Chapter II: Part 2

35. The favorite pupil of Cimabue, was Giotto, whom he raised from a shepherd to be a painter; and by him the art was still more relieved from the Greek imperfections. He abandoned the use of labels as means of distinguishing the different figures of a picture, and aimed at, and attained to, real expression. He marked out to the Italians the course in which the art should be pursued, as Polygnotus had done to the Greeks near 1800 years before; although, like him, he failed in fully exemplifying his principles.

36. His abilities procured him the patronage of Pope Boniface VIII., who employed him at Rome. From this time, the art of painting became attached to the papal dignity, and few succeeding pontiffs have neglected its use. The skill and celebrity of this ingenious artist excited great emulation, and the arts having obtained an earnest of profit and honor, no longer wanted skilful professors or illustrious patrons.

37. In 1350, fourteen years after the death of Giotto, his disciple, Jacopo Cassentino, and nine other artists, founded the Academy of St. Luke, at Florence. This was a grand epoch of the arts; as from this institution arose a large display of talent, increasing in splendor until, within 150 years, it gave to the world, Masaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo Buonarotti, and Raphael, besides others of great ability.

38. The art advanced but little after the time of Giotto, until the appearance of Masaccio. Under the hand of this great master, painting is said to have been greatly improved; and it was to him, that the artists who succeeded were indebted for a more sure and full direction of the course in which they ought to proceed. He was born in 1402, and died in 1443.

39. Leonardo da Vinci, who was born about two years after the death of Masaccio, brought the art to still greater perfection; and being endowed with uncommon genius, all the arts and sciences did not seem to afford a field sufficient for the exertion of his talents. He grasped at all, and succeeded far better than his predecessors in everything he undertook; but he wasted much of his time in experiments. Had he confined his great powers to the art of painting, he would probably have never been exceeded.

40. About the year 1410, oil came to be used as a vehicle for paints. It seems to have been first applied to this purpose in Flanders, by John Van Eyck, of Brussels; or it was, at least, first used by him successfully. The first hint of its utility in this application is thought, with reason, to have been obtained from its use as a varnish to pictures painted in water-colors.

41. The art of painting was introduced into Flanders about the time of Giotto, by several Flemings, who had been to Italy for the express purpose of learning it. It was also diffused in practice, about the same time, in Germany; and a particular style of the art grew up in each of these countries. But it was in Italy alone that the art may be said to have flourished in a high state of cultivation; and even there, the principal productions originated from artists of the Florentine school.

42. The art of painting was perfected, perhaps, as far as human ability can carry it, in the first half of the sixteenth century, by Michael Angelo Buonarotti, Raphael, Titian, and Correggio; although it cannot be said that all its excellences were united in the productions of any one of these distinguished professors. Such a union has never yet been displayed, nor can it hardly be expected.

43. The art was essentially aided in its progressive stages of advancement by the liberal patronage of the family of the Medici, at Florence, and by the pontiffs, at Rome. Angelo and Raphael were both employed at Rome by Julius II. and Leo X., as well as by others who succeeded them in the papal chair, in ornamenting the palaces and sacred buildings. Their productions have never been exceeded in any country, and they still remain the objects of careful study by artists of this profession.

44. Titian was also liberally patronised at Rome, and in other parts of Italy, as well as in Spain and Germany, chiefly as a portrait and landscape painter. The unrivalled productions of these great masters, however, were fatal to the art in Italy, since their superior excellence extinguished emulation, by destroying the prospect of equal or superior success.

45. The flourishing state of the art in Italy, for so long a period, might be expected to have produced a taste for its cultivation in other parts of Europe; but this was the case only to a limited extent. No other countries have yet been particularly distinguished for artists in this branch of the fine arts, except Flanders and Holland; and these were chiefly indebted for the distinction to Peter Paul Rubens, of Antwerp, who was born at Cologne, in 1577, and to Paul Van Rhyn Rembrandt, who was born in 1606, in his father's mill, near Leyden. Some of the scholars of these masters were eminent painters. Anthony Vandyck, a pupil of the former, in particular, is said to have never yet been equalled as a portrait-painter.

46. Very little is known of the art in Spain, until about the year 1500, although it is supposed to have been cultivated with some success before that time. The examples which were left there by Titian produced a favorable impression, and several native artists of considerable eminence afterwards appeared; but the art became nearly extinct in the following age.

47. The proximity of France to Italy, and the employment of Leonardo da Vinci and other eminent artists of Italy by Francis I., together with the establishment of a school of fine arts, as stated in the preceding article, might have been expected to lay the foundation of exalted taste in this kingdom. Nevertheless, the only French painters whose names have come down to us with any pretensions to excellence for one hundred and fifty years, were Jean Cousin, Jaques Blanchard, Nicholas Poussin, and Charles Le Brun. The last, although inferior to Poussin, is at the head of the French school of painting.

48. The successors of Le Brun were not wanting in ability, yet, with a few exceptions, they failed in reaching an enviable eminence in the art, on account of their servile imitation of the false taste of their popular model. The fantastic style of Le Brun became unpopular in France some time previous to the revolution in that country; and another, of an opposite character, and by artists of other nations thought to be equally distant from true taste, has been since adopted.

