Chapter I: Part 1

THE PENTATEUCH OF PRINTING

WITH

A CHAPTER ON JUDGES.

BY

WILLIAM BLADES.

_With a Memoir of the Author, and List of his Works_,

BY

TALBOT B. REED.

_CHICAGO:
A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY._

_1891._

_Blades, East & Blades,
Printers,
23, Abchurch Lane, London, E.C._

PREFACE

The Pentateuch of Printing is not so fanciful a title for the present book as might at first sight appear. There is a self-evident analogy between the _Genesis_ of the World and the Genesis of Printing. The spread of Typography is not inaptly typified by an _Exodus_; while the laws promulgated in _Leviticus_ have a plain parallel in idea with the laws and observances necessary to be followed in making a book. _Numbers_ certainly is not so directly suggestive of the many great names which figure upon the Printers’ Roll of Honour; but _Deuteronomy_ at once suggests, by its very signification, the second birth and reinforcement of the vital conditions of Printing introduced by the steam-machine. No subject is nowadays complete without a knowledge of what specialists have previously written upon it, and the public generally are certain to form their opinions upon the published statements of the best _Judges_. We thus obtain six chapter-heads for our book, and whether the information offered under these heads is worth reading must now be left to the only Judge, against whose verdict it is useless to appeal--the Reading Public.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PREFACE iii.

MEMOIR OF WILLIAM BLADES ix.

PROLOGUE xxv.

GENESIS 1

EXODUS 23

LEVITICUS 43

NUMBERS 59

DEUTERONOMY 83

A CHAPTER ON JUDGES 95

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

St. Christopher. Earliest dated Woodcut _Frontispiece_

Assyrian Clay Tablet, Stamped 5

Letters Stamped on a Greek Lamp 5

Letters Stamped on a Roman Lamp 5

Fifteenth Century Playing Card 6

Fac-simile, from the _Biblia Pauperum_. Block-book, 15th
century 8

Scriptorium Monk at work 9

Bookbinder, 16th century 10

Cover of a Book, 15th century 11

Fragment from a Xylographic _Donatus_ 12

_Image of Pity._ (Wood block and type) 13

Statue of Coster 17

Coster Commemoration Medal, 1856 19

Portrait of Ulric Gering 29

Manuscript written at Bruges, circ. 1472 34

Supposed Portrait of Caxton 36

Fac-simile from the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_,
1474. (Caxton’s Type, No. 1) 37

Bas-relief from the Entablature, Jerusalem Chamber,
Westminster 39

Illustrations showing regular and irregular body of Type 46

Impression of a Type in 1476 48

Impression of a Type, circ. 1470 48

Profile tracings from M. Claudius’ 15th century Types 49

Diagram of a Type 50

Illustration of a Punch 50

Illustration of a Matrix 51

The “Lay” of a pair of Type Cases 52

A Fifteenth Century Wooden Composing Stick 53

Old Iron Composing Stick 53

A Line of Composed Type 53

Old Wooden Press, 1508 54

Interior of a 17th century Printing Office 55

Improved Wooden Press, 1640 56

Portraits of Coster, Gutenberg, Fust, Aldus and Froben. (From
_Maittaire_) 62

Portrait of Aldus 65

The Medal of Aldus 67

The Plantin Museum, at Antwerp 75

Portrait of Christopher Plantin 76

Portrait of John Day, 1562 77

John Day’s Trade Mark 77

Portrait of William Spottiswoode 78

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin 79

Fac-simile Letter of Benjamin Franklin 80

Stationers’ Hall 81

Centenary Medal of the Walters, of the _Times_, 1885 87

Diagram Illustrating a Flat Impression 88

Diagram Illustrating Single Cylindrical Impression 88

Diagram Illustrating Double Cylindrical Impression of a
Perfecting Machine 89

Diagram Illustrating Cylindrical Impression from Curved
Stereotype 90

The “Hoe” Newspaper Printing Machine 90

Early Logotypes 92

Fac-simile Title-page of the _Star Chamber Decree_, 1637 104

Fac-simile Title-page of Atkyn’s _Original and Growth of
Printing_, 1664 105

Fac-simile Title-page and Illustration from Wolffger’s
_Format Buchlein_, 1620 106, 107

Fac-simile Title-page of Moxon’s _Mechanick Exercises_,
1683 108

Fac-simile Title-page of the Elzevir Specimen Book, 1713 109

Fac-simile Title-page of Watson’s _History of Printing_,
1713 110

Fac-simile Title-page of Lewis’ _Life of Caxton_, 1737 111

Fac-simile Title-page of Mores’ _Dissertation on Founders_,
1778 112

Fac-simile Title-page of I. Thomas’ _History of Printing in
America_, 1810 113

_MEMOIR of the late WILLIAM BLADES_,

BY

TALBOT BAINES REED.

To the friends of the late WILLIAM BLADES no apology is needed for publishing in its present form the work on which he was engaged at the time of his death, in April, 1890. For such as did not know him, it is thought that a few biographical notes on the man and his career will sufficiently explain the peculiar interest which attaches to his last and not least important work.

WILLIAM BLADES was born at Clapham, on the 5th of December, 1824--at a period when the romantic bibliomania of DIBDIN and the Roxboro’ Club was in its zenith. These enthusiasts met periodically to celebrate their discoveries in the field of book-lore; to keep one another in mind of the famous occasion when the Marquess of BLANDFORD wrested the _Valdarfer Boccaccio_ from the Earl of SPENCER for the sum of £2,260, at Evans’s; and to drink in silence to the “Cause of Bibliomania all over the World.” Emulated by the example of these aristocratic enthusiasts, other more humble enquirers, such as TIMPERLEY, HANSARD, and JOHNSON were exploring the same field, and helping one another to conclusions. There was more zeal than knowledge. There was a great deal of fine writing, entertaining anecdote, and expensive book-making; there were sweeping generalizations, and a touching confidence in second-hand evidence. But in all the school, although it included one or two practical printers, no one had the courage to defy authority, and question all bibliographical dogma until he could verify it for himself. The little boy at Clapham was destined to inaugurate this desirable revolution, and apply to the study of Early Printing a sturdy agnosticism which would have horrified DIBDIN and scandalized the choice spirits of the Roxboro’ Club.

