuine inclination.”

It was then a difficult task to learn any valuable trade. The Star Chamber decree of 1637 ordained that there should be but four type-founders for the kingdom of Great Britain, and the number of their apprentices was restricted. When the Long Parliament met in 1640, the decrees of the Star Chamber were practically dead letters, and for a few years there was free trade in typography. In 1644 the Star Chamber regulations were reimposed; in 1662 they were made more rigorous than ever. The importation of types from abroad without the consent of the Stationers’ Company was prohibited. British printers were compelled to buy the inferior types of English founders, who, secure in their monopoly, did but little for the improvement of printing.[2]

It is probable that the attention of Moxon was first drawn to type-founding by the founders themselves, who had to employ mechanics of skill for the making of their molds and other implements of type-casting. In this manner he could have obtained an insight into the mysteries of the art that had been carefully concealed. He did not learn type-making or printing in the usual routine. The records of the Company of Stationers do not show that he was ever made a freeman of that guild, yet he openly carried on the two distinct businesses of type-founding and printing after 1669. It is probable that he had a special permit from a higher authority, for in 1665 he had been appointed hydrographer to the king, and a good salary was given with the office. He was then devoted to the practical side of scientific pursuits, and was deferred to as a man of ability.

He published several mathematical treatises between the years 1658 and 1687; one, called “Compendium Euclidis Curiosi,” was translated by him from Dutch into English, and printed in London in 1677. Mores supposes that he had acquired a knowledge of Dutch by residence in Holland, but intimates that he was not proficient in its grammar.[3]

In 1676 he published a book on the shapes of letters, with this formidable title: “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. Printed for Joseph Moxon on Ludgate Hill, at the Sign of Atlas, 1676.” He then dedicated the book to Sir Christopher Wren, “as a lover of rule and proportion,” or to one who might be pleased with this attempt to make alphabetical letters conform to geometric rules.

There is no intimation that the book was intended for punch-cutters. It contains specific directions about the shapes of letters, covering fifty-two pages, as proper introduction to the thirty-eight pages of model letters that follow, rudely drawn and printed from copper plates. Moxon says that these model letters are his copies of the letters of Christopher Van Dijk, the famous punch-cutter of Holland. He advises that each letter should be plotted upon a framework of small squares—forty-two squares in height and of a proportionate width, as is distinctly shown in the plates of letters in this book.[4] Upon these squares the draftsman should draw circles, angles, and straight lines, as are fully set forth in the instructions.

These diagrams, with their accompanying instruction, have afforded much amusement to type-founders. All of them unite in saying that the forming of letters by geometrical rule is absurd and impracticable. This proposition must be conceded without debate, but the general disparagement of all the letters, in which even Reed joins, may be safely controverted. It is admitted that the characters are rudely drawn, and many have faults of disproportion; but it must not be forgotten that they were designed to meet the most important requirement of a reader—to be read, and read easily. Here are the broad hair-line, the stubby serif on the lower-case and the bracketed serif on the capitals, the thick stem, the strong and low crown on letters like m and n, with other peculiarities now commended in old-style faces and often erroneously regarded as the original devices of the first Caslon. The black-letter has more merit than the roman or italic. Some of the capitals are really uncouth; but with all their faults the general effect of a composition in these letters will be found more satisfactory to the bibliophile as a text-type than any form of pointed black that has been devised in this century as an improvement.

Moxon confesses no obligation to any one for his geometrical system, but earlier writers had propounded a similar theory. Books on the true proportions of letters had been written by Fra Luca Paccioli, Venice, 1509; Albert Dürer, Nuremberg, 1525; Geofroy Tory, Paris, 1529; and Yciar, Saragossa, 1548. Nor did the attempt to make letters conform to geometrical rules end with Moxon. In 1694, M. Jaugeon, chief of the commission appointed by the Academy of Sciences of Paris, formulated a system that required a plot of 2304 little squares for the accurate construction of every full-bodied capital letter. The manuscript and diagrams of the author were never put in print, but are still preserved in the papers of the Academy.

This essay on the forms of letters seems to have been sent out as the forerunner of a larger work on the theory and practice of mechanical arts. Under the general title of “Mechanick Exercises,” in 1677, he began the publication, in fourteen monthly numbers, of treatises on the trades of the smith, the joiner, the carpenter, and the turner. These constitute the first volume of the “Mechanick Exercises.” The book did not find as many buyers as had been expected. Moxon attributed its slow sale to political excitement, for the Oates plot put the buying and study of trade books away from the minds of readers. He had to wait until 1683 before he began the publication of the second volume, which consists of twenty-four numbers, and treats of the art of printing only. It is this second volume that is here reprinted, for the first volume is of slight interest to the printer or man of letters.

Moxon’s book has the distinction of being not only the first, but the most complete of the few early manuals of typography. Fournier’s “Manuel Typographique” of 1764 is the only book that can be compared with it in minuteness of detail concerning type-making, but he treats of type-making only. Reed says: “Any one acquainted with the modern practice of punch-cutting cannot but be struck, on reading the directions laid down in the ‘Mechanick Exercises,’ with the slightness of the changes which the manual processes of that art have undergone during the last two centuries. Indeed, allowing for improvements in tools, and the greater variety of gauges, we might almost assert that the punch-cutter of Moxon’s day knew scarcely less than the punch-cutter of our day, with the accumulated experience of two hundred years, could teach him.... For almost a century it remained the only authority on the subject; subsequently it formed the basis of numerous other treatises both at home and abroad; and to this day it is quoted and referred to, not only by the antiquary, who desires to learn what the art once was, but by the practical printer, who may still on many subjects gather from it much advice and information as to what it should still be.”[5]

During his business life, Moxon stood at the head of the trade in England. He was selected to cut a font of type for an edition of the New Testament in the Irish language, which font was afterward used for many other books. He cut also the characters designed by Bishop John Wilkins for his “Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language,” and many mathematical and astronomical symbols. Rowe Mores, who describes him as an excellent artist and an admirable mechanic, says that he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1678.[6] There is no known record of the date of his death. Mores gives the year 1683 as the date of his relinquishment of the business of type-making, but he was active as a writer and a publisher for some years after.