49. Very little is known of the state of the fine arts in England until the time of Henry VIII., who encouraged the abilities of Hans Holbein, an eminent painter from Switzerland. But painting and sculpture, and particularly the former, having become intimately interwoven with the religion of the Church of Rome, fell into disrepute in England after the change of opinion on this subject in that country. They, however, began to revive in the eighteenth century, and England and English America have since produced some eminent painters, among whom are Hogarth, Reynolds, Opie, West, Copley, Trumbull, and Peale.

THE ENGRAVER.

Engraving is the art of cutting letters or figures in wood, metals, or stone. It was practised in very ancient times, and in different countries, for the purposes of ornament and monumental inscription; but the idea of taking impressions on paper, or on any other substance, from engraved surfaces, is comparatively modern.

THE WOOD ENGRAVER.

1. The Chinese are said to have been the first who engraved figures or letters on wood, for the purpose of printing. The precise time at which they commenced the practice, is totally unknown; but a book printed by them in the tenth century, is now extant. It is thought by some antiquarians, that the Europeans derived the art from the Chinese, through the Venitians, who traded in that part of the world earlier than any other Europeans.

2. This opinion is somewhat probable, from the circumstance that the tools employed by the early engravers in Europe, are similar to those used in China; and also, like the Chinese, they engraved on the side of the grain. However this may be, it is certain that the art was practised in various parts of Europe in the fourteenth century. The earliest subjects executed, were figures of saints, rudely engraved in outline. The prints taken from them were gaily colored, and sold to the common people as original paintings. The principal persons engaged in this traffic were monks, to whom the art was confined for a considerable time.

3. At length, larger subjects, with inscriptions in imitation of manuscript, were executed. The success of these prints gave rise to a more extensive application of the art. Scriptural subjects, of many figures, with texts of scripture, were engraved, and impressions were taken from them on one side of the paper, two sheets being pasted together to form a leaf. Entire sets were bound up together, and thus were formed the first printed books, which, being produced entirely from wood-cuts, are known by the name of _block-books_. These books made their appearance about the year 1420.

4. One of the earliest of these productions is denominated "The Apocalypse of St. John;" another, "The Poor Man's Bible." But one of the latest and most celebrated, is called "The Mirror of Salvation," published in 1440. Part of the text was printed from solid blocks, and part, from moveable wooden types. From this fact, it is easy to discover the origin of printing. After this, most, if not all, of the books, were printed from moveable types; but, as they were embellished with wood cuts, the demand for such engravings was very much increased, although they were, at first, by no means elegant.

5. Near the close of the fifteenth century, the art began to assume a higher character, principally by the talents of Michael Wolgermuth and William Pluydenwurf. Albert Durer made still greater improvements, and, in 1498, published his celebrated Apocalypse of St. John, printed from folio blocks. Other celebrated engravers succeeded him in the sixteenth century, which may be considered the era when wood engraving was at its highest point of elevation. After this, the art declined, and was considered of little importance, until it was revived in 1775, by the distinguished William Bewick, of Newcastle, England. It is still practised, especially in England and the United States, in a manner which reflects credit on the ingenuity of the age.

6. The earlier artists operated on various kinds of wood, such as the apple, pear, and beech; but these, being too soft, are now used only for calico-printing and other common purposes. Box-wood, on account of its superior texture, is used for every subject that can be termed a work of art. That from Turkey is the best.

7. The engravers, in the infancy of the art, prepared the wood as the common block-cutters now do. The tree was cut the way of the grain, in planks, and of course they engraved on the side of the grain, as upon a board. This mode of preparation enabled them to execute larger subjects. The engravers now prefer the end of the grain, and therefore cut the log transversely.

8. The end on which the engraver is to exert his skill, is planed and scraped, to render the surface smooth, and the block having been cut to the proper size, the drawing is made upon it in India ink, or with a lead-pencil. The block is now ready for the artist who, in executing the work, holds it with one hand, on a cushion made of sand and leather, while, with the other, he cuts away the superfluous wood. The part intended to make the impression in printing, is left standing.

9. Wood engravings, well executed, are scarcely inferior to those of copper and steel, and, for many purposes, they are preferred. They are remarkably convenient, since they can be inserted into a page of types, where illustrations or embellishments may be required, and be printed without separate expense. They will also bear a great number of impressions--generally 100,000. In this respect, they are decidedly superior to metallic plates. They can likewise be multiplied indefinitely by the process of stereotyping.

THE COPPERPLATE ENGRAVER.

1. The engravers on metallic surfaces are termed copperplate engravers, not because copper is the only metal on which they exert their skill, but because it is the one on which they usually operate. The plates are prepared for the artist by the coppersmith, by rubbing them with brickdust and charcoal, after having cut them of a proper size from sheets of copper.

2. The instruments employed by this artist are few and simple, the principal of which are, the _graver_, the _dry-point_, the _scraper_, and the _burnisher_. The _graver_ is a small bar of steel, of a square or lozenge form, and, with the short handle into which it is inserted, about five inches in length. One of the angles of the bar is always on the under side of the instrument, and the point is formed by bevelling the end from the upper side, or angle. The square form is used for broad strokes, and the lozenge for fine ones.

