Chapter III: Part 3

There were nearly always two workmen to one press. One “beat” the “form,” that is, he dabbed two big, soft balls covered with ink over all the type; the other placed the white paper on the “tympan,” and ran the whole, by means of a winch, beneath the “platen,” and then made a strong pull at the bar.

Modern pressmen know nothing of the skill and experience requisite in olden times to beat a “form” properly. First the balls, which were made of prepared skins padded with wool, and fastened on to a “stock,” had to undergo peculiar treatment requiring both experience and sagacity. Extremes of heat and cold, of dampness and dryness, called out all the resources of the pressman in order to keep the skins of his balls in the proper state to receive and distribute the ink evenly. The distribution was effected by taking a small portion of the ink upon one ball; then began a series of twists and twirls, and punching of the balls together, worthy of an acrobat, until the ink, by an elaborate manipulation of one ball against the other, was evenly spread over the surface of the “form.” Whilst the “man at the bar” was placing the sheet of paper in such a position that it should be printed with the proper amount of margin all round, his fellow or “partner” was dabbing the ink over the face of the pages. In this he had to be very careful not to miss any part; if missed, the impression appeared very pale, and the blunder was called a “friar”; but if blotched with too much ink, and the face of the type filled up, it was a “monk.” This race of antiquated pressmen is now almost extinct. One of the last worked in jacket and hose at an old wooden press at the “Caxton Celebration” in London, in 1877, where he attracted great notice.

As a matter of convenience many of the early printers made their pages just of the size to agree with one page of the MS. The advantage of this plan was that they had no occasion to compose straight on, but might print page 8 with page 1, and page 7 with page 2, without noticing the intermediate pages, thus getting the first sheet of a quaternion out of the way.

_Signatures_, which are of great use to the binder, were letters and figures at the foot of certain pages, which served as signs to show the sequence of the various sheets. They are by no means peculiar to printed books, nor were they, as some writers assume, invented by the early printers. The manuscript-writers knew their use long before Gutenberg, and where a MS. is still intact, nothing having been cut off the bottom edges, the manuscript signatures may often be recognised at the extreme edge of the sheet. Sometimes the signature was put in the back, and so, when bound, became invisible.

_Catchwords_ were the first word from the top of a page repeated below the bottom line of the previous page, thus assuring the correctness of the collation.

After a time the pages, especially if small, were arranged so that four or eight might be printed at a time. A sheet of quarto required four pages on one side, and four pages on the other side of the sheet. Octavo had eight pages on one side and eight pages on the other; and these had so to be placed that when the sheet was folded the pages came in proper order.

Some of the earliest books were issued without any Title-page, in this respect agreeing with MS. books.

The omission of head lines to the pages was common among the first Printers.

The numbering of pages was a development of numbering the leaves, which last custom is also a peculiarity of early printed books; as is the custom of manuscript initials at the beginning of Chapters.

Thus in a very imperfect manner the outlines of the laws upon which the old printers worked have been given; but ten minutes in a printing-office would explain more than ten chapters of ear-knowledge, and there is no difficulty nowadays in obtaining permission to see any of the great printing-offices.

NUMBERS.

“_Who, departing, left behind them_
_Footprints on the sands of time._”

LONGFELLOW.

NUMBERS.

It is always a pleasant task to any one who realizes the magnitude of the debt under which the whole world lies to the printing-press to enumerate the many great and noble men who have served God and their country as printers. The biographical difficulty is in the selection, for every country has its typographical roll of fame, upon which are inscribed numbers of names of heroes of the Press, who, instead of courting fortune, have spent laborious and self-denying lives with the sole object of diffusing that knowledge by which ignorance is dispelled, and man raised above the beast. Such names should be household words. An account, necessarily brief, of a few of them is here attempted.

HOLLAND.

I believe this to have been the premier country in typographical development. Some one printed those old Dutch fragments which carry with them their own certificates of birth; and even if it is difficult to prove the printer to have been LAURENS JANSZOON COSTER, his works remain, and “Costeriana” is a well understood and convenient term by which to designate them.