The first volume of the “Mechanick Exercises,” concerning carpentry, etc., went to its third edition in 1703, but the second volume, about printing, has been neglected for two centuries. During this long interval many copies of the first small edition of five hundred copies have been destroyed. A perfect copy is rare, and commands a high price, for no early book on technical printing is in greater request.[7]

The instruction directly given is of value, but bits of information indirectly furnished are of greater interest. From no other book can one glean so many evidences of the poverty of the old printing-house. Its scant supply of types, its shackly hand-presses, its mean printing-inks, its paper-windows and awkward methods, when not specifically confessed, are plainly indicated. The high standard of proof-reading here exacted may be profitably contrasted with its sorry performance upon the following pages. The garments worn by the workmen are shown in the illustrations. Some of the quainter usages of the trade are told in the “Customs of the Chappel,” and those of the masters, in the ceremonies of the Stationers’ Company, and in the festivals in which masters and workmen joined. To the student of printing a reading of the book is really necessary for a clear understanding of the mechanical side of the art as practised in the seventeenth century.

NOTE BY THE PRINTER

This edition of the “Mechanick Exercises” is a line-for-line and page-for-page reprint of the original text. The only suppression is that of the repetition of the words “Volume II” in the running title and the sub-titles, which would unnecessarily mislead the reader, and of the old signature marks that would confuse the bookbinder. Typographic peculiarities have been followed, even to the copying of gross faults, like doublets, that will be readily corrected by the reader. The object of the reprint is not merely to present the thought of the author, but to illustrate the typographic style of his time with its usual defects. A few deviations from copy that seemed to be needed for a clearer understanding of the meaning of the author have been specified at the end of the second volume. The irregular spelling and punctuation of the copy, its capricious use of capitals and italic, its headings of different sizes of type, have been repeated. At this point imitation has stopped. Turned and broken letters, wrong font characters, broken space-lines, and bent rules have not been servilely reproduced. These blemishes, as well as the frequent “monks” and “friars” in the presswork, were serious enough to prevent an attempt at a photographic facsimile of the pages.

The two copies of Moxon that have served as “copy” for this reprint show occasional differences in spelling and punctuation. Changes, possibly made in the correction of batters, or after the tardy discovery of faults, must have been done while the form was on press and partly printed. The position of the plates differs seriously in the two copies; they do not follow each other in the numerical order specified. In this reprint the plates that describe types and tools have been placed near their verbal descriptions.

The type selected for this work was cast from matrices struck with the punches (made about 1740) of the first Caslon. It is of the same large English body as that of the original, but a trifle smaller as to face, and not as compressed as the type used by Moxon; but it repeats many of his peculiarities, and fairly reproduces the more important mannerisms of the printing of the seventeenth century.

The portraits have been reproduced by the artotype process of Bierstadt; the descriptive illustrations are from the etched plates of the Hagopian Photo-Engraving Company.

_Born at_ =Wakefeild= _August. 8_.

_Anno 1627._]

_MECHANICK EXERCISES:_
Or, the Doctrine of
Handy-works.
Applied to the Art of
Printing.

By _Joseph Moxon_, Member of the Royal
Society, and _Hydrographer_ to the King’s
Most Excellent Majesty.

_LONDON._

Printed for _Joseph Moxon_ on the Westside
of _Fleet-ditch_, at the Sign of
_Atlas_. 1 6 8 3.

To the Right Reverend Father in GOD, _JOHN_ Lord Bishop of _Oxford_,
and Dean of _Christ-Church_; And to the Right Honourable Sir _LEOLINE
JENKINS_ Knight, and Principal Secretary of State; And to the Right
Honourable Sir _JOSEPH WILLIAMSON_ Knight; and one of His Majesties
most Honourable Privy-Council.

Right Honourable.

Y_Our ardent affections to promote_ Typographie _has eminently appeared
in the great Charge you have been at to make it famous here in_
England; _whereby this Royal Island stands particularly obliged to your
Generous and Publick Spirits, and the whole Common-Wealth of Book-men
throughout the World, to your Candid Zeal for the promulgation of good
Learning_.

_Wherefore I humbly Dedicate this Piece of_ Typographie _to your
Honours; and as it is (I think) the first of this nature, so I hope
you will favourably excuse small Faults in this Undertaking; for
great ones I hope there are none, unless it be in this presumptuous_
Dedication; _for which I humbly beg your Honours pardon: Subscribing my
self, My Lord and Gentlemen_,

_Your Honours most Humble
and Obedient Servant_.

Joseph Moxon.

=Footnotes.=

[1] “A History of the Old English Letter Foundries, with Notes Historical and Biographical on the Rise and Progress of English Typography.” By Talbot Baines Reed, London, 1887, p. 181.

[2] The four founders appointed by the Star Chamber did not thrive. One of them, Arthur Nicholls, said of himself: “Of so small benifitt hath his Art bine that for 4 yeares worke and practice he hath not taken above 48£, and had it not bine for other imploymente he might have perrisht.” Reed, p. 168.

[3] “A Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Founderies.” By Edward Rowe Mores, A. M. & A. S. S. [London], 1778. 8vo, p. 43.

[4] See plates Nos. 11 to 17.

[5] Reed, “Old English Letter Foundries,” pp. 185, 186.

[6] Mores, “English Founders,” p. 42.

[7] Hansard says (“Typographia,” p. vii): “I have never been able to meet with more than two copies of this work—one in the Library of the British Museum—the other in the Library of the Society of Arts.” The writer knows of but three copies in America: one in the Library Company of Philadelphia; one in the Library of the Typothetæ of New-York; one in his own collection.