3. The _dry-point_, or needle, is a steel wire with a long cylindrical handle; or it is simply a wire of sufficient length and size to be used without a handle. The _scraper_ has nearly the form of a triangular pyramid; and the cutting part, which has three edges, is two or three inches long. The _burnisher_ has a form nearly conical, and, without the handle, is about three inches long. The last two instruments are frequently made of the same piece of steel, properly forged at each end. In such case, the middle part of the steel is the handle by which they are held.

4. Of engraving on copper, the following are the principal varieties or styles: 1. Line engraving; 2. Stippling; 3. Etching; 4. Mezzotinto; 5. Aquatinta. For the purpose of conveying some idea of these different branches, we will describe them under distinct heads.

5. _Line engraving._ The first thing done, in this species of engraving, is to transfer to the plate an exact copy of the outlines of the design to be executed. In accomplishing this, the plate is moderately heated, and covered with a thin coating of white wax. A piece of transparent paper is then laid over the design to be copied, and traced in outline with a black-lead pencil. The outline thus sketched is turned down upon the coating of white wax, and the whole is subjected to the action of a rolling-press; or it is kept for a while under heavy weights. By the application of this pressure, the lines are transferred from the paper to the wax on the plate in a reversed position, which is necessary to make the impression of the finished plate resemble the original.

6. The pencil-marks on the wax having been lightly traced on the copper with the dry-point, and the wax having been melted off, a perfect outline is found on the plate. Small subordinate parts of the design are transferred to the plate in the same manner, except that the transparent paper is brought in forcible contact with the waxed surface by means of the burnisher.

7. At this stage of the process, the artist commences the use of the graver. While operating with this instrument, he holds the handle in the palm of his hand, and pushes the point forward with a firm and steady motion, until a line is produced by a removal of a portion of the metal. By a succession of such strokes, judiciously applied, the work is completed. The _burrs_, or little elevations of the copper, left by the graver on each side of the lines, are removed by means of the scraper and burnisher. Mistakes or blemishes are erased from the plate, either with the burnisher, or by friction with charcoal.

8. _Stippling._ The second mode of engraving is called stippling. This resembles the last method in its process, except that the effect is produced by means of minute punctures or excavations, instead of lines. These are made either with the dry-point or graver. When produced by the former instrument, they are of a circular form; when by the latter, they are rhomboidal or triangular. This style of work is always more slow, and consequently more expensive, than engraving in lines. It has, however, some advantages in the softness and delicacy of its lights and shades, and the prints struck from it approach more nearly to paintings.

9. _Etching._ This mode of engraving is far more easy than any other, being performed chiefly by chemical corrosion. In fact, any person who can draw, may _etch_ coarse designs tolerably well, after having learned the theory of the operation. To perform it, the plate is first covered with a thin coating of some resinous substance, upon which the acid employed can have no action. The design, and all the lines it requires, are next traced on the plate with steel points, called _etching needles_, which are instruments similar to the dry-point.

10. The second part of the process is the corrosion, or, as it is technically called, _biting in_. This is effected by pouring upon the design a quantity of diluted nitric acid, after having surrounded the edges of the plate with a wall of soft wax, to prevent the escape of the fluid. A chemical action immediately takes place in all the lines or points where the copper has been denuded by the needle. After the first biting has been continued long enough, in the judgment of the operator, the acid is poured off, and the plate examined.

11. The light shades, if found sufficiently deep, are then covered with varnish, to protect them from further corrosion. The biting is then continued for the second shades, in the same manner, and afterwards, for the third and succeeding shades, until the piece shall have been finished. The plate having been cleaned, and carefully examined by the aid of a proof impression, the deficiencies which may be discovered are supplied with the graver.

12. _Mezzotinto._ In the production of this kind of engraving, the whole surface of the plate is first roughened, or covered with minute prominences and excavations too small to be obvious to the naked eye; so that an impression taken from it, in this state, would present a uniform velvety, black appearance. This roughness is produced mechanically by means of a small toothed instrument, called a _cradle_.

13. When the plate has been thus prepared, the rest of the process is comparatively easy. It consists in pressing down or rubbing out the roughness of certain parts of the plate, with the burnisher and scraper. Where strong lights are required, the plate is restored to a smooth surface; for a medium light, it is moderately burnished, or partially erased; and, for the deepest shades, the ground is left entire, and sometimes etched, and corroded with nitric acid. Impressions from mezzotinto plates approach more nearly to oil paintings than any other prints. This kind of engraving was invented by Prince Rupert, in 1649.

14. _Aqua-tinta._ There are several methods by which this kind of engraving can be executed; we, however, will describe the one which seems to be the most simple and obvious. The outline of the picture having been etched or engraved in the usual manner, the surface of the copper is sprinkled equally with minute particles of rosin. This dust is fixed to the surface by heating the plate until the rosin has melted.