At the early age of sixteen, and after a comparatively brief educational career at the Clapham Grammar School, WILLIAM BLADES entered the office of his father, the late JOSEPH BLADES, a respected City printer, at 11, Abchurch Lane. In after life he was always ready to attribute the main part of his success as a bibliographer, as well as his own business prosperity, to the thorough grounding which, during his ’prentice years, he received in all the details, practical and artistic, of his profession. Nor was he wont, in dealing with questions relating to the well-being and relief of the journeyman printer, in which he took so deep an interest, ever to ignore the days, often severe and wearisome, when he wore the apron and worked at case side by side with his father’s _employés_. His description of himself as “WILLIAM BLADES, Printer,” on the title-page of one or more of his books, conveyed what he felt to be his chief claim to authority on matters relating to the history and antiquities of his craft. Those matters it was his rule to investigate as a printer first, as an antiquary next, and as a man of letters last; and it was by adhering to this order that he was able to do for bibliography what AMES and DIBDIN and TIMPERLEY had failed to do.

These investigations, however, do not appear to have interested him specially during the early years of his career as a printer. It was not till he had become a master in his craft that he gave the first indications of a turn for the antiquities of Printing. Long before 1858 the bibliomania of the DIBDIN school had died down into a vague academic interest in the productions of the early presses, measured chiefly by their market value at auctions, and studied wholly on the unquestioned authority of the author of the _Bibliographical Decameron_ and his contemporaries. The art of exact fac-simile was as yet unknown; and for those who, without access to the originals, pretended to a knowledge of the typography of the early printers, the lax copper-plates and wood engravings of the old illustrators were the principal data of research.

In a few directions, however, the interest was reviving, and, in 1858, Mr. BLADES undertook to write an introductory note for a reprint of Caxton’s edition of _The Governayle of Health_. His special qualification for the task was that he had already begun his investigation of the typography of the works of the first English press, which were to result in his _Life of Caxton_. What it was which specially turned his attention to this inquiry he has not left on record. Whatever it was, looking at it from the printer’s point of view, a very little study sufficed to convince him of the general untrustworthiness of the old authorities, and the necessity of instituting an original research.

The manner in which he went about this was characteristic of the man’s enthusiasm and determination. He shut up his LEWIS, and AMES, and DIBDIN, and ALDUS, and assumed that neither he, nor anyone else, knew anything of WILLIAM CAXTON. From this clear stand-point he began first to study the life, and then the books of the Mercer printer. He groped through the City records till he established the clear connection between the apprentice of ROBERT LARGE, and the merchant adventurer in the Burgundian Court. Then, step by step, he traced the literary _protegé_ of the Duchess to Bruges, and into the printing-office of COLARD MANSION. As he himself confessed, it was no easy task. Often he had to go back on his steps, and often the difficulties in the way seemed to forbid all further progress. But the ground cleared as he went on, and when once he had traced his hero to Westminster, the chief biographical difficulties of his task were over.

There remained the still more important study of CAXTON’S works. Here, more than ever, he resolved to take nothing at second hand. He personally inspected no fewer than 450 Caxtons in different libraries, collating, comparing, and classifying them as he went along. His printer’s instinct at once found the key to the study. It was not in the titles or colophons, in the diction or the literary evidence, but in the types. He subjected each book to a searching typographical examination, and classified it according to its types. He made the whole work and method of the primitive little printing-house at the “Red Pale” live before our eyes; we saw when type 1 came to an end, and when type 2 appeared; we found the ingenious craftsman, when type 2 was wearing out, trimming it with his graver, and creating type 2* out of its ruins. We watched the career of each type, from the moment it was cast in its rough mould, till the day when, worn out and discarded, it passed into strange hands and finally vanished. Meanwhile, each book as it came up, fell into its proper class. The year of undated books was fixed by the evidence of their dated companions; and the relative order in a single year was often determined by the observation of some typographical detail, visible only to the eye of the expert, which clearly marked off one stage in the printers’ habits from another.

In such manner was the _Life of Caxton_ written. It marked a new epoch in bibliography, and disposed finally of the lax methods of the old school. With a work like the _Life of Caxton_ on record, it would be impossible in future to write with authority about the old printers and their books, without approaching the study from the point of view of the typographical expert. There is no doubt that the mechanical improvements in processes of fac-simile added much to the success and value of the _Life and Typography of William Caxton_. It is useless to talk about old type unless you can display it. This Mr. BLADES did on a lavish scale. Not only were fac-simile pages of all the representative books given, but the alphabets in each class of type were laboriously picked out and presented, with the combinations and variants of each letter, so that the student was able to study CAXTON’S works not only as they appeared ready printed, but letter by letter, in the case before composition.

The first volume of the _Life of Caxton_ appeared in 1861, and the second in 1863; between which two dates, Mr. BLADES had married the lady who, for twenty-eight years, was to be the loyal partner in his life and work.

The _magnum opus_ was received with general approbation. It was recognised that a right method of investigating the problems of palæotypography had been discovered. A new interest was aroused in the works of the early presses, and the fortunate possessors of “Caxtons” became suddenly alive to their privileges.

Not the least gratifying result of the labours connected with this work were the friendships which Mr. BLADES formed with men of his own taste, engaged in like pursuits. It is worth recording the pleasant account given by Mr. PROTHERO of the meeting of HENRY BRADSHAW and WILLIAM BLADES, while the proofs of the _Caxton_ were still in the press. “In September, 1860, Mr. BLADES paid a visit to Cambridge, taking with him the first two sheets of his book in type, and the rest in manuscript. It was a fine, warm afternoon, and after dinner--they dined earlier in those days than now--they went down, as BRADSHAW was fond of doing, into the college garden; a bottle of wine was ordered out, and there and then, without moving from the place, Mr. BLADES read the whole historical portion of the book to his willing listener, who frequently interposed criticisms and suggestions of the most useful kind.”