_MECHANICK EXERCISES:_
Or, the Doctrine of
=Handy-works.=
Applied to the Art of
=Printing.=

_PREFACE._

B_Efore I begin with_ Typographie, _I shall say somewhat of its Original Invention; I mean here in_ Europe, _not of theirs in_ China _and other Eastern Countries, who (by general assent) have had it for many hundreds of years, though their Invention is very different from ours; they Cutting their Letters upon Blocks in whole Pages or Forms, as among us our Wooden Pictures are Cut; But_ Printing _with single Letters Cast in Mettal, as with us here in_ Europe, _is an Invention scarce above Two hundred and fifteen years old; and yet an undecidable Controversie about the original Contriver or Contrivers remains on foot, between the_ Harlemers _of_ Holland, _and those of_ Mentz _in_ Germany: _But because the difference cannot be determin’d for want of undeniable Authority, I shall only deliver both their Pleas to this_ Scientifick Invention.

_The_ Harlemers _plead that_ Lawrensz Jansz Koster of Harlem _was the first Inventer of_ Printing, _in the year of our Lord_ 1430. _but that in the Infancy of this Invention he used only Wooden Blocks_ (_as in_ China, _&c. aforesaid_) _but after some time he left off Wood, and Cut single Letters in Steel, which he sunck into Copper_ Matrices, _and fitting them to Iron Molds, Cast single Letters of Mettal in those_ Matrices. _They say also, that his Companion_, John Gutenberg, _stole his Tools away while he was at Church, and with them went to_ Mentz _in_ Germany, _and there set his Tools to work, and promoted His claim to the first Invention of this Art, before_ Koster _did His_.

_To prove this, they say that_ Rabbi Joseph (_a Jew_) _in his Chronicle, mentions a Printed Book that he saw in_ Venice, _in the year_ 5188. _according to the Jewish Account, and by ours the year_ 1428. _as may be read in_ Pet. Scriverius.

_They say much of a Book intituled_ De Spiegel, _Printed at_ Harlem _in_ Dutch _and_ Latin; _which Book is yet there to be seen: and they alledge that Book the first that ever was Printed: But yet say not when this Book was Printed_.

_Notwithstanding this Plea, I do not find_ (_perhaps because of their imperfect Proofs_) _but that_ Gutenberg _of_ Mentz _is more generally accepted for the first Inventer of_ Printing, _than_ Koster _of_ Harlem.

_The Learned Dr._ Wallis _of_ Oxford, _hath made an Inquiry into the original of this Invention, and hath in brief sum’d up the matter in these words_.

About the year of our Lord 1460. The Art of _Printing_ began to be invented and practised in _Germany_, whether first at _Mentz_ or first at _Harlem_ it is not agreed: But it seems that those who had it in consideration before it was brought to perfection, disagreeing among themselves, did part Company; and some of them at _Harlem_, others at _Mentz_ persued the design at the same time.

_The Book which is commonly reputed to have been first Printed is_, Tullies Offices, _of which there be Copies extant (as a Rarity) in many Libraries; which in the close of it is said to be Printed at_ Mentz, _in the year of our Lord_ 1465. (_so says that Copy in the_ Bodleyan _Library_) _or_ 1466. (_so that in the Library of_ Corpus Christi.) _The words in the close of that in_ Corpus Christi _Colledge_ Oxon _are these_,

Præsens _Marcij Tullij_ Clarissimum opus, _Johanes Hust, Moguntinus_ Civis, non Atrimento, plumali canna, neq; ærea, sed Arte quadam perpulchra, _Petri_ manu _Petri_ de _Geurshem_ pueri mei, feliciter effeci, finitum Anno M CCCC LX VI quarto die Mensis _Februarij_.

_The like in the_ Bodleyan _Library; save there the Date is only thus_, Finitum Anno M CCCC LX V. _In the same Book there are these written Notes subjoyned_: Hic eft ille _Johannes Faustus_, coadjutor _Johannes Gutenbergij_ primi _Typographiæ_ inventaris, Alter coadjuto erat _Petrus Schœfer_, i. Opilio. Quovix.

Cælando promptior alter erat, inquit _Johan. Arnoldus_ in Libello de Chalcographiæ inventione, _Scheffer_ primas finxit quas vocant _Matrices_. Hi tres exercuerunt artem primo in communi. mox rupto fœdere seorsim sibi quisq; privatim.

_And again_ (_in a later hand_) Inventionem artis _Typographicæ_ ad Annum 1453. aut exerciter referunt Sabillicus _En._ 10.lib.6. & _Monsterus_. Alij ad Annum 1460. Vide _Polid. Virg._lib. 2. de Invent. Rerum, _Theod. Bibland. de Ratione communis linguarum._ cap. de _Chalcographia._

_At_ Harlem _and some other places in_ Holland, _they pretend to have Books Printed somewhat ancienter than this; but they are most of them_ (_if not all_) _done by way of Carving whole Pages in Wood, not by single Letters Cast in Mettal, to be Composed and Distributed as occasion serves, as is now the manner._

_The chief Inventer at_ Harlem _is said to be_ Laurens Jansz Koster.