GERMANY.

Of the celebrated trio, GUTENBERG, FUST and SCHŒFFER, who invented what Fichet, Rector of the Sorbonne (who also was their contemporary), calls “a _new_ sort of printing,” Schœffer alone was left after 1468. Other Germans were however at work then or soon after. PFISTER and SENSENSCHMIDT were printers at Bamberg; ZAINER was hard at work at Augsburg; EGGESTEIN and MENTELIN at Strasbourg; and VENDELIN at Spire. These are well known names; but still better known is that prolific typographer, ULRIC ZELL, of Cologne, whose workshops seem to have been a training college for young printers all over Europe, and whose works are so numerous that no writer has yet mastered their bibliography. So little cared he for worldly fame that he scarcely ever put his name to a book printed by him, although the individuality of his types and the “get up” of his works announce their parentage as plainly as if certified in a Colophon “Per me Ulric Zell.” Before leaving Cologne, we will only mention P. DE OLPE, THERHOERNEN and KOELHOFF, all famous printers. After the first two generations, however, Germany pursued the new art in a sober manner, no name appearing of surpassing merit until the middle of the sixteenth century.

“Optime meritus” was the description attached by Rothscholtz to the portrait of SIGISMUND FEYERABEND (1527-1587), of Frankfort-on-the-Maine. A learned and able man, with great artistic taste, he employed the best engravers of the day to illustrate his books, which became famous throughout all Europe, and are now held in great esteem by bibliographers.

JOHN PETREIUS, of Nuremberg (1497-1550), is a name which should not pass unrecorded. He was an excellent typographer, and especially noted for the correctness with which he printed in Greek and Latin. He was a practical printer in a very real sense, for he made his own presses, cast his own types, and manufactured the ink with which he printed. His extensive correspondence shows that the most celebrated scholars of the age were in constant communication with him, on terms of close friendship. When he died they wrote, as was then customary among Scholars, many classical epitaphs to his memory.

ANTON KOBURGER, too, was very famous, and perhaps the most prolific of all Germany’s fertile printers. He worked at Nuremberg, where he kept twenty-four presses employed. All his books are of great excellence, and he is specially noted for his Bibles, of which he issued twelve editions.

In the same city ALBERT DÜRER erected a press, at which he printed the text to his own wonderful engravings. After his death his widow carried on the business for some years.

In modern times Germany has given us EMMANUEL BREITKOPF, who, about 1750, improved greatly the hand-press, and invented a new set of music types; while H. BROCKHAUS, at Leipzig, has a European renown as printer and typefounder.

ITALY.

In this country the printing-press originated, as we have seen, with SWEYNHEYM and PANNARTZ, first at Subiaco and then at Rome, who from 1465 to 1474 issued many editions of the Classics. In addition to the famous names already recorded when noticing the introduction of the art into Italy, ULRIC HAHN, PHILIP DE LIGNAMINE, SILBER, PLANCK and RIESSINGER, noted typographers of the fifteenth century, deserve mention. But the lustre of all fades before the fame of the celebrated ALDUS PIUS MANUTIUS ROMANUS. This great printer was born at Bassanio, in the Roman States, in 1449. He studied for many years in Rome, and from that fact assumed the name of Romanus. In 1482 he lived in the same house as Picus Mirandulus, and afterwards abode with Prince Alberto Pio, who allowed him to adopt the name “Pius.” Being strongly impressed with the potentialities latent in the printing-press, he determined, about 1489, to devote his whole attention to the publication of classical literature. After organising in Venice the most complete printing-office hitherto seen, he began his typographical career by the issue of the Greek Grammar of Lascaris. This was in 1494. In the prologue to that book Aldus declares the determination of himself and his co-workers in the following noble words:--“We have determined henceforth to devote all our lives to this good work. I call God to witness that my sincere desire is to do good to mankind, as indeed I hope has already been shown by my past life. I will indeed labour continuously to make constant progress; for although we might have chosen a tranquil country life, we have preferred a life busy and full of hard work. A good and learned man will not give himself up to base pleasures, but to work and to do something worthy. Cato has said truly, ‘Man’s life may be compared to a sword; use it and it keeps bright; neglect it and rust will soon be its destruction.’ Therefore if work seem sometimes irksome to a man, let him be sure of this--that sloth would be much more detrimental to him than the hardest kind of labour.”