The friendship thus begun continued uninterruptedly for a quarter of a century. It was none the less valued because BRADSHAW, the keenest of the new scientific school of bibliographers, was an outspoken critic. “Believe me,” wrote Mr. BLADES, when acknowledging a voluminous letter of criticism on his second volume, “no review in the _Athenæum_ or _Saturday_ will give me half the inward satisfaction that I feel when you tell me that my book has enabled or assisted you to write such a body of sound, critical notes as now lies before me.”

This was not the only friendship for which he was indebted to his _Life of Caxton_. His work brought him into contact and friendly intercourse with librarians and printers, not only in England, but in France, Holland, and Germany, and made his already rich library a rallying point for students and enquirers of all kinds, who came to him for advice and information, and received, in addition to both, an unfailing and kindly welcome.

The publication of the _Caxton_ by no means completed Mr. BLADES’ attention to history of the first English press. His bibliographical method forbade him to consider any question, however exhaustively treated, as closed. He was constantly collecting new material, and as constantly giving the world the benefit of his studies. The _Life of Caxton_ was supplemented by a very useful hand list of the specimens of the old master’s press in the British Museum, by his _How to tell a Caxton_, as well as his introductory notes and monographs to several valuable fac-simile reprints of English _incunabula_. He became a constant and diligent contributor to the trade periodicals, and his scattered articles--of which it is hoped the list appended will be found to be a pretty complete catalogue--comprehend an important, and perhaps not sufficiently well-remembered, volume of his literary work. He did as much as any writer of the time to call the printer’s attention to the honourable and interesting traditions of his craft, and to lift him from the _rôle_ of a mere tradesman into that of a partner in a glorious Art.

Meanwhile, his business was prospering. The distractions of literary work and of a rapidly increasing bibliomania were not allowed to interfere with the careful attention demanded in the building up and maintenance of a large trade connection. His interest in the methods and practice of the old press never hindered him from keeping pace with all the improvements of the new. His office became well known in the City for its enterprise in adopting any new improvement consistent with the production of good printing; and he was looked up to as an authority on the practice of the art and craft of today, no less than on that of four centuries ago.

In 1870, occurred an epoch in the annals of typographical controversy, when Dr. VAN DER LINDE’S destructive essay against the claims of Haarlem as the birthplace of Printing appeared in the “Cologne Chronicle.” Mr. BLADES was sufficiently interested in the subject, and in the general tenor of Dr. VAN DER LINDE’S argument, to publish an English translation of the work by Mr. HESSELS at his own cost. At the same time he maintained from the first an attitude of careful reserve on the main question. In an article on _Early Schools of Typography_, contributed, before the appearance of the English edition of the _Coster Legend_, to Mr. BERJEAU’S _Bookworm_, he had suggested the possibility of an independent invention of printing both in Holland and Germany, a theory which has of late years gained some ground. While heartily approving of the destruction of all obviously false and flimsy evidence on the side of either claimant, it was to him a source of regret when the literary duel between Dr. VAN DER LINDE and Dr. HESSELS descended from the arena of forcible argument into that of acrimonious dispute. To him, as to most other students of the controversy, the existence of the “Costeriana” was an insuperable obstacle to the admission of the German claim; and one of his latest utterances, before the Library Association, was a careful and judicial summary of the case on either side, with a decided inclination of opinion in favour of Haarlem as against Mentz.

During the few years which followed the publication of Dr. VAN DER LINDE’S book, Mr. BLADES’ energies were chiefly devoted to the development of his important library of books on Printing, the foundations of which had been laid as far back as his apprentice days. The genuine book-hunter needs not to be reminded of the insidious nature of his malady. Any excuse suffices for a new relapse. The _Life of Caxton_ was a more than common excuse. Not only did it lead its author to a search after “fifteeners,” (of which, however, he did not acquire many) but it was the occasion for collecting every available work on the early practice of the Art, not only in England, but abroad. From this it was but a step to treatises on the multiplex craft of modern printing. His enquiry into the types and typefounding of Caxton naturally opened the way for a collection on that branch of the subject generally--particularly of typefounders’ specimen books, to whose historical importance his little book on the subject, published in 1875, was one of the first to call attention. His interest in the Invention controversy naturally brought onto his shelves the voluminous literature devoted to that question, which, when once begun, must, to be of real importance, be complete. Nor was there any reason why the collector, once embarked on his career, should hold his hand from any work, be it a memoir, an Act of Parliament, a typographical oddity, a sober specification, a specimen of fine work, or an ephemeral tract, provided it bore on his subject, and added weight to his collection. And so, from small beginnings, and it may be to the occasional concern of himself, his library grew into one of peculiar value and importance. How wisely and carefully he selected, how thoroughly he explored the highways and byways of typographical literature, the catalogue of his collection, when it comes to be published, will disclose.

An occasion arrived in 1877 for admitting the book-loving public to a participation in some of its treasures. The Caxton Celebration of that year was an event which will always be peculiarly associated with the name of WILLIAM BLADES. It was due to him that the solecism of celebrating the Fourth Centenary of the Introduction of Printing into England three years before its time was avoided. When the true anniversary came, Mr. BLADES threw himself heart and soul into the movement. What was his part in the success of the Celebration is already on record. He suggested both the form the festival should take, and the methods by which it might be carried out. He undertook the collection and arrangement of the unique display of Caxtons and early English printed books which were brought together--perhaps the most complete collection ever seen at one time. He organized and superintended the arrangement of the large miscellaneous collection of books, specimens, autographs, portraits, medals and curiosities, to which he himself contributed the lion’s share. For the catalogue he wrote, of course, the prefatory note on Caxton.