_After these two places_ (Mentz _and_ Harlem) _it seems next of all to have been practised at_ Oxford: _For by the care, and at the charge of King_ Henry _the_ 6_th, and of_ Thomas Bourchier _then Arch-Bishop of_ Canterbury (_and Chancellour of the University of_ Oxford) Robert Turner _Master of the Robe, and_ William Caxton _a Merchant of_ London _were for that purpose sent to_ Harlem, _at the charges partly of the King, partly of the Arch-Bishop, who then_ (_because these of_ Harlem _were very chary of this secret_) _prevailed privately with one_ Frederick Corseles _an under-Workman, for a sum of Money, to come over hither; who thereupon did at_ Oxford _set up the Art of_ Printing, _before it was exercised any where else in_ England, _or in_ France, Italy, Venice, Germany, _or any other place, except only_ Mentz _and_ Harlem (_aforementioned_): _And there be several Copies yet extant (as one in the Archives of the University of_ Oxford, _another in the Library of Dr._ Tho. Barlow, _now Bishop of_ Lincoln) _of a Treatise of St._ Jerome (_as it is there called_ (_because found among St._ Jerom’s _Works_) _or rather _ Ruffinus _upon the Creed, in a broad_ Octavo) _Printed at_ Oxford _in the year_ 1468. _as appears by the words in the close of it_.

Explicit expositio Sancti _Jeronimi_ in sembolo Apostolorum ad papam Laurentium Impressi _Oxonie_ & finita Anno Domini M CCCC LX VIII. xvij die _Decembris_.

_Which is but three years later than that of_ Tullies Offices _at_ Mentz, _in_ 1465. _and was perhaps one of the first Books Printed on Paper_; (_that of_ Tully _being on Vellom_.) _And there the excercise of_ Printing _hath continued successively to this day._

_Soon after_ William Caxton (_the same I suppose who first brought it to_ Oxford) _promoted it to_ London _also, which_ Baker _in his Chronicle_ (_and some others_) _say to have been about the year_ 1471. _but we have scarce any Copies of Books there Printed remaining_ (_that I have seen_) _earlier than the year_ 1480. _And by that time, or soon after, it began to be received in_ Venice, Italy, Germany, _and other places, as appears by Books yet extant, Printed at divers places in those Times. Thus far Dr._ Wallis.

_But whoever were the Inventers of this Art, or_ (_as some Authors will have it_) _Science; nay, Science of Sciences_ (_say they_) _certain it is, that in all its Branches it can be deemed little less than a Science: And I hope I say not to much of_ Typographie: _For Dr._ Dee, _in his Mathematical Preface to_ Euclids Elements of Geometrie, _hath worthily taken pains to make_ Architecture _a Mathematical Science; and as a vertual Proof of his own Learned Plea, quotes two Authentique Authors,_ viz. Vitruvius _and_ Leo Baptista, _who both give their descriptions and applause of_ Architecture: _His Arguments are somewhat copious, and the Original easily procurable in the English Tongue; therefore instead of transcribing it, I shall refer my Reader to the Text it self._

_Upon the consideration of what he has said in behalf of_ Architecture, _I find that a_ Typographer _ought to be equally qualified with all the Sciences that becomes an_ Architect, _and then I think no doubt remains that_ Typographie _is not also a Mathematical Science_.

_For my own part, I weighed it well in my thoughts, and find all the accomplishments, and some more of an_ Architect _necessary in a_ Typographer: _and though my business be not Argumentation, yet my Reader, by perusing the following discourse, may perhaps satisfie himself, that a_ Typographer _ought to be a man of Sciences_.

_By a_ Typographer, _I do not mean a_ Printer, _as he is Vulgarly accounted, any more than Dr._ Dee _means a_ Carpenter _or_ Mason _to be an_ Architect: _But by a_ Typographer, _I mean such a one, who by his own Judgement, from solid reasoning with himself, can either perform, or direct others to perform from the beginning to the end, all the Handy-works and Physical Operations relating to_ Typographie.

_Such a_ Scientifick _man was doubtless he who was the first Inventer of_ Typographie; _but I think few have succeeded him in Science, though the number of_ Founders _and_ Printers _be grown very many: Insomuch that for the more easie managing of_ Typographie, _the Operators have found it necessary to devide it into several Trades, each of which (in the strictest sence) stand no nearer related to_ Typographie, _than_ Carpentry _or_ Masonry, _&c. are to_ Architecture. _The several devisions that are made, are_,

First _The_ Master-Printer, _who is as the Soul of_ Printing; _and all the Work-men as members of the Body governed by that Soul subserveient to him; for the_ Letter-Cutter _would Cut no Letters, the_ Founder _not sinck the_ Matrices, _or Cast and Dress the Letters, the_ Smith _and_ Joyner _not make the_ Press _and other Utensils for_ Printing, _the_ Compositer _not Compose the Letters, the_ Correcter _not read Proves, the_ Press-man _not work the Forms off at the_ Press, _or the_ Inck-maker _make_ Inck _to work them with, but by Orders from the_ Master-Printer.

_Secondly, The_ Letter-Cutter, }
_Thirdly, The_ Letter-Caster, } Founders.
_Fourthly, The_ Letter-Dresser. }

_But very few_ Founders _exercise, or indeed can perform all these
several Trades; though each of these are indifferently called_
Letter-Founders.

_Fifthly, The_ Compositer, }
_Sixthly, The_ Correcter, } Printers.
_Seventhly, The_ Press-man, }
_Eighthly, The_ Inck-maker. }
_Besides several other Trades they take in to their Assistance; as
the_ Smith, _the_ Joyner, _&c._

ADVERTISEMENT.

The continuation of my setting forth _Mechanick Exercises_ having been obstructed by the breaking out of the Plot, which took off the minds of my few Customers from buying them, as formerly; And being of late much importun’d by many worthy Persons to continue them; I have promised to go on again, upon Condition, That a competent number of them may be taken off my hand by Subscribers, soon after the publication of them in the _Gazet_, or posting up Titles, or by the _Mercurius Librarius_, &c.

Therefore such Gentlemen or others as are willing to promote the coming forth of these _Exercises_, are desired to Subscribe their Names and place of abode: That so such Persons as live about this City may have them sent so soon as they come forth: Quick Sale being the best encouragement.