These were words from the heart of Aldus, and in this conviction he worked until his death. In 1501 he established an academy of learned men and scholars. Constantinople had just fallen into the hands of the Turks, and among the Christian refugees were many scholars of fame and repute. To these Aldus offered a safe and quiet asylum, asking from them in return that a portion of their time should be devoted to the collation of manuscript copies of the classics, which in the course of time had become very erroneous through the carelessness of successive copyists. He also employed them in reading his printed proofs and revising them for the press. In this way many good scholars lived on terms of great friendship with Aldus, and were entirely supported by him. Surely modern lovers of literature owe an incalculable debt of gratitude to Aldus for preserving by these means an accurate text of the great classical writers of antiquity.

The expense of this great undertaking was of course very great; and partly to reduce the cost of production, and partly to place copies of the books he printed within the reach of poor scholars, Aldus employed the artist Giovanni de Bologna to design for him a new and compressed type which would enable him to print nearly two pages in the same space as one. From the country of its birth this letter has ever since been known as _Italic_. Its elegant shape has been much, perhaps too much, admired. The appearance is somewhat marred by the invariable use of Roman capitals, which, throughout a page of Italic, is certainly not agreeable to the eye.

The fame of Aldus’s printing-office soon spread throughout Europe, and his little pocket editions of the Greek and Latin classics were esteemed as much for the beauty of their dress as for the accuracy of their text. The visits of the curious, as well as of the learned, became at last so troublesome that Aldus placed the following notice over the chief entrance: “Whoever you are that wish to see Aldus, be brief; and when business is finished go away; unless indeed you are able and willing to assist him as Hercules did Atlas in his need: and even then remember that whoever gains here a footing must work hard and with perseverance.”

Aldus himself took no relaxation; scarcely would he afford himself any sleep until fatigue compelled him to rest. He died in 1515, the King of Printers, with an immortal halo surrounding him.

Aldus adopted for his device an anchor, with a dolphin twisted round it. This emblem is justly celebrated in the annals of typography under the name of the Aldine anchor, and is very appropriate to the work of a Printer. The dolphin is the emblem of swiftness, on account of the rapidity with which it cleaves the waves. The anchor is the emblem of stability and reliance. So the printer should be speedy at his work, but consider his plans carefully and soberly. This was admirably summarised in the motto adopted by Aldus--“Festina lente” (Hasten slowly). On a rare contemporary medal the motto appears in Greek, “ΣΠΕΥΔΕ ΒΡΑΔΕΩΣ.”

Another great Italian Printer was GIAMBATTISTA BODONI, whose name certainly stands next to that of Aldus. He was the son of a Piedmontese printer, and was born in 1740, the year when all Europe celebrated the Jubilee of Printing. At the age of eighteen he was working as a compositor at the Propaganda Printing-office, Rome, where he did good service by studying hard to learn the Oriental languages, and then restoring to a proper condition for use the fine collection of Oriental types in that office, which had long been in a state of confusion. It was about this time that he turned his attention to the art of engraving new types, in which he soon showed great talent. In 1768 he was placed by the Duke of Parma at the head of his new printing-office, which he soon rendered the most famous in Europe. He devoted great attention to the shape of his Greek types, for which he took as a model the most beautiful manuscripts obtainable. His “Homer” is perhaps the work which gained him more renown among scholars than any other. In his “Manuale Tipografico,” which is a specimen book of all his types, some copies of which were printed on pure vellum, the lover of typographical excellence as presented by elegantly-shaped letters, glossy ink, and faultless press-work, may revel to his heart’s content. Bodoni died in 1813.