The writer of these notes has good reason to remember those busy days at South Kensington. It was in that long, upper gallery, crowded with packing cases, noisy with the hammering of nails, dim with dust, and with the hand on the dial creeping hourly towards the opening day, that he first met WILLIAM BLADES. The man of letters was in his shirt sleeves, busy with the unpacking of a box of Caxtons. He was the guiding spirit of the scene. While others despaired of being up to time, he kept his head and worked hard. While others differed and argued, he was serene and genial. It was impossible in his presence to stand idle, or doubt for a moment of the success of the undertaking. How complete was that success need not be told here, or how modest was the share of credit which he took to himself. When it was all over, he took his books and pictures and medals back to the little library at Croydon, and returned to the life of the printer-student as cheerfully as he had emerged from it a year before.

The formation of the Library Association, in 1877, was another event which commanded Mr. BLADES’ warm sympathy. He was a Member of the Council of that body from the beginning, and a frequent attendant at the pleasant yearly Conferences held under its auspices in various parts of the country. His diary contains notes of some of these bibliographical expeditions, that to the Glasgow Meeting, in 1888, being recorded with special pleasure. He contrived on such visits to see all that was to be seen in the way of early printed books and libraries, and invariably came back refreshed in mind, and often weightier in baggage, from these congenial holidays. He occasionally read papers before the Association, one of his latest public appearances being at the London Meeting of the Association in 1889, when he read an interesting account of the Chained Library at Wimborne.

His love of books tempted him, in 1881, to a literary effort in a lighter vein than any he had hitherto adopted. The _Enemies of Books_ is a dainty and entertaining defence of his favourites against their sworn enemies, human, insect, and elemental, and brought him into contact with many admirers whom his more serious works had not interested. This championship did not hinder the development of an almost romantic interest on the part of the author for the real book worm. Among the treasures of his library were usually to be seen one or more of these learned insects, browsing on the pages of an old magazine, or, as a special delicacy, being feasted on a morsel of fifteenth century printed matter. His attempts to rear them, however, were unsuccessful. As he confessed once to the writer, it was one of the failures of his life!

A _jeu d’esprit_ of another kind had been published in 1872, whimsically connecting Shakespeare with the printing profession, a jest which amused him all the more that it was taken _au grand serieux_ by some sober-minded correspondents. Later, in 1885, his account and metrical paraphrase of the German morality play the _Depositio Cornuti Typographici_, gave him scope for the combination of a good deal of special lore to illustrate a quaint old-world literary drollery.

The closing years of his life witnessed no diminution of his energies, either in business or literary pursuits, although both were occasionally hindered by what proved to be premonitory symptoms of the heart affection to which he was to succumb.

In 1884 he took up the cudgels on behalf of the English inventor of the Steam Press, against his old friend Herr GOEBEL of Stuttgart, who claimed the honour for his countryman KŒNIG. In the controversy which ensued, Mr. BLADES was careful to keep the discussion free from the faults which had marred the dispute between Dr. VAN DER LINDE and Dr. HESSELS. It was a trial to him that his temperate statement of the claims of NICHOLSON should, after all, cost him a valued friendship, for the loss of which, however, he felt had not himself to reproach.

His widening interest in early books of every kind led him, among his latest efforts, to undertake what promised to be a novel and highly scientific natural-history study of the _incunabula_. His careful note on _Watermarks_, contributed to the _Athenæum_, and the equally valuable note on _Signatures_, with which he inaugurated his projected series of _Bibliographical Miscellanies_, promised, had the author lived to complete his scheme, to place the study of early printed books on a clearer and still more precise footing than it had yet attained.

But the project was cut short at an early stage. His investigations on these questions had been carried on with all his old enthusiasm and determination, but with increasing difficulty, and at increasing physical cost. For the same reason, the _Pentateuch of Printing_ had lain on his study table many months incomplete. The idea of giving to book lovers, not professionally conversant with Printing, a clear and simple account of the origin and development of the Art by which books are produced, was one which he had long cherished. To the lay mind the question is full of confusion and intricacy. It is obscured by much that is irrelevant, and distorted by much that is incorrect. His object was to clear away the irrelevant, to reduce fiction to fact, and technicality to plain English. Intended originally for a short treatise, the idea had expanded, and took form in the quaint conceit which the title of the work implies. Nor, when it was more than half complete in that shape, did it stop growing. He determined to add to its attractiveness by illustration on a lavish scale, and had already began to collect and prepare the woodcuts for the purpose, and further enlarge the treatment of his subject in other directions.

At this stage it was that the abrupt summons came to lay down the busy pen and rest from work.

His own jubilee as a printer was about to be celebrated, and his friends and workmen were invited to the gathering, when it was known that he was unwell, and that the occasion must be postponed. The next thing we heard was that he was dead, on April 28, 1890.

In these brief notes nothing more has been attempted than a sketch of Mr. BLADES as a printer and a bibliographer. Yet the picture would be incomplete without a word as to his private life. Those who had the privilege of knowing him at home will not readily forget the atmosphere of gentleness and kindness in which he lived. His family life was one of simple harmony--no one who was with him for an hour could fail to discover that behind his learning and enthusiasm and industry there was the background of an unaffected goodness. With those especially who, in that well-remembered library, surrounded by his precious books, sought his assistance or counsel, the memory of him will linger long as of one whose pleasure it was to be kind, whose sympathy was always ready, and whose shrewd sense and wide knowledge and cheery helpfulness were always at the service of a friend.

* * * * *

In preparing the _Pentateuch of Printing_ for publication in the form in which it now appears, the present writer has been careful to refrain from anything like “editing” on a large scale. In a few cases additional matter was necessary to the clear meaning of the narrative. In other cases, where fragmentary notes had been left to indicate topics which the author intended to deal with more fully, some little expansion has been ventured upon. Otherwise, the object has been to present the book, although not professedly complete in every respect, as nearly as possible, both as regards the text and the illustrations, as it was left by the author at the time of his death.

TALBOT BAINES REED.