Some Gentlemen (to whom they are very acceptable) tell me they will take them when all _Trades_ are finish’t, which cannot reasonably be expected from me (my Years considered) in my life-time; which implies they will be Customers when I’me dead, or perhaps by that time some of themselves.

The price of these Books will be 2_d._ for each Printed Sheet. And 2_d._ for every Print taken off of Copper Cuts.

There are three reasons why this price cannot be thought dear.

1. The Writing is all new matter, not Collected, or Translated from any other Authors: and the drafts of the Cuts all drawn from the Tools and Machines used in each respective Trade.

2. I Print but 500 on each Sheet, And those upon good Paper: which makes the charge of Printing dear, proportionable to great numbers.

3. Some Trades are particularly affected by some Customers, (who desire not the rest,) and consequently sooner sold off, which renders the remainder of the un-sold _Exercises_ unperfect, and therefore not acceptable to such as desire all: so that they will remain as waste-Paper on my hands.

_JOSEPH MOXON._

_MECHANICK EXERCISES:_
Or, the Doctrine of
=Handy-works.=
Applied to the Art of
=Printing.=

§. 2. _Of the Office of a Master_-Printer.

I Shall begin with the Office of a _Master-Printer_, because (as aforesaid) he is the Directer of all the Work-men, he is the Base (as the _Dutchmen_ properly call him) on which the Workmen stand, both for providing Materials to Work withal, and successive variety of Directions how and in what manner and order to perform that Work.

His Office is therefore to provide a House, or Room or Rooms in which he is to set his _Printing-House_. This expression may seem strange, but it is _Printers_ Language: For a _Printing-House_ may admit of a twofold meaning; one the Vulgar acceptance, and is relative to the House or Place wherein _Printing_ is used; the other a more peculiar Phrase _Printers_ use among themselves, _viz._ only the _Printing_ Tools, which they frequently call a _Printing-House_: Thus they say, Such a One has set up a _Printing-House_, when as thereby they mean he has furnish’d a House with _Printing_ Tools. Or such a one has remov’d his _Printing-House_, when thereby they only mean he has remov’d the Tools us’d in his former House. These expressions have been used Time out of mind, and are continued by them to this day.

But to proceed, Having consider’d what number of _Presses_ and _Cases_ he shall use, he makes it his business to furnish himself with a Room or Rooms well-lighted, and of convenient capacity for his number of _Presses_ and _Cases_, allowing for each _Press_ about Seven Foot square upon the Floor, and for every _Frame_ of _Cases_ which holds Two pair of _Cases_, _viz._ one pair _Romain_ and one pair _Itallica_, Five Foot and an half in length (for so much they contain) and Four Foot and an half in breadth, though they contain but Two Foot and Nine Inches: But then room will be left to pass freely between two _Frames_.

We will suppose he resolves to have his _Presses_ and _Cases_ stand in the same Room (though in _England_ it is not very customary). He places the _Cases_ on that side the Room where they will most conveniently stand, so, as when the _Compositer_ is at work the Light may come in on his Left-hand; for else his Right-hand plying between the Window-light and his Eye might shadow the _Letter_ he would pick up: And the _Presses_ he places so, as the Light may fall from a Window right before the _Form_ and _Tinpan_: And if scituation will allow it, on the North-side the Room, that the _Press-men_, when at their hard labour in _Summer_ time, may be the less uncommoded with the heat of the _Sun_: And also that they may the better see by the constancy of that Light, to keep the whole _Heap_ of an equal Colour.

He is also to take care that his _Presses_ have a solid and firm Foundation, and an even Horizontal Floor to stand on, That when the _Presses_ are set up their Feet shall need no Underlays, which both damage a _Press_, are often apt to work out, and consequently subject it to an unstable and loose position, as shall further be shewn when we come to the Setting up of the _Press_.

And as the Foundation ought to be very firm, so ought also the Roof and Sides of the _Press Room_ to be, that the _Press_ may be fastned with Braces overhead and on its Sides, as well and steddy as under foot.

He is also to take care that the Room have a clear, free and pretty lofty Light, not impeded with the shadow of other Houses, or with Trees; nor so low that the Sky-light will not reach into every part of the Room: But yet not too high, lest the violence of _Winter_ (_Printers_ using generally but Paper-windows) gain too great advantage of Freesing the Paper and Letter, and so both Work and Workman stand still. Therefore he ought to Philosophize with himself, for the making the height of his Lights to bear a rational proportion to the capacity of the Room.

Here being but two sides of the Room yet used, he places the _Correcting-stone_ against a good Light, and as near as he can towards the middle of the Room, that the _Compositers_ belonging to each end of the Room may enjoy an equal access to it. But sometimes there are several _Correcting-stones_ plac’d in several parts of the Room.

The _Lye-Trough_ and _Rincing-Trough_ he places towards some corner of the Room, yet so as they may have a good Light; and under these he causes a _Sink_ to be made to convey the Water out of the Room: But if he have other conveniencies for the placing these Troughs, he will rather set them out of the Room to avoid the slabbering they cause in.

About the middle of the Room he places the _Destributing-Frame_ (_viz._ the _Frame_ on which the _Forms_ are set that are to be _Destributed_) which may stand light enough, though it stand at some considerable distance from the Window.

In some other empty place of the Room (least frequented) he causes so many _Nest-Frames_ to be made as he thinks convenient to hold the _Cases_ that may lye out of present use; and the _Letter-boards_ with _Forms_ set by on them, that both the _Cases_ and the _Forms_ may be the better secured from running to _Pye_.

Having thus contrived the several Offices of the Room, He furnishes it with _Letters_, _Presses_, _Cases_, _Chases_, _Furniture_, &c. Of each of which in Order.

¶. 2. _Of_ Letter.