As a curious freak of fickle fashion, we must notice the recent fate of a most interesting collection of books, all from the press of Bodoni, collected during many years by the Marquis Saporiti della Sforzesca. These were sent to London and sold publicly in December, 1886. The number of separate works was over 500, including, with hardly an exception, specimens of the whole produce of the Parmese Press. No such a collection has ever before been brought to the hammer, and had it been sold in Dr. Dibdin’s time, when Bodoni’s fame was at its height, there can be little doubt that £2,000 at least would have been realised. Today, when “black-letter” governs the market, and sentiment rules over taste, Bodoni’s master-pieces of typography are of less money-value than a Seven Dials ballad. The whole of the Marquis’s collection realised in the gross but £50 7_s._, a sum far below the prime cost of two or three volumes, and hardly enough to pay for printing the sale catalogue.

Italy may well be proud of still another typographical son. G. VIESSIEUX, of Milan, who lived 1779 to 1863, if not remarkable for excellence of workmanship, was successful, notwithstanding great opposition from the ruling classes, in obtaining for his native country that inestimable boon--freedom of the press.

FRANCE.

We have already noticed the introduction of the art to Paris, where it spread with rapidity even in the lifetime of Ulric Gering. ANTOINE VERARD is celebrated for beautiful editions, many of them with splendid illuminations; but space would fail to speak of SIMON VOSTRE, of PIGOUCHET, of DUPRÉ, of the artistic and learned GEOFFREY TORY, of the martyred DOLET, MOEL, and many other worthy printers.

But of all the great printers that France has produced, there are none of whom their countrymen may feel more proud than the family of the ESTIENNES, who flourished from 1502-1664. The two most celebrated were Robert I and Henri I, father and son. They both printed, not for lucre, but from real love of their work and classic literature. So intimately indeed is the biography of these two great men associated with the mental growth of the nation that, as Feugère says, “it rises to the dignity of history.”

HENRI I was the founder of the family. He printed and published at Paris for twenty years, and laid the foundation of the family fame during the period 1502-1522.

ROBERT I, his eldest son, succeeded in 1526 to his father’s printing-office, placing over his door a printer’s mark, afterwards of world-wide fame. It was an olive-tree, with the motto “_Noli altum sapere sed time_” (“Be not high-minded, but fear”). He married a daughter of another famous Parisian printer, BADIUS ASCENSIUS, he whose printer’s mark--a printing-press, two pressmen, and a woman composing types--is well known to all lovers of old books. (_See_ p. 54.) It is curious to note that all three of the daughters of Badius married printers. For thirty-three years Robert Estienne worked hard as author, collator, corrector, printer, and publisher, producing volumes which for beauty of workmanship and accuracy of text may vie with the productions of any other press. So important were the Greek authors which he for the first time collated and printed, that the publication of those classics may be almost said to have begun with him. It was to some extent the same with Latin authors. Thus with Greek, with Latin, with Bibles, with dictionaries and grammars, Robert Estienne was the father of such a series of works as have never been equalled before or since. Patronised and favoured by Francis I, it was the high opinion of his capabilities, added to the desire to outshine the efforts of other countries, which induced the King to defray out of the public purse the expenses of a new series of specially cast Greek types. With this view Angelo Vergecio, the most artistic penman of his time, was engaged to design the models for the letters; and the cutting of the punches was entrusted to Garamond, one of the most skilful engravers of his day, who himself was a good scholar, and had taught Greek to Henri Estienne when a boy.

The production of beautiful and correct editions of the Bible formed a special feature of the labours of Robert Estienne; and this, thanks to the hatred of the priests, whose stronghold was in Sorbonne, brought upon him the bitterest persecution. To print the Latin Vulgate for every one to read was bad enough, but when Robert Estienne published his three-column Polyglot, with Hebrew on one side and Greek on the other--Christ between two thieves, as they called it--their rage knew no bounds. So fierce was the persecution that had our printer stayed in Paris, he would probably have been, like Dolet, burnt alive. So in 1551, having under various pretences sent away his family, he despatched his types also, and quietly followed to Geneva, where, although subjected to many annoyances, chiefly due to his own ill-considered opposition to the civil government, he was allowed to print without hindrance. Here he embraced the Protestant faith; and in 1559, after a life of manly and unselfish labour, embittered by the persecution of those who ought to have been his best friends, but sweetened by the knowledge that his toils and sufferings were for the benefit of mankind, he died.