_List of Published Works by WILLIAM BLADES._

The Governayle of Helthe; by John de Bordeaux
(?), or by Bartholomeus Montagnassa; with the
Medecyne of ye Stomache, in verse; by John
Lydgate (?). Reprinted from Caxton’s edition,
with introductory remarks and notes by William
Blades. 8vo. London 1858.

[_Printed in imitation Caxton types, cast in
pewter._]

Morale Prouerbes; C. Du Castel; with introductory
remarks by William Blades; _fac-simile_. 4to. 1859.

[_Printed in imitation Caxton types, cast in
pewter._]

The Life and Typography of W. Caxton, England’s
first Printer, with evidence of his typographical
connection with Colard Mansion, the printer at
Bruges; with numerous plates. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1861-63.

A Catalogue of Books printed by, or ascribed to
the Press of W. Caxton, in which is included the
press mark of every copy contained in the British
Museum. sm. 4to. London, 1865.

A List of Medals, Jettons, Tokens, etc., in
connection with Printers and the Art of Printing. 8vo. London, 1869.

[_Only 25 copies printed._]

A List of Medals struck by order of the
Corporation of London, with an appendix of other
Medals struck privately or for sale, having
reference to the same corporate body, or the
Members thereof. 8vo. London, 1870.

[_Privately Printed._]

How to tell a Caxton, with some hints where and
how the same might be found; plates. 8vo. London, 1870.

[_A handbook for the use of the amateur and
collector._]

Typographical Notes: The Early Schools of
Typography, from the _Bookworm_, March,
1870; The Enschedé Type Foundry at Haarlem. 8vo. London, 1870.

[_Privately Printed._]

Shakespere and Typography; being an attempt to
show Shakespere’s personal connection with, and
technical knowledge of the Art of Printing; also
remarks upon some common typographical errors,
with special reference to the text of Shakespere;
plates. 8vo. London, 1872.

Some early Type-specimen Books of England,
Holland, France, Italy, and Germany, with
explanatory remarks. 8vo. London, 1875.

[_With historical notes on the old English and
Foreign Type Foundries._]

Earl of Rivers. The Dictes and Sayings of the
Philosophers; a _fac-simile_ reproduction of
the first book printed in England; with a preface
by William Blades. 4to. 1877.

The Biography and Typography of William Caxton,
England’s first Printer; plates. 8vo. London, 1877.

[_A new edition, issued in connection with the
Caxton Celebration, 1877._]

The Boke of Saint Albans, by Dame Juliana
Berners; a _fac-simile_; with an
introduction by William Blades. 4to. 1881.

The Enemies of Books; Illustrated; Trübner & Co.,
London. 8vo. 1881.

2nd Edition. 8vo. 1881.

3rd Edition. 8vo. 1882.

The Biography and Typography of William Caxton,
England’s first Printer; plates. 2nd Edition. 8vo. 1882.

Les livres et leurs Enemis. 8vo. Paris (Claudin) 1883.

Numismata Typographica; or the Medallic History
of Printing; being an account of the Medals,
Jettons and Tokens struck in commemoration of
Printers and the Art of Printing. Illustrated. 4to. 1883.

An Account of the German Morality Play, entitled
“Depositio Cornuti Typographici”; as performed in
the 17th and 18th centuries. Illustrated. 4to. 1885.

[_With a metrical translation of the text of
the play._]

The Enemies of Books. Revised and enlarged by the
Author. (The Book-Lover’s Library.) Elliot Stock. 8vo. 1887.

2nd Edition. 1888.

Bibliographical Miscellanies, No. 1--Signatures. 8vo. 1890.

Bibliographical Miscellanies, No. 2--The Chained
Library at Wimborne Minster. 8vo. 1890.

Bibliographical Miscellanies, Nos. 3, 4, 5--Books
in Chains. 8vo. 1890.

The Pentateuch of Printing. Illustrated. Elliot
Stock, London. 4to. 1891.

List of Fugitive Pieces and Contributions to Periodicals.

Some Account of the Typography at St. Albans in the 15th century. 1860.

[_Privately Printed._]

[“_This went no further than half-a-dozen proofs._--W.B.”]

Numismata Typographica. _Numismatic Chronicle_, July, 1867.

The Early Types of the Royal Printing Office, Paris, and the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. _Bookworm_ (_Berjeau_) January, 1869.

The First Printing Press in England. _Bookworm_ (_Berjeau_), October, 1869.

[_Calls attention to the technical errors and anachronisms of the pictorial representations of Caxton’s first printing-office._]

The Early Schools of Typography. _Bookworm_ (_Berjeau_) March, 1870.

[_Suggests the probability of an independent discovery of printing, both in Holland and Germany._]

Specimens des Caractères Typographiques. _Printers’ Register_, April, 1870.

[_A Review._]

The Enschedé Type Foundry at Haarlem. _Bookworm_ (_Berjeau_) April, 1870.

Palæotypography--a series of articles in _Notes and Queries_. 1870.

[_A plea for a scientific study of early printed books._]

Review of Munsell’s Chronology of Paper and Paper Making. _Printers’ Register_, March and April, 1871.

Common Typographical Errors, with especial reference to the Text of Shakespere. _Athenæum_, January 27th, 1872.

[_Dealing with corruptions in the text attributable to errors in composition._]

List of Medals connected with Printers and the Art of Printing, exhibited at the opening of the New Library and Museum, Guildhall, London. 1872.

[_Privately Printed._]

Timperley and his Works. _Printers’ Register_, December, 1873.

A Strike in 1798. _Printers’ Register_, January, 1874.

A notice of Caslon I. _Caslon Circular_, January, 1875.

Early Type Specimen Books. _Caslon Circular_, April, 1875.

Early Type Specimen Books. A series of articles. _Printers’ Register_, June, 1875.

[_Subsequently reprinted in a volume._]

The Literary Almanack; included in Southward’s _Dictionary of Typography_. 8vo. 1875.

[_Gives notes of the principal dates and events connected with Printing and Publishing._]

Bibliotheca Typographica. _Printers’ Register_, 1875-6.