He provides a _Fount_ (properly a _Fund_) of _Letter_ of all Bodies; for most _Printing-Houses_ have all except the two first, _viz._ _Pearl_, _Nomparel_, _Brevier_, _Long-Primmer_, _Pica_, _English_, _Great-Primmer_, _Double-Pica_, _Two-Lin’d-English_, _Great-Cannon_.

These are the _Bodies_ most of use in _England_; But the _Dutch_ have several other _Bodies_: which because there is little and almost no perceivable difference from some of these mentioned, I think they are not worth naming. Yet we have one _Body_ more which is sometimes used in _England_; that is a _Small Pica_, but I account it no great discretion in a _Master-Printer_ to provide it; because it differs so little from the _Pica_, that unless the Workmen be carefuller than they sometimes are, it may be mingled with the _Pica_, and so the Beauty of both _Founts_ may be spoil’d.

These aforesaid _Bodies_ are commonly _Cast_ with a _Romain_, _Italica_, and sometimes an _English Face_. He also provides some _Bodies_ with the _Musick_, the _Greek_, the _Hebrew_, and the _Syriack Face_: But these, or some of these, as he reckons his oppertunities may be to use them.

And that the Reader may the better understand the sizes of these several _Bodies_, I shall give him this Table following; wherein is set down the number of each _Body_ that is contained in one Foot.

_Pearl_, 184 }
_Nomparel_, 150 }
_Brevier_, 112 }
_Long-Primmer_, 92 }
_Pica_, 75 } contained in one Foot.
_English_, 66 }
_Great-Primmer_, 50 }
_Double-Pica_, 38 }
_Two-Lin’d English_, 33 }
_Great-Cannon_. 17½ }

His care in the choice of these _Letters_ are,

_First_, That the _Letter_ have a true shape: Which he may know, as by the §. of _Letter-Cutting_.

I confess this piece of Judgement, _viz._ knowing of true Shape, may admit of some controversy, because neither the Ancients whom we received the knowledge of these _Letters_ from, nor any other authentick Authority have delivered us Rules, either to make or know true shape by: And therefore it may be objected that every one that makes _Letters_ but tolerably like _Romain_, _Italick_, _&c._ may pretend his to be true shap’d.

To this I answer, that though we can plead no Ancient Authority for the shape of _Letters_, yet doubtless (if we judge rationally) we must conclude that the _Romain Letters_ were Originally invented and contrived to be made and consist of Circles, Arches of Circles, and straight Lines; and therefore those _Letters_ that have these Figures, either entire, or else properly mixt, so as the Course and Progress of the Pen may best admit, may deserve the name of true Shape, rather than those that have not.

Besides, Since the late made _Dutch-Letters_ are so generally, and indeed most deservedly accounted the best, as for their Shape, consisting so exactly of Mathematical Regular Figures as aforesaid, And for the commodious Fatness they have beyond other _Letters_, which easing the Eyes in Reading, renders them more Legible; As also the true placing their Fats and their Leans, with the sweet driving them into one another, and indeed all the accomplishments that can render _Letter_ regular and beautiful, do more visibly appear in them than in any _Letters_ Cut by any other People: And therefore I think we may account the Rules they were made by, to be the Rules of true shap’d _Letters_.

For my own part, I liked their _Letters_ so well, especially those that were Cut by _Christophel Van Dijck_ of _Amsterdam_, that I set my self to examine the Proportions of all and every the parts and Members of every _Letter_, and was so well pleased with the Harmony and Decorum of their Symetrie, and found so much Regularity in every part, and so good reason for his Order and Method, that I examined the biggest of his _Letters_ with Glasses, which so magnified the whole _Letter_, that I could easily distinguish, and with small Deviders measure off the size, scituation and form of every part, and the proportion every part bore to the whole; and for my own future satisfaction collected my Observations into a Book, which I have inserted in my _Exercises_ on _Letter-Cutting_. For therein I have exhibited to the World the true Shape of _Christophel Van Dijcks_ aforesaid _Letters_, largely Engraven in Copper Plates.

Whence I conclude, That since common consent of Book-men assign the Garland to the _Dutch-Letters_ as of late _Cut_, and that now those _Letters_ are reduced unto a Rule, I think the Objection is Answered; And our _Master-Printers_ care in the choice of good and true shap’d _Letters_ is no difficult Task: For if it be a large Bodied _Letter_, as _English_, _Great-Primmer_ and upwards, it will shew it self; and if it be small, as _Pearl_, _Nomparel_, &c. though it may be difficult to judge the exact Symetry with the naked Eye, yet by the help of a _Magnifying-Glass_ or two if occasion be, even those small _Letters_ will appear as large as the biggest Bodied _Letters_ shall to the naked Eye: And then it will be no difficult Task to judge of the Order and Decorum even of the smallest Bodied _Letters_. For indeed, to my wonder and astonishment, I have observ’d _V. Dijcks Pearl Dutch Letters_ in Glasses that have Magnified them to great _Letters_, and found the whole Shape bear such true proportion to his great _Letters_, both for the _Thickness_, _Shape_, _Fats_ and _Leans_, as if with Compasses he could have measur’d and set off in that small compass every particular Member, and the true breadth of every _Fat_ and _Lean Stroak_ in each _Letter_, not to exceed or want (when magnified) of _Letter Cut_ to the _Body_ it was Magnified to.

His second care in the choice of _Letters_ is, That they be deep _Cut_; for then they will _Print_ clear the longer, and be less subject to entertain _Picks_.

His third care, That they be deep sunck in the _Matrices_ least the bottom line of a _Page_ Beard. Yet though they be deep sunk, His care ought to be to see the Beard also well cut off by the _Founder_.

And a Fourth Care in the choice of _Letter_ is, That his _Letter_ be Cast upon good Mettal, that it may last the longer.

