Chapter V: Materials and Methods of the First Printers

Our knowledge of Coster is much less complete than our knowledge of Gutenberg. Much, however, that could be said of one would undoubtedly be true of the other. It is reported that Coster began with wooden type. This would naturally be the first step forward from the block book, which was invariably printed from wood. Finding that wooden type was unsatisfactory in the press, he experimented with lead and with tin, we are told. Obviously he would not get satisfactory results with either of these metals unalloyed. The use of unsatisfactory material probably accounts for the number of fonts of type which he employed in his comparatively small output.

Gutenberg and his associates invented a more satisfactory type metal and an improved method for the making of type. The first types appear to have been carved individually by hand. This was a great task, but not as great as might appear. The early printers printed their books page by page. When one page was printed in sufficient numbers for the edition the type was distributed and another page set up, and so on. In this way a comparatively small amount of type would suffice for the equipment of a small shop. It was not long, however, before the superiority of casting was perceived.

The first mold was probably two notched blocks of brass or copper, like those shown in the accompanying illustration, a method being provided of accurately positioning the matrix under the opening in the mold and also of holding the two blocks firmly together. From the illustration it will be noted that when the blocks are forced together a square opening remains. Still keeping the blocks together, but sliding down the one at the right, one dimension of the opening does not change, but the other can be varied. This mold has been improved in detail, but not greatly altered in principle down to this day. A fairly satisfactory form of matrix very similar to the one in use today was soon devised. This was made by cutting the letter in relief on the end of a soft steel or iron punch which was then hardened and driven into a block of soft brass or copper, which became the matrix.

The type, as has been said, was cut to resemble the handwriting of the scribes in the locality where the book was printed. This would be the obvious method because it must be remembered that the rapid reproduction of manuscripts was the sole end which the first printers had in view. They did not think of developing a conventional book type different from handwriting or script. They simply imitated the script which was current, and consequently most legible, in their neighborhood. The school boys of that day did not have to learn two alphabets, one the script letter and the other the printed letter, as we do today. The device of spacing was immediately adopted. The letters were cast, however, upon bodies with wide shoulders at top and bottom and used without leads.

The types of the period were both handsome and legible. Perhaps they may not be easy for us to read, but that is because we are not familiar with the forms of the letters used and especially with the contractions and abbreviations which were common. The beauty of some of these early types will be seen from the little specimen of the type of the Mazarin Bible which is herewith reproduced in full size.

With the example of the illuminators before them the early printers paid much attention to the ornamenting of their pages. They introduced some ornaments of their own and they occasionally left space for the hand illuminator to use in supplementing their work. A full page of the Mazarin Bible greatly reduced is shown herewith. By comparing that with the specimen of full size type and imagining the whole page thrown up to natural size one can see what a really beautiful book this famous Bible was.

The press in use was of the most simple form imaginable, as shown by the accompanying illustration. It was an adaptation of a familiar mechanical device, with no originality about it. It was made of wood and was operated by a screw turning through a nut, the moving of the screw bringing the platen and bed into contact. The form was released by the reverse movement of the screw. After a while the sliding bed and frisket shown in the accompanying illustration were introduced and there the mechanism stopped for a long time.

The first twenty-five years or so of printing have been described as a period of stagnation. They have also been described as the period of the workman. Apparently the vast possibilities of the new art were slow in obtaining recognition. The earliest printers were only mechanics. They had not yet got the vision of combining scholarship with their art and so unlocking the treasuries of the world to mankind generally, still less that of adding to the sum total of human knowledge. They had found out an art by which manuscripts could be rapidly produced and money made by their sale, and that was all.

They contented themselves with a slavish imitation of manuscripts, with apparently no thought of their being anything more than manuscript imitators. This condition of things, however, could not last long. It was inevitable that the scholars of the world should become interested in this new process and should begin to see its advantages. After twenty or twenty-five years of printing this took place. The period of sluggish and practically dormant infancy passed and the development of the art began, as we shall see in the next volume of this series, No. 51, A Short History of Printing, Part I.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

THE STORY OF BOOKS. By Gertrude Burford Rawlings. McClure, Phillips &
Co., New York.

THE INVENTION OF PRINTING. By Thedore L. De Vinne. Oswald Publishing
Co., New York.

HAARLEM, NOT MAINZ. By J. H. Hesels.

EARLY PRINTED BOOKS. By E. Gordon Duff.

BOOKS AND THEIR MAKERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Vol. I. by George Haven
Putnam. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. Eleventh Edition. Article on Typography.

Pupils who have access to large libraries should consult J.W. Holtrop’s Monuments Typographiques des Pays-Bas and Samuel Sotheby’s Principia, both of which contain many excellent reproductions of very early printing. Sotheby’s book is commonly referred to as above, but is published under several different names in editions which vary but little. Perhaps the best is entitled Typography of the Fifteenth Century.