[_A list of publications in the English language, treating of Printers and Printing, with annotations. The completion of this Bibliography was suspended, and the material placed by Mr. Blades at the disposal of the compiler of the “Bibliography of Printing.”_]

Typographical _Jeux de Mots_. _Printers’ Register_, October, 1876.

William Caxton and the Development of the Art of Printing in England and Scotland.

_Caxton Celebration Catalogue_, 1877.

List of Medals connected with Printers and the Art of Printing. _Caxton Celebration Catalogue_, 1877.

[_With historical and biographical notes._]

Portraits and Autographs of Printers and Publishers. _Caxton Celebration Catalogue_, 1877.

[_With historical and biographical notes._]

A Guide to the objects of chief interest in the loan collection of the Caxton Exhibition. 1877.

Numismata Typographica. Begun _Printers’ Register_, July, 1878.

[_Reprinted as a volume in 1883._]

An Enterprising French Printing Firm. _Printers’ Register_, Nov. and Dec., 1878.

The Plantin Museum. _Macmillan’s_, September, 1878.

[_This was also translated into French._]

William Gye, Printer, of Bath. _Printers’ Register_, January, 1879.

Books and their Enemies. Begun _Printers’ Register_, June, 1879.

[_Subsequently expanded into “The Enemies of Books,” 1881._]

Mr. Hoe’s Typographical Library. _Printers’ Register_, June, 1879.

Franklin-ana. _Caslon Circular_, April, 1879.

Development of Books and their Size-Notations. _Library Notes_, January, 1880.

A Day in Paris. _Caslon Circular_, July, 1880.

Almshouses or Pensions? _Printers’ Register_, October, 1880.

A Lad of Mettle. _Caslon Circular_, April, 1881.

The First Printing Press at Oxford. _Antiquary_, July, 1881.

[_With an account of the ‘Exposicio’ of “1468,” and a list of early Oxford types._]

Who was Bercula? _Bibliographer_, December, 1881.

On Caxton’s “Four Sons of Amyon.” _Athenæum_, April 14th, 1882.

Vulgaria Whittintoni, 1520. _Bibliographer_, 1882.

Messrs. Blades’ New Printing Works. _Printers’ Register_, April, 1882.

Literary Ghosts. _Caslon Circular_, January, 1883.

How to Correct Printers’ Proofs. 8pp. 1883.

[_Privately Printed._]

The Invention of the Steam Press. A series of Articles in the _Printers’ Register_, October, 1883, to June, 1884.

[_The object of these Articles was to defend the claims of Nicholson to the honour of the invention, against those put forward by Herr Goebel on behalf of the German, Kœnig. Herr Goebel’s reply was published in the same periodical in March to June, 1885; Mr. Blades’ rejoinder in July, 1885, and Herr Goebel’s last word in August, 1885._]

Memoir of Henry Bradshaw. A review. _Printers’ Register_, March, 1886.

The Auchinlech Press. _Caslon Circular_, April, 1886.

Old English Letter Foundries. _Leeds Mercury_, March 9th, 1887.

[_A review of Mr. T. B. Reed’s book--Article reprinted in Caslon Circular._]

On the Present Aspect of the Question, Who was the Inventor of Printing? 1887.

[_Privately Printed._]

[_This was a paper read before the Library Association at their Birmingham Congress, in September, 1887._]

Type Composing and Matrix Machines. _Printers’ Register_, September, 1887.

The Hagermann Matrix Stamping Machine. _Printers’ Register_, January, 1888.

The Library of the French Protestant Church. _Antiquary_, July, 1888.

‘Form,’ or ‘Forme’? _Printers’ Register_, August, 1888.

Old Taverns in Candlewick Ward. _City Press_, October, 1888.

De Ortu Typographiæ. _Bookworm_ (_E. Stock_) 1888.

[_Notes on the Invention of Printing controversy._]

A New French Grammar. _Printers’ Register_, December, 1888.

[_Article unsigned._]

An Account of Proposals made nearly Two Centuries ago to found Public Libraries. _Library_, 1889.

On Trade Unionism. _Caslon Circular_, January, 1889.

Bibliography. _Printers’ Register_, February, 1889.

Watermarks. _Athenæum_, March 16th, March 30th, May 18th, 1889.

A New Zealand Caxton. _Printers’ Register_, July, 1889.

MM. Madden and Alkan. _Printers’ Register_, August, 1889.

[_Article unsigned._]

On Signatures in Old Books. _Library_, 1889.

On Paper and Paper-marks. _Library_, 1889.

On Chained Libraries. _Library Association_, October, 1889.

Two “Old Style” Type Founders. _Caslon Circular_, July, 1890.

PROLOGUE.

The following Chapters, being intended as a popular summary of a very large and interesting subject, only profess to deal with the most important aspects of that subject, both on its historical and practical side.

Of late years the question, Who invented Printing? has assumed more than ever a prominent place in bibliographical criticism, and many books, large and small, have been published by opposing authors; notably by Dr. Van der Linde, in support of the claims of Gutenberg, of Mayence, and by Mr. Hessels on the side of Laurence Coster, of Haarlem.

The unrestrained abuse and the attribution of base motives in which both these writers indulge demands the strongest protest from all who wish to see the evidence treated with calmness and without prejudice. The question is not at all whether Dr. Van der Linde can or cannot read Dutch fifteenth century MSS., or whether Mr. Hessels, as a Costerian, is incapacitated from writing a true word: these mutual recriminations only raise a feeling of repulsion to the whole subject. We really want a fair and impartial criticism, based on acknowledged facts and historical evidence.

As to the various forged documents, we now know them, so let us treat them as incumbrances and throw them on one side. This has been the object aimed at by

THE AUTHOR.

_July, 1888._

_THE PLAN._

{ 1. ENGRAVED STAMPS.
{ 2. PARCHMENT AND PAPER.
_Creation_ { 3. PLAYING-CARDS.
{ 4. ENGRAVED BLOCK-BOOKS.
{ 5. CAST TYPES.