15. The ground having been thus laid, the parts of the plates not intended to be occupied by the design are _stopped out_ by means of thick varnish. The plate is now surrounded with a wall of wax, as for etching, and diluted nitric acid is poured upon it. A chemical action immediately takes place, by which the surface exposed between the resinous particles is minutely excavated.

16. The lighter shades are stopped out at an early stage of the process, and the _biting in_ is continued for the darker ones. After the plate is judged to be sufficiently corroded, it is cleansed, and an impression is taken on paper. The process is finished by burnishing the shades, to give them greater softness, and by touching up the defective parts with the graver.

17. This mode of engraving is well adapted to light subjects, sketches, landscapes, &c.; but, owing to the fineness of the ground, the plates wear out rapidly, and seldom yield, when of ordinary strength, more than six hundred impressions. The prints taken from such plates bear a strong resemblance to paintings in Indian ink, or to drawings in black-lead pencil. Aqua-tinta is the most precarious kind of engraving, and requires much attention on the part of the artist. It was invented by a Frenchman, named Leprince, who, for a time, kept the process a secret, and sold his impressions for original drawings.

18. _Steel engraving._ The process of engraving on steel plates differs but little in its details from that on copper plates; and the chief advantage derived from this method, arises from the hardness or toughness of the material, which renders it capable of yielding a greater number of impressions.

19. This mode of engraving was first practised, in England, by the calico-printers; but steel was first employed for bank-notes, and for common designs, by Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, Massachusetts; and by him, in conjunction with Asa Spencer, of New-London, and Gideon Fairman, of Philadelphia, the use of steel in this application was generally introduced, not only in the United States, but also in Great Britain, some time before the year 1820.

20. The plates are prepared for the engraver from sheets of steel about one-sixth of an inch in thickness. A plate cut from a sheet of this kind is first softened by heating it with charcoal, and suffering it to cool gradually in the atmosphere. It is next _planished_, or hammered on a peculiar kind of anvil, to make it perfectly level, and afterwards ground on one side upon a grindstone. The operation is completed by polishing it with Scotch stone and charcoal. When steel was first substituted for copper, it was hardened before it was used in printing; but it is now used in its soft state, as it comes from the hands of the artist.

THE COPPERPLATE-PRINTER.

1. The copperplate-printer takes impressions on paper from engraved plates by means of a rolling press. This machine, together with some of the operations in its application, are well exhibited in the above picture.

2. The period at which the practice of printing from engraved plates commenced, cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty. The Dutch, the Germans, and the Italians, contend for the honor of introducing it; but the weight of testimony seems to be in favor of the claims of the Italian sculptor and goldsmith, Tommaso Finiguera, who flourished at Florence, about the middle of the fifteenth century.

3. It is stated that this artist, accidentally spilling some melted brimstone on an engraved plate, found, on its removal, an exact impression of the engraving, marked with black, taken out of the strokes. This suggested to him the idea of taking an impression in ink on paper, by the aid of a roller. It is hardly necessary to state, that the experiment succeeded. Copperplate-printing was not used in England until about 150 years after its first employment at Florence, when it was introduced from Antwerp, by Speed.

4. The ink used in this kind of printing is made of a carbonaceous substance, called Frankfort black, and linseed or nut oil. Oil is used, instead of water, that the ink may not dry during the process; and it is boiled till it has become thick and viscid, that it may not spread on the paper. The materials are incorporated and prepared with the stone and muller, as painters prepare their colors.

5. In taking impressions from an engraved plate, it is first placed on an iron frame over a heated stove, or over a charcoal fire in a furnace, and while in this position, the ink is spread over it with a roller covered with coarse cloth, or with a ball of rubber made of the same material, and faced with buckskin. The heat renders the ink so thin that it can penetrate the minute excavations of the engraving. The plate having been thus sufficiently charged, is wiped first with a rag, then with the hand, until the ink has been removed from every portion of it, except from the lines of the engraving.

6. The plate is next placed on the platform of the press, with its face upwards, and the paper, which has been previously dampened, is laid upon it. A turn of the cylinders, by means of the arms of the cross, carries the plate under a strong pressure, by which portions of the paper are forced into all the cavities of the engraving. The ink, or part of it, leaves the plate, and adheres to the paper, giving an exact representation of the whole work of the artist. The roller by which the pressure is applied is covered with several thicknesses of broadcloth.

7. The number of good impressions yielded by engraved copperplates, depends upon various circumstances, but chiefly on the fineness and depth of the work; and these qualities depend mainly upon the style in which it has been executed. Line engravings will admit of four or five thousand, and, after having been retouched, a considerable number more.

8. Plates of steel will yield near ten times as many good impressions as those of copper, and this too without being hardened. Besides, an engraving on steel may be transferred to a softened steel cylinder, in such a manner that the lines may stand in relief; and this cylinder, after having been hardened, may be brought in forcible contact with another plate, and thus the design may be multiplied at pleasure.

9. The bank-note engravers have now a great variety of designs and figures on steel rollers, which they can easily transfer to new plates. This practice, as applied to plates for bank-notes, originated with Jacob Perkins. It is supposed that he must have been led to it by an English engraver in his employ, who may have explained to him the manner in which the British calico-printers produced engravings on copper cylinders. This is not altogether improbable, since the principle in both cases is substantially the same.