Of each Body he provides a _Fount_ suitable to such sorts of Work as he designs to do; But he provides not an equal weight of every _Fount_; Because all these Bodies are not in equal use: For the _Long-Primmer_, _Pica_ and _English_ are the Bodies that are generally most used; And therefore he provides very large _Founts_ of these, _viz._ of the _Long-Primmer_ in a small _Printing-House_, Five hundred Pounds weight _Romain_ and _Italica_, whereof One hundred and fifty Pounds may be _Italica_. Of the _Pica_ and _English_, _Roman_ and _Italica_, Eight, Nine hundred, or a Thousand Pounds weight: when as of other _Founts_ Three or Four hundred Pounds weight is accounted a good _Fount_: And of the _Cannon_ and _Great-Cannon_, One hundred Pounds or somewhat less may serve his turn; Because the common use of them is to set Titles with.

Besides _Letters_ he Provides Characters of Astronomical Signs, _Planets_, _Aspects_, _Algebraical_ Characters, Physical and Chimical Characters, _&c._ And these of several of the most used Bodies.

He Provides also _Flowers_ to set over the Head of a _Page_ at the beginning of a Book: But they are now accounted old-fashion, and therefore much out of use. Yet _Wooden-Borders_, if well Drawn, and neatly Cut, may be _Printed_ in a Creditable Book, As also, _Wooden-Letters_ well Drawn and neatly Cut may be used at the beginning of a _Dedication_, _Preface_, _Section_, _&c._ Yet instead of _Wooden Letters_, _Capitals_ Cast in Mettal generally now serves; because but few or good _Cutters_ in _Wood_ appear.

He also provides _Brass-Rules_ of about Sixteen Inches long, that the _Compositer_ may cut them into such Lengths as his Work requires.

In the choice of his _Brass-Rules_, he examines that they be exactly _Letter high_; for if they be much too high, they may cut through _Paper_, _Tinpan_ and _Blankets_ too; And if they be but a little too high, not only the Sholder, or Beard, on either side them will _Print_ black; but they will bear the _Plattin_ off the _Letters_ that stand near them, so that those _Letters_ will not _Print_ at all: And if they be too low, then the _Rules_ themselves will not _Print_.

It sometimes happens through the unskilfulness of the _Joyner_, (for they commonly, but unproperly, imploy _Joyners_ to make them) that a Length shall be hollow in the middle both on the Face and Foot, and shall run driving higher and higher towards both ends: Hence it comes to pass, that when the _Compositer_ cuts a piece of _Rule_ to his intended Length, the _Rule_ shall _Print_ hard at one end, and the other shall not _Print_ at all; So that he shall be forced to knock up the foot of the low end, as shall be shewn in its proper place.

But the careful _Master-Printer_ having found that his _Brass-Rules_ is _Letter_ high all the whole Length, will also examine whether it be straight all the whole Length, which he does by applying both the Face and Foot to the surface of the _Correcting-stone_; And if the Face and Foot comply so closely with the _Correcting-stone_, that light cannot be seen between them, he concludes the _Brass-Rule_ is straight.

Then he examines the Face or Edge of the _Rule_, whether it have an Edge of an equal breadth all the whole Length, and that the Edge be neither too thick nor too fine for his porpose.

He should also take care that the _Brass_, before it be cut out, be well and skilfully Planish’t, nor would that charge be ill bestowd; for it would be saved out of the thickness of the _Brass_ that is commonly used: For the _Joyners_ being unskilful in Planishing, buy Neal’d thick _Brass_ that the _Rule_ may be strong enough, and so cut it into slips without Hammering, which makes the _Rule_ easily bow any way and stand so, and will never come to so good and smooth an Edge as Planish’t _Brass_ will. Besides, _Brass_ well Planish’t will be stiffer and stronger at half the thickness than unplanish’t _Brass_ will at the whole: As I shall further shew when I come to Exercise upon _Mathematical Instrument-making_.

§. 3. _Of_ Cases.

Next he provides _Cases_. A Pair of _Cases_ is an _Upper-Case_ and a _Lower-Case_.

The _Upper-Case_ and the _Lower-Case_ are of an equal length, breadth and depth, _viz._ Two Foot nine Inches long, One Foot four Inches and an half broad, and about an Inch and a quarter deep, besides the bottom Board; But for small Bodied _Letters_ they are made somewhat shallower, and for great Bodies deeper.

_Long-Primmer_ and downwards are accounted small Bodies; _English_ and upwards are accounted great Bodies.

The conveniencies of a shallow _Case_ is, that the _Letters_ in each Box lye more visible to the last, as being less shadowed by the sides of the _Boxes_.

The conveniencies of a deep _Case_ is, that it will hold a great many _Letters_, so that a _Compositer_ needs not so often _Destribute_. 2dly. It is not so soon _Low_, (as _Compositers_ say when the _Case_ grows towards empty) and a _Low Case_ is unconvenient for a _Compositer_ to work at, partly because the _Case_ standing shelving downwards towards them, the _Letters_ that are in the _Case_ tend towards the hither-side of the _Case_, and are shadowed by the hither side of that _Box_ they lye in, so that they are not so easily seen by the Eye, or so ready to come at with the Fingers, as if they lay in the middle of the _Box_.

These _Cases_ are encompassed about with a _Frame_ about Three quarters of an Inch broad, that the ends of the several partitions may be let into the substance of the _Frame_: But the hithermost side of the _Frame_ is about half an Inch higher than the other sides, that when either the _Galley_ or another pair of _Cases_ are set upon them, the bottom edge of the _Galley_, or of those _Cases_ may stop against that higher _Frame_, and not slide off.

Both the _Upper_ and the _Lower-Case_ have a thick Partition about three quarters of an Inch broad, Duff-tail’d into the middle of the upper and under Rail of the _Frame_. This Partition is made thus broad, that Grooves may be made on either side of it to receive the ends of those Partitions that devide the breadth of the _Case_, and also to strengthen the whole _Frame_; for the bottom Board is as well nailed to this thick Partition as to the outer _Frame_ of the _Case_.