{ 1. EUROPE.
{ 2. ASIA.
_Propagation_ { 3. AFRICA.
{ 4. AMERICA.
{ 5. AUSTRALIA.

{ 1. TYPEFOUNDER.
{ 2. COMPOSITOR.
_Law_ { 3. PRESSMAN.
{ 4. PAPER.
{ 5. INK.

{ 1. BEFORE A.D. 1500.
{ 2. A.D. 1501 TO 1600.
_Famous Printers_ { 3. A.D. 1601 TO 1700.
{ 4. A.D. 1701 TO 1800.
{ 5. A.D. 1801 TO A.D. 1890.

{ 1. MACHINE-MADE TYPES.
{ 2. PRINTING MACHINES.
_Second Birth_ { 3. COMPOSITION ROLLERS.
{ 4. STEREOTYPE.
{ 5. COMPOSING MACHINES.

GENESIS.

“_Let Lyght be._”

GENESIS.

“In the beginning!” What a whirlpool of disputations and theories have these three words created! Our grandfathers attributed the creation of the world with amusing accuracy to the year B.C. 4004; and just as geology and astronomy have pushed back this old-fashioned “beginning” to indefinite millions of years, during which Evolution, with slow but certain progress, was working out this world’s destiny in obedience to the fiat of the Almighty, so modern research and criticism have demonstrated that the same law of evolution applies to mental as well as physical phenomena, and that in both cases what _is_ follows by fixed law on what _was_. Looked at in this light, the Art of Printing, as indeed all arts, never had a definite beginning, but was the necessary development of a previous process, as sure to come in the due course of events as harvest is to follow seed-time.

No acorn, no oak; and the idea that Printing, Minerva-like, started up, perfect from its birth, in the form of the Mazarin Bible or the Mayence Psalter, will not bear the test of criticism, although long current in typographical histories. The steam engine, the gasometer, the railway, the telegraph, the telephone, and all the great discoveries of modern science, had to pass through an imperfect infancy and gradual development; why, then, imagine that Invention in the one instance of typography reached perfection by a sudden leap?

Typography, or the art of combining separate letters and taking from them an impression, was a growth of the fifteenth century. At that time progress of any kind was much more slow and difficult than now; and we hardly realise the immense advantage all modern inventors have derived from the Printing-press. Every step forward in art or science is now chronicled, and we can watch the infancy and growth of each great discovery through all its stages. But just imagine the Printing-press to be non-existent, and not only would invention be a slow and tedious process, through the absence of that previous knowledge which leads up to it, but of those tardy advances which were made posterity would learn but little and profit less.

In this respect the art which is “omnium artium servatrix” has been at a great disadvantage. Slowly born, just as the nations were emerging from centuries of torpor, its promoters realised to a very limited extent its future greatness, and omitted to register, with any attempt at accuracy, either the date of its birth or even its parentage. The chroniclers of those days, mostly ecclesiastics, who noted carefully the occurrence of an unusually high flood or the death of some obscure abbot, had the barest recognition for the young Hercules whose infancy gave no intimation of his future prowess, and whose only mission seemed to be the manufacture of cheap school books or poor imitations of the picturesque old manuscripts.

But here the question arises, Was Printing, strictly speaking, a development of the fifteenth century? The word Printing in its broad sense means “making an impression”; and if this be accepted as a definition, we can trace its footsteps to a period long before man stood upon this earth. All over the world we find, in the various strata of the earth’s crust, Nature herself printing on the pliant rocks representations of animals and trees; a life history entombed ages before language was born or man possessed the power of observation.

Language itself was of necessity a slow development, and equally slow was the next step; for speech existed long before man discovered that the human voice, which informed the brain through the ear, could be represented by figures or a combination of signs which produced the same result through the eye.

This wonderful development--the art of writing--was progress sufficient for many centuries, during which all kinds of materials were used to perpetuate the deeds and ideas of various nations. Leaves of trees and pieces of wood were written upon; clays, slabs and cylinders were stamped; seals, even signatures, by which personal authority was transferred, were engraved on wood or metal; vases preserved the name of the artist who formed them, and even the common clay lamps of the Greeks and Romans showed the names of their makers, printed with a stamp in bold relief upon the under surface.

The _style_, which marked the waxen tablets, the _pen_ or _brush_, with which words were formed on the papyrus sheet, and the pointed _reed_ or quill which was used on parchment or paper were simply improvements, all leading on to still further developments.

As ages rolled on and learning increased, book-writing and book-binding became important trades, and were subdivided into special branches, such as the calligraphers, who wrote luxuriously for the libraries of the rich, and the scriveners, who supplied the wants of poor scholars and priests.

The Chinese were probably the nation who first used vegetable fibre to make sheets of paper. In Europe, our oldest MSS. are upon prepared skins; and paper, the manufacture of which was not common until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was seldom used, although specimens derived from the Arabs are found as early as the sixth century.

Engraved on Wood. (From _Singer_.)]

Printing from engraved blocks of wood or soft metal was practised in the fourteenth century, when rude figures of the Virgin and other saints, often coarsely coloured by hand, made their appearance. (_See Frontispiece._) About the same time ornamental patterns were printed on stuffs from engraved blocks. Cardboard was developed from paper, and playing-cards, printed from blocks, were common in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. All these methods of Printing were so many decided advances towards Typography; but two new processes were still necessary to success, viz.: a thicker ink than previously used, and some kind of press with which to make a regular and even impression.

The next step was the making of that interesting class of books called “Block-books.” These consisted for the most part of a series of rude woodcuts the full size of the page, representing various parts of Scripture History, Heaven, Hell, Death, and the Judgment. The earliest known specimens of these works are printed in a brown ink similar to distemper drawings. Lampblack was already well known to the ancients as a basis for writing ink, and, mixed with gum water, formed that deep glossy hue so much admired in many old MSS.; but how to thicken the ink so as to make it suitable for printing from a raised surface was a discovery of great importance, made long before typography was invented. This object was attained by prolonged boiling of oil and then grinding it with carbon or lampblack.