10. In consequence of the increased demand for maps and pictorial embellishments in books, as well as for single prints as ornaments for rooms, engraving and copperplate-printing have become employments of considerable importance; and these arts must doubtless continue to flourish to an indefinite extent, in a country where the taste for the fine arts is rapidly improving, and where wealth affords the means of liberal patronage.

THE LITHOGRAPHER.

1. The word _lithography_ is derived from two Greek words--_lithos_, a stone, and _grapho_, to write; and the art to which the term is applied has reference to the execution of letters, figures, and drawings, on stone, and taking from them fac-simile impressions. The art is founded on the property which stone possesses, of imbibing fluids by capillary attraction, and on the chemical repulsion which oil and water have for each other.

2. Every kind of calcareous stone is capable of being used for lithography. Those, however, which are of a compact, fine, and equal grain, are best adapted to the purpose. The quarries of Solenhofen, near Pappenheim, in Bavaria, furnished the first plates, and none have yet been found in any other place, to equal them in quality; although some that answer the purpose tolerably well, have been taken from quarries in France and England.

3. In preparing the stones for use, they are first ground to a level surface, by rubbing two of them face to face, sand and water being interposed. Then, if they are designed for _ink drawings_, they are polished with pumice-stone; but, if for _chalk drawings_, with fine sand, which produces a grained surface adapted to holding the chalk.

4. When stones of proper size and texture cannot be conveniently obtained, slabs are sometimes constructed of lime and sand, and united with the caseous part of milk. The first part of the process which may be considered as belonging peculiarly to the art, consists in making the drawing on the stone. This is done either in ink, with steel pens and camel's hair pencils, or with crayons made of lithographic chalk. The process of drawing on stone differs but little from that on paper, with similar means.

5. For lithographic ink, a great number of receipts have been given; but the most approved composition consists of equal parts of wax, tallow, shell-lac, and common soap, with a small proportion of lamp-black. Lithographic chalk is usually composed of the same materials, combined in different proportions.

6. When the drawing has been finished, the lithographic printer prepares it for giving impressions, by using upon its surface a weak solution of acid and other ingredients, which corrode the surface of the stone, except where it is defended from its action by the grease of the chalk or ink. As soon as the stone has been sufficiently eaten away, the solution is removed by the application of spirits of turpentine and water.

7. The ink employed in this kind of printing, is similar in its composition to other kinds of printing ink. It is applied to the drawing by means of a small wooden cylinder covered with leather. The paper, which has been suitably dampened, is laid upon the stone, and after it has been covered, by turning down upon it a thick piece of leather stretched upon an iron frame, a crank is turned which brings the stone successively under the press.

8. An impression of the drawing having been thus communicated to the paper, the sheet is removed, and the process is repeated, until the proposed number of prints have been taken. Before each application of the ink, the whole face of the stone is moderately wet with water by means of a sponge; and although the roller passes over the whole surface of the stone, yet the ink adheres to no part of it, except to that which is covered with the drawing.

9. The number of impressions which may be taken from chalk drawings, varies according to their fineness. A fine drawing will give fifteen hundred; a coarse one, twice that number. Ink drawings and writings give considerably more than copperplates, the finest yielding six or eight thousand, and strong lines and writings many more.

10. Impressions from engravings can be multiplied indefinitely, with very little trouble, in the following manner. A print is taken in the usual way from the engraved plate, and immediately laid with its face upon water. When sufficiently wet, it is carefully applied to the face of a stone, and pressed down upon it by the application of a roller, until the ink is transferred to the stone. Impressions are then taken in the manner before described.

11. The invention of lithography is ascribed to Aloys Senifelder, the son of a performer at the theatre of Munich. Having become an author, and being too poor to publish his works in the usual way, he tried many plans, with copperplates and compositions, in order to be his own printer. A trial on stone, which had been accidentally suggested, succeeded. His first essays to print for publication, were some pieces of music, executed in 1796.

12. The first productions of the art were rude, and of little promise; but, since 1806, its progress has been so rapid, that it now gives employment to a great number of artists; and works are produced, which rival the finest engravings, and even surpass them in the expression of certain subjects. The earliest date of the art in the United States, is 1826, when a press was established at Boston, by William Pendleton.

THE AUTHOR.

1. The word author, in a general sense, is used to express the originator or efficient cause of a thing; but, in the restricted sense in which it is applied in this article, it signifies the first writer of a book, or a writer in general. The indispensable qualifications to make a writer are--a talent for literary composition, an accurate knowledge of language, and an acquaintance with the subject to be treated.

2. Very few persons are educated with the view to their becoming authors. They generally write on subjects pertaining to the profession or business in which they have been practically engaged: a clergyman writes on divinity; a physician, on medicine; a lawyer, on jurisprudence; a teacher, on education; and a mechanic, on his particular trade. There are subjects, however, which occupy common ground, on which individuals of various professions often write.