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

The following questions, based on the contents of this volume, are intended to serve (1) as a guide to the study of the text, (2) as an aid to the student in putting the information contained into definite statements without actually memorizing the text, (3) as a means of securing from the student a reproduction of the information in his own words.

A careful following of the questions by the reader will insure full acquaintance with every part of the text, avoiding the accidental omission of what might be of value. These primers are so condensed that nothing should be omitted.

In teaching from these books it is very important that these questions and such others as may occur to the teacher should be made the basis of frequent written work, and of final examinations.

The importance of written work cannot be overstated. It not only assures knowledge of material but the power to express that knowledge correctly and in good form.

If this written work can be submitted to the teacher in printed form it will be doubly useful.

QUESTIONS

1. What interesting fact is noted about most great inventions and
what is the reason for it?

2. Give some well known instances.

3. How does this condition apply to the invention of printing?

4. Why may we question De Vinne’s decision?

5. Why was the discovery of typography inevitable about 1450?

6. What was the condition of England and France at this time?

7. What was the condition of Italy?

8. What was the condition of Germany, Spain, and Portugal?

9. What was the condition of the church?

10. What important movement was made possible by these political
conditions?

11. Name some important events in the movement.

12. What had all this to do with book-making?

13. What were the shortcomings of manuscript books?

14. What materials were already invented and ready for the printer?

15. Tell what you can about each.

16. What is typography?

17. What were the earliest predecessors of typography?

18. Tell of some later methods of making impressions.

19. What early attempts at printing were made by the Chinese and
their neighbors?

20. Did these attempts develop into typography, and why?

21. What devices took the place of books among the poor before the
invention of printing?

22. What were image prints, and how made?

23. What were the two lines of development from the image prints?

24. How did these developments suggest typography?

25. How were early playing cards made, and what was their relation
to block printing?

26. Name some of the places where and persons by whom typography is
said to have been invented.

27. Tell the story of Waldfoghel, and what we conclude about it.

28. Tell the Coster legend.

29. What do we know about Gutenberg before 1450?

30. What was his contract of that year with Fust?

31. How did it work out?

32. What do we know of Gutenberg after 1455?

33. Give the main points of the Gutenberg legend.

34. What are the clear facts about early Mainz printing?

35. What are the three classes of historical evidence?

36. What can you say, with this distinction in mind, about the
evidence concerning the invention of typography?

37. What evidence of the first class is there coming from Haarlem?

38. Why do we claim that this evidence comes from Haarlem?

39. Why did the printer use so many fonts of type for so few books?

40. What internal evidence is there for the date of these books?

41. What are the peculiarities of these books?

42. What do these peculiarities show?

43. What piece of evidence of the second class have we which bears
on these books?

44. What pieces of evidence of the third class have we which bear
on these books?

45. What does all this evidence seem to show as to who invented
typography, where, and when?

46. What do the printed pieces attributed to Gutenberg show?

47. What does the Helmasperger document show?

48. What does the patent of Adolph II show?

49. What does Zell’s statement show?

50. What can you say of the early statements that Gutenberg
invented typography?

51. Compare the results of the work of Coster and of Gutenberg.

52. How did the Haarlem invention get to Mainz?

53. What did Gutenberg really do?

54. What was the outcome of his work?

55. How does this theory explain the doubtful or conflicting
evidence?

56. What can you say about Coster’s type?

57. How were the first types made?

58. What two important inventions in type-making do we owe to
Gutenberg and his associates?

59. What can you tell about the first type faces?

60. Why are the early books so beautiful?

61. Describe Gutenberg’s press and the first improvements upon it.

62. What has the first period of about twenty-five years of
typography been called, and why?

TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES

The following list of publications, comprising the TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES, has been prepared under the supervision of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America for use in trade classes, in course of printing instruction, and by individuals.

Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States—employers, journeymen, and apprentices—with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study.

The publications of the series are of uniform size, 5×8 inches. Their general make-up, in typography, illustrations, etc., has been, as far as practicable, kept in harmony throughout. A brief synopsis of the particular contents and other chief features of each volume will be found under each title in the following list.

Each topic is treated in a concise manner, the aim being to embody in each publication as completely as possible all the rudimentary information and essential facts necessary to an understanding of the subject. Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text.

In order that the pamphlets may be of the greatest possible help for use in trade-school classes and for self-instruction, each title is accompanied by a list of Review Questions covering essential items of the subject matter. A short Glossary of technical terms belonging to the subject or department treated is also added to many of the books.

These are the Official Text-books of the United Typothetae of America.

Address all orders and inquiries to COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A.