After experience in printing small wood blocks, the production of larger ones, such as are seen in the Block-books was an easy progression. Most of these were representations of Bible History, and a considerable variety of opinion is still held concerning their use. They were called “Biblia Pauperum,” and have therefore been supposed to be books for _poor people_. This idea is evidently erroneous if we think for a moment how uncommon in those days was the ability to read, particularly among the great mass of the people. It is more probable that these pictorial sermons were used by the _poor friars_, many of whom could scarcely read, and in preaching trusted to memory and imagination. To such, the numerous suggestions of these pictures would be invaluable.

In the later Block-books, engraved sentences and even half-pages of explanation are seen. The dislike of wood engravers to cut letters is the same now as it was four centuries and a-half ago, the mechanical nature of such work being distasteful to any one with artistic feeling. The idea, therefore, of using a second time sentences, already engraved and printed, simply by cutting them away from the old block, was very natural and would easily lead to the attempt to utilise the letters separately. Thus we float along the stream of gradual development, until we reach movable types, properly termed Typography. This was never an invention pure and simple which suddenly enlightened the mind of Gutenberg (as stated by Van der Linde, and echoed by Theo. De Vinne), but an end successfully accomplished, after numerous efforts and gradual advances.*

* The reader who has any real interest in these “firstlings” of
the Printing-press should carefully examine the glass cases in
the Grenville Library at the British Museum, where specimens of
Block Printing, from the earliest to the latest, are displayed
in chronological order.

The full meaning of the discovery of typography will be better understood if we call to mind the intellectual state of Europe in the middle of the fifteenth century.

With the eclipse of literature during the Middle Ages, the Church alone, and that in a sluggish manner, kept up the manufacture of manuscript books, principally for ecclesiastical use. But when, in the fourteenth century, the brain of Europe began to show unwonted activity--when the Lollard doctrines set men thinking and doubting--when in the fifteenth century all Europe became excited over the discovery of new worlds--when military tactics were revolutionised through the invention of gunpowder--when education became general, and colleges and schools were multiplied--then the minds of men everywhere began to long for books, more books; for Cicero and Boethius, for Bibles, Psalters and Legends, for Chronicles, Tales of Travel and Romances, for Donatuses, School books and Absies--at such a time the need was urgent, the demand imperative, and the Printing-press came.

The change, however, was by no means sudden. The first effect of the increased demand was to create a great division of labour in the manufacture of Manuscripts, so that whereas two or three Scribes had, in former times, been sufficient to complete a Manuscript, as many as fifteen different trades were now employed in Paris, Bruges and other centres to produce a single book. Long before the invention of typography, the book-makers of Holland had their Guilds, which included a variety of the trades concerned in the production, viz.: parchment-makers, boss-makers, binders, etc. Amongst them we now and then find enumerated “prenters,” that is, the printers from engraved blocks, who had already discovered the use of the press and a thick ink. The most numerous craft, however, was that of the Scribes, who wrote only the running text; and in this portion of the work it was, where speed and accuracy were most wanted, that the Printing-press was destined to make its earliest triumphs.

The foundation of many colleges and schools in the fifteenth century led to an extensive demand for school books and grammars, the most popular of which were the “Donatus,” a grammar so called from the name of its author, and “Catho,” a kind of delectus in Latin. These were sold at a cheap price, and, to lessen the cost of their production, were often engraved on blocks of wood, from which the pages were printed. These and the Block-books already described were contemporary, and the immediate forerunners of separate types.

Think of the numerous editions of the Eton and Valpy Latin Grammar, which, two generations ago, were used throughout the kingdom, and you may well wonder how it is that there is extreme difficulty in getting a single copy now. They have nearly all perished. It is the same with the school books of all ages; and we can, therefore, hardly wonder that the fifteenth century school books, manuscript, or printed from engraved blocks, are now amongst the most scarce of bibliographical rarities.

(From _Holtrop_.)]

The process of cutting letters and sentences on wood is much more trying work than engraving figures; the Block-books generally show some approach to artistic feeling in the pose and drapery of the figures, but the engraver was very careless over the letters. Doubtless the tedium of the operation would suggest the idea of separating the letters, so as to use them again in a different combination for other sentences. We have indeed direct evidence of such attempts having been made; for (as noticed by Mr. Bradshaw in his “Memoranda No. 3,” pp. 5 and 6) a Block-book edition of the “Biblia Pauperum,” printed at Zwolle, was cut up, and the pieces used afterwards in a different combination. The same operation took place with the blocks of the “Speculum nostræ Salvationis,” which were cut up, and the pieces used again for an edition printed at Utrecht in 1481. This could not be successfully accomplished with separate letters, on account of their small size, but the attempt would be most natural. There is no known instance of separate wooden types having been used by any early printers, but in certain editions of the “Speculum” we distinctly find metal movable types, with the woodcuts printed in one coloured ink, and the text in another. The types bear plain evidence that they were cast, but in an extremely rude way, showing a much more imperfect method of casting than appears in the German Indulgence of 1454 (which is the earliest known date of any printed piece), or the first books of the Mayence printers. There are also numerous fragments of the Donatus, of the Doctrinale, and of Catho, in various editions, and in cast types. The language of some, as well as the shape of the letters in all, show that these were, without doubt, produced in the Low Countries, although they are all, as was natural for such unimportant books, without any printer’s name and without the year of production, thus rendering it difficult to assign to them an unimpeachable date.

After much study I cannot help thinking that Holland was not only the birthplace of these Donatuses, etc., but that they gave the starting idea to the Mayence school of printers. The notice of the invention of Printing written at Cologne from the mouth of the earliest printer in that city, one who had learnt his art from the first printers at Mayence, seems decisive. The Chronicler, who wrote in 1499, states that Ulric Zell told him as follows:--