3. Authorship is founded upon the invention of letters, and the art of combining them into words. In the earliest ages of the world, the increase of knowledge was opposed by many formidable obstacles. Tradition was the first means of transmitting information to posterity; and this, depending upon the memory and will of individuals, was exceedingly precarious.

4. The chief adventitious aids in the perpetuation of the memory of facts by tradition, were the erection of monuments, the periodical celebration of days or years, the use of poetry, and, finally, symbolical drawings and hieroglyphical sketches. Nevertheless, history must have remained uncertain and fabulous, and science in a state of perpetual infancy, had it not been for the invention of written characters.

5. The credit of the invention of letters was claimed by the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Jews, as well as by some other nations; but as their origin preceded all authentic history not inspired, and as the book of inspiration is silent in regard to it, no satisfactory conclusion can be formed on this point. Some antiquarians are of opinion, that the strongest claims are presented by the Phoenicians.

6. The Pentateuch embraces the earliest specimen of phonetic or alphabetic writing now extant, and this was written about 1500 years before Christ. Many persons suppose that, as the Deity himself inscribed the ten commandments on the two tables of stone, he taught Moses the use of letters; and, on this supposition, is founded the claim of the Jewish nation to the honor of the first human application of them.

7. If we may believe Pliny, sixteen characters of the alphabet were introduced into Greece by Cadmus, the Phoenician, in the days of Moses; four more were added by Palamedes during the Trojan war, and four afterwards, by Simonides. Alphabetical writing evidently sprung from successive improvements in the hieroglyphical system, since a great part of the latter has been lately discovered to be syllabic or alphabetic.

8. A considerable number of very ancient alphabets still exist on the monumental remains of some of the first post-diluvian cities, and several of later date, in manuscripts which have descended to our times. The letters employed in different languages have ever been subject to great changes in their conformation. This was especially the case before the introduction of the art of printing, which has contributed greatly towards permanency in this respect.

9. The mode of arranging the letters in writing has, also, varied considerably. Some nations have written in perpendicular lines, as the Chinese and ancient Egyptians; others from right to left, as the Jews; and others, again, alternately from left to right, as was the method at one period among the Greeks. The mode of writing from left to right now generally practised, is preferable to any other, since it leaves uncovered that portion of the page upon which writing has been made.

10. In ancient times, literary productions were considered public property; and, consequently, as soon as a work was published, transcribers assumed the right to multiply copies at pleasure, without making the authors the least remuneration. They, however, were sometimes rewarded with great liberality, by princes or wealthy patrons. This literary piracy continued, until a long time after the introduction of the art of printing.

11. In almost every kingdom of Europe, and in the United States, the exclusive right of authors to publish their own productions, is now secured to them by law, at least for a specified number of years. The first legislative proceeding on this subject in England, took place in 1662, when the publication of any book was prohibited, except through the permission of the lord-chamberlain. The title of the book, and the name of the proprietor, were, also, required to be entered in the record of the Stationers' Company.

12. This and some subsequent acts having been repealed in 1691, literary property was left to the protection of the common law, by which the amount of damages which could be proved to have actually occurred in case of infringement, could be recovered, and no more. New applications were, therefore, made to parliament; and, in 1709, a statute was passed, by which the property of copyright was guarded for fourteen years, with severe penalties. This privilege was connected with the condition, that a copy of the work be deposited in nine public libraries specified in the act.

13. In 1774, the Parliament decided that, at the end of fourteen years, the copyright might be renewed, in case the author were still living. The law continued on this footing until 1814, when the contingency with regard to the last fourteen years was removed; and, if the author still survived, the privilege of publication was extended to the close of his life.

14. In the United States, the jurisdiction of this subject is vested by the Constitution in the Federal Government; and, in 1790, a law was passed by Congress, securing to the authors of books, charts, maps, engravings, &c., being citizens of the United States or resident therein, privileges like those granted in England, in 1774. In 1831, the law was altered, and again made to conform to that of England in regard to the period of the privileges. The English and American laws differ in no essential provision. Until the year 1839, foreigners were permitted to hold copyrights in England.

15. In France, the first statute regarding literary property was passed in 1793, when the right of authors to their works was secured to them during their lives, and to their heirs for ten years after their decease. The decree of 1810 extended the right of the heirs to twenty years. In Russia, the period of copyright is the same as in France, and the property is not liable for the payment of the author's debts.

16. In some of the German states, the right is given for the lifetime of the author; in others, it is made perpetual, like any other property; but then the work may be printed with impunity in any of the other states in which a right has not been secured. In Germany and Italy, especially, authors are very poorly remunerated; and in Spain, the book trade has been so much oppressed by a merciless censorship, that authors are compelled to publish their works on their own account.

17. From the preceding statement it appears, that few legislators have been willing to place the productions of intellectual labor on the same honorable footing with other kinds of property. No reason, however, can be assigned for the distinction, except the unjust and piratical usage of two or three thousand years.

18. Authors seldom publish their own works. They generally find it expedient, and, in fact, necessary, to intrust this part of the business to booksellers and publishers, from whom they usually receive a specified amount for the entire copyright, or a certain sum for each and every copy which may be sold during the term of years which may be agreed upon. The compensation is commonly insufficient to pay them for preparing the works for the press; but they are as well paid in this country as in any other. In this particular, however, there has been a manifest improvement within the last ten years.