But the devisions for the several _Boxes_ of the _Upper_ and _Lower- Cases_ are not alike: for each half of the whole length of the _Upper-Case_ is devided into seven equal parts, as you may see in Plate 1. at A, and its breadth into seven equal parts, so that the whole _Upper-Case_ is divided into Ninety eight square _Boxes_, whose sides are all equal to one another.

But the Two halfs of the length of the _Lower-Case_ are not thus devided; for each half of the length of the _Lower-Case_ is devided into Eight equal parts, and its breadth into Seven; but it is not throughout thus devided neither; for then the _Boxes_ would be all of equal size: But the _Lower-Case_ is devided into four several sizes of _Boxes_, as you may see in Plate 1. B.

The reason of these different sizes of _Boxes_ is, That the biggest _Boxes_ may be disposed nearest the _Compositers_ hand, because the English Language, and consequently all English _Coppy_ runs most upon such and such Sorts; so that the _Boxes_ that holds those Sorts ought to be most capacious.

His care in the choice of these _Cases_ is, That the Wood they are made of be well-season’d Stuff.

That the Partitions be strong, and true let into one another, and that the ends fill up and stand firm in the Grooves of the _Frame_ and middle _Rail_ of the _Case_.

There is an inconvenience that often happens, these thin Partitions, especially if they be made of unseason’d Stuff, _viz._ as the Stuff dries it shrinks in the Grooves of the _Frame_, and so not only grows loose, but sometimes starts out above the top of the _Frame_. To prevent this inconvenience, I have of late caused the ends of these thin partitions to be made Male-Duf-tails, broadest on the under-side, and have them fitted into Female-Duf-tails in the Frame of the _Case_, and middle Rail before the bottom Boards are nailed on.

That the Partitions be full an _English_ Body thick.

That the Partitions lye close to the bottom of the _Case_, that so the _Letters_ slide not through an upper into an under _Box_, when the Papers of the _Boxes_ may be worn.

§. 4. _Of_ Frames _to set the_ Cases _on_.

_Frames_ are in most _Printing-Houses_ made of thick _Deal-board Battens_, having their several _Rails Tennanted_ into the _Stiles_: but these sorts of _Frames_ are, in respect of their matter (_viz._ _Fir_) so weak, and in respect of their substance (_viz._ little above an Inch thick) so slight, that experience teaches us, when they are even new made, they tremble and totter, and having lasted a little while, the thinness of their _Tennants_ being a little above a quarter of an Inch thick, according to the Rules of _Joynery_, as I have shewn in _Numb._ 5. §. 17. They Craze, their _Tennants_ break, or _Mortesses_ split, and put the _Master-Printer_ to a fresh Charge.

It is rationally to be imagined that the _Frames_ should be designed to last as long as the _Printing-house_; and therefore our _Master-Printer_ ought to take care that they be made of matter strong enough, and of substance big enough to do the Service they are intended for; that they stand substantial and firm in their place, so as a small Jostle against them shake them not, which often reiterated weakens the _Frame-work_, and at that present is subject to shake the _Letter_ in the _Galley_ down.

I shall not offer to impose Rules upon any here, especially since I have no Authority from Prescript or Custom; yet I shall set down the Scantlings that I my self thought fit to use on this occasion. A Delineation of the _Frames_ are in Plate 1. at C.

_a a a a_ The _Fore-Rails._
_b b b b_ The _Hind-Rails._
_c_ The _Top Fore-Rail._
_d_ The _Bottom Fore-Rail._
_e_ The _Top Hind-Rail._
_f_ The _Bottom Hind-Rail._
_g g g g_ The _End-Rail._
_h h h h Cross-Bearers._

I made the _Rails_ and _Stiles_ of well-seasoned fine _Oak_, clean, (that is free from Knots and Shakes) the _Stiles_ and _Rails_ two Inches and an half square, the Top and Bottom _Fore-Rails_ and the Bottom _Hind-Rail_ four Foot three Inches long, besides their _Tennants_; And the Top _Hind-Rail_ five Foot three Inches long. The two _Fore-Rails_ and Bottom _Hind-Rail_ had Iron Female-Screws let into them, which, through an hole made in the _Stiles_, received a Male-Screw with a long shank, and a Sholder at the end of it to screw them tight and firm together, even as the Rails of a _Bedsted_ are screwed into the _Mortesses_ of a _Bed-Post_.

Each _Back-Stile_ was four Foot one Inch and an half high besides their _Tennants_, and each _Fore-Stile_ three Foot three Inches high, each _Fore_ and _Back-Stile_ had two _Rails_ one Foot seven Inches long, besides their _Tennants_ Tennanted and Pin’d into them, because not intended to be taken assunder.

It must be considered, that the _Fore-stiles_ be of a convenient height for the pitch of an ordinary Man to stand and work at, which the heighth aforesaid is; And that the _Hind stiles_ be so much higher than the _Fore-stiles_, that when the _Cross-Bearers_ are laid upon the upper _Fore_ and _Hind-Rail_, and the _Cases_ laid on them, the _Cases_ may have a convenient declivity from the upper-side the _Upper-Case_, to the lower side the _Lower-Case_.

The Reason of this declivity is, because the _Cases_ standing thus before the Workman, the farther _Boxes_ of the _Upper-Case_ are more ready and easie to come at, than if they lay flat; they being in this position somewhat nearer the hand, and the _Letters_ in those _Boxes_ somewhat easier seen.

If the Workman prove taller than Ordinary, he lays another or two pair of _Cases_ under the _Cases_ he uses, to mount them: If the Workman be short, as Lads, _&c._ He lays a _Paper-board_ (or sometimes two) on the floor by the Fore-side of the _Frame_, and standing to work on it, mounts himself.