HENRI II succeeded his father at an early age, and followed in his footsteps. He travelled extensively in all the chief countries of Europe, returning laden with new MSS. and new ideas, which were soon apparent in his books. At one time he worked for about a year in the printing-office of Paulus Manutius, after which he returned to Geneva, devoting himself with fresh energy to his work. His father left him the Genevan printing-office on condition of his carrying it on in that city. This restriction was very irksome to him, and what with quarrelling with the authorities and constant journeyings, his business greatly declined, and in 1570 he was insolvent, dying some years later. The work he got through in his prime was immense, and often prolonged for so many hours at a time as seriously to injure both mind and body. His mental attainments and general knowledge were very great, but employed fitfully.

The old typographical fame of France has been well maintained in more modern times by the Didot family, whose history from 1713 to the present time is the history of French printing for that period. PIERRE DIDOT (1761-1853) not only emulated Bodoni in the beauty of his workmanship, but took extreme care--more, indeed, than the great Italian Printer--to have accuracy of text. He was an excellent classical scholar, and himself read for press the works of which he was most proud.

Nor must we omit to mention his nephew, AMBROSE FIRMIN DIDOT, who, in addition to his intimate knowledge of classic literature, was a good antiquarian, learned in bibliography, a first-rate connoisseur of old engravings, and a weighty writer upon all subjects connected with his own art.

France indeed may well be proud of her position in typographical history. Other cities may boast of individual celebrities, an Aldus, or the Elseviers, a Plantin, a Bodoni, or a Baskerville. But at Paris, from Gering, through Verard, Badius, Ascensius, Kerver, the Estiennes, Dolet, the great Didot family, and numerous others, there has been such an unbroken succession of great and famous printers as must always command the wonder and admiration of posterity.

It should be added that several French printers, in modern times, have laboured for the mental improvement of the men and boys employed by them, and with considerable success. The efforts of M. A. CHAIX, of Paris, in this direction have received emphatic acknowledgment from the State and all philanthropists.

SEBASTIAN CRAMOISY, who by the order of Louis XIII founded the Royal Printing-office, must not be overlooked; nor must ANTOINE VITRÉ, who combined excellence of typefounding with excellence of printing. He was the first in all France to print with Syriac types. His famous Polyglot Bible of 1645 keeps his memory green among bibliophiles.

SWITZERLAND

May justly pride herself on being the mother of Parisian, and therefore of French, typography. To one of her sons, ULRIC GERING, who, with two companions left Basle, and began printing at the Sorbonne, France owes her first press. At Basle, too, JEAN AMERBACH gained great reputation in the beginning of the sixteenth century, as also did OPERINUS. But the most famous printer was JOHN FROBEN, of Basle, who was justly proud of his accuracy. Competition, and consequent reduction in price, were evils strongly felt and resented by Froben. In his Preface to the Concordance of 1525 appears the following dialogue, which is somewhat curtailed from the original:--

“CUSTOMER.--Well, Froben, what book have you there?

FROBEN.--One which is equally your interest to buy as mine to
sell.

CUSTOMER.--Something quite new, then?

FROBEN.--Neither new nor old, for it is both.

CUSTOMER.--You talk in riddles.

FROBEN.--It is a book called ‘The Concordance to the Sacred
Scriptures.’

CUSTOMER.--Why, that has been printed ever so many times.

FROBEN.--True! but if I have reprinted it, it is for the good
of all. The sun itself does not appear every day, when it
does shine it is just the same sun, while my book here is a
decided improvement on the usual text.

CUSTOMER.--You can assure me of its correctness.

FROBEN.--You know that it is almost an impossibility to ensure
positive freedom from error, but if the care I have
bestowed upon it has not been thrown away you will