THE PRINTER.

1. From what has been said in a preceding article, it is manifest that the art of printing arose from the practice of engraving on wood. Letters were cut on wood as inscriptions to pictures, and were printed at the same time with them, by means of a hand-roller. The impressions were taken on one side of the paper; and, in order to hide the nakedness of the blank side, two leaves were pasted together. These leaves were put up in pamphlet form, and are now known under the denomination of _block-books_, because they were printed from wooden blocks.

2. Although the art of typographical printing can be clearly traced to wood engraving, yet so much uncertainty rests upon its history, that the honor of its invention is claimed by three cities--Harlem, in Holland, and Strasburg and Mentz, in Germany; and, at the present time, it is difficult to determine satisfactorily the merits of their respective claims. The obscurity on this point has arisen from the desire of the first printers to conceal the process of the art, that their productions might pass for manuscripts, and that they might enjoy the full benefit of their invention.

3. The advocates of the claims of Harlem state, that Laurentius Coster applied wooden types, and some say, even metal types, as early as 1428, and that several persons were employed by him in the business up to the year 1440, when his materials were stolen from him by one of his workmen or servants, named John, while the family were engaged in celebrating the festival of Christmas eve. The thief is said to have fled first to Amsterdam, then to Cologne, and, finally, to have settled in Mentz, where, within a twelvemonth, he published two small works, by means of the types which Laurentius Coster had used.

4. These claims in favor of Harlem, however, were not set forth until 120 years after the death of Coster; and the whole story, as then stated by Hadriamus Junius, was founded altogether upon traditionary testimony. Perhaps wood engravings, with inscriptions, may have been executed there; if so, the account may have originated from that circumstance.

5. The statements which seem to be the most worthy of credit, bestow the honor of this invention on a citizen of Mentz. Here, it appears, that John Geinsfleisch, or Guttemburg senior, published two small works for schools, in 1442, on wooden types; but, not having the funds necessary to carry on the business, he applied to John Faust, a rich goldsmith, who became a partner, in 1443, and advanced the requisite means. Soon afterwards, J. Meidenbachius and some others were admitted as partners.

6. In the following year, John Guttemburg, the brother of Geinsfleisch, made an addition to the firm. For several years before this union, or from 1436, Guttemburg had been attempting to complete the invention at Strasburg; but it is said that he had never been able to produce a clean printed sheet. The brothers may, or may not, have pursued their experiments without receiving any hints from each other, before their union at Mentz.

7. Soon after the formation of this partnership, the two brothers commenced cutting _metal types_, for the purpose of printing an edition of the Bible, which was published in Latin, about the year 1450. Before this great achievement of the art had been effected, Geinsfleisch appears to have retired from the concern, some say, on account of blindness.

8. The partnership before mentioned, was dissolved, in 1450, and Faust and Guttemburg entered into a new arrangement, the former supplying money, the latter, personal services, for their mutual benefit; but various difficulties having arisen, this partnership was also dissolved, in 1455, after a lawsuit between them, which was decided against Guttemburg.

9. Faust, having obtained possession of the printing materials, entered into partnership with Peter Shoeffer, who had been for a long time a servant, or workman, in the printing establishment. In 1457, they published an edition of the _Psalter_, which was then considered uncommonly elegant. This book was, in a great measure, the work of Guttemburg, since, during the four years in which it was in the press, he was, for two years and a half, the chief operator in the printing-office.

10. Guttemburg, by the pecuniary aid of Conrad Humery and others, established another press in Mentz, and, in 1460, published the "_Catholicon Joannis Januensis_." It was a very handsome work, but not equal in beauty to the Psalter of Faust and Shoeffer. The latter was the first printed book known to have a genuine date. From this time, it has been the practice for printers to claim their own productions, by prefixing to them their names.

11. Notwithstanding the great advancement which had been made in the art of printing, the invention cannot, by any means, be considered complete, until about the year 1458, when Peter Shoeffer contrived a method of casting types in a matrix, or mould. The first book executed with cast metal types was called "_Durandi Ralionale Divinorum Officiorum_," published in 1459. Only the smaller letters, however, were of this description, all the larger characters which occur, being _cut types_. These continued to be used, more or less, as late as the year 1490.

12. In 1462, Faust carried to Paris a number of Latin Bibles, which he and Shoeffer had printed, and disposed of many of them as manuscripts. At first, he sold them at five or six hundred crowns, the sums usually obtained by the scribes. He afterwards lowered the price to sixty. This created universal astonishment; but, when he produced them according to the demand, and when he had reduced the price to thirty, all Paris became agitated.

13. The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder of the Parisians, and information was finally given against him to the police as a magician. He was accordingly arrested, and a great number of his Bibles were seized. The red ink with which they were embellished, was supposed to be his blood. It was seriously adjudged, that the prisoner was joined in league with the devil; and had he not disclosed the secret of his art, he would probably have shared the fate of those whom the magistrates of those superstitious times condemned for witchcraft.

14. It may be well to inform the reader, that, although the story of Faust's arrest, as above detailed, is related as a fact by several authors, yet by others it is thought to be unworthy of credit. It is also generally supposed, that the celebrated romance of "Doctor Faustus and the devil" originated in the malice of the monks towards Faust, whose employment of printing deprived them of their gain as copiers. It seems more probable, however, that it arose from the astonishing performances of Doctor John Faust, a dealer in the black art, who lived in Germany in the beginning of the sixteenth century.

15. Faust and Shoeffer continued their printing operations together, at least, until 1486, about which time it is conjectured, that the former died of the plague, at Paris. Geinsfleisch, or, as he is sometimes called, Guttemburg senior, died in 1462; and his brother Guttemburg junior, in 1468, after having enjoyed, for three years, the privileges of nobility, which, together with a pension, had been conferred upon him by Archbishop Adolphus, in consideration of his great services to mankind.

16. More copies of the earliest printed books were impressed on vellum than on paper; but very soon paper was used for a principal part of the edition, while a few only were printed on vellum, as curiosities, to be ornamented by the illuminators, whose ingenious art, though in vogue before and at that time, did not long survive the rapid improvements in printing.

17. We are informed, that the Mentz printers observed the utmost secrecy in their operations; and, that the art might not be divulged by the persons whom they employed, they administered to them an oath of fidelity. This appears to have been strictly adhered to, until the year 1462, when the city was taken and plundered by Archbishop Adolphus. Amid the consternation which had arisen from this event, the workmen spread themselves in different directions; and, considering their oath no longer obligatory, they soon divulged the secret, which was rapidly diffused throughout Europe.

18. Some idea may be formed of the celerity with which a knowledge of printing was extended, from the fact that the art was received in two hundred and three places, prior to the year 1500. It was brought to England, in 1471, by William Caxton, a mercer of the city of London, who had spent many years in Germany and Holland. The place of the first location of his press was Westminster Abbey. The first press in North America was established at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1639.

19. Printed newspapers had their origin in Germany. They first appeared in Augsburg and Vienna, in 1524. They were originally without date or place of impression; nor were they published at regular periods. The first German paper with numbered sheets was printed, in 1612; and, from this time, must be dated periodical publications in that part of Europe.

20. In England, the first newspaper appeared during the reign of Elizabeth. It originated in a desire to communicate information in regard to the expected invasion by the Spanish armada, and was entitled the "English Mercury," which, by authority, was printed at London by Christopher Barker, her highness's printer, in 1588.

21. These, however, were extraordinary gazettes, not regularly published. Periodicals seem to have been first extensively used by the English, during the civil wars in the time of the Commonwealth. The number of newspapers in Great Britain and Ireland amounted, in 1829, to 325, and the sums paid to the government for stamps and duties on advertisements, amounted to about £678,000 sterling.

22. No newspaper appeared in the British colonies of America until 1704, when the "News Letter" was issued at Boston. The first paper published in Philadelphia, was issued in 1719; the first in New-York, in 1733. In 1775, there were 37; and in 1801, there were, in the whole United States, 203; in 1810, 358; at the present time, there are about 1500, and the number is annually increasing.

23. The first periodical paper of France originated with Renaudot, a physician in Paris, who, for a long time, had been in the habit of collecting news, which he communicated verbally to his patients, with the view to their amusement. But, in 1631, he commenced the publication of a weekly sheet, called the "Gazette de France," which was continued with very little interruption, until 1827. There are now, probably, in France, about 400 periodical publications most of which have been established since the commencement of the revolution of 1792.

24. Periodicals devoted to different objects have been established in every other kingdom of Europe; but, in many cases, they are trammelled by a strict censorship of the respective governments. This is especially the case with those devoted to politics or religion. But all Europe, with its 200,000,000 of inhabitants, does not support as many regular publications as the United States, with its 17,000,000.

25. The workmen employed in a printing-office are of two kinds: _compositors_, who arrange the types according to the copy delivered to them; and _pressmen_, who apply ink on the types, and take off impressions. In many cases, and especially where the business is carried on upon a small scale, the workmen often practise both branches.

26. Before the types are applied to use, they are placed in the cells or compartments of a wooden receptacle called a _case_, each species of letter, character and space, by itself. The letters which are required most frequently, are lodged in the largest compartments, which are located nearest to the place where the compositor stands, while arranging the types.

27. The compositor is furnished with a _composing-stick_, which is commonly an iron instrument, surrounded on three sides with ledges about half an inch in height, one of which is moveable, so that it may be adjusted to any length of line. The compositor, in the performance of his work, selects the letters from their several compartments, and arranges them in an inverted order from that in which they are to appear in the printed page.

28. At the end of each word is placed a _quadrat_, to produce a space between that and the one which follows. The quadrats are of various widths, and being considerably shorter than types, they yield no impression in printing. A thin brass rule is placed in the stick, on which each successive line of types is arranged. When the composing-stick has been filled, it is _emptied_ into the _galley_, which is a flat board, partly surrounded with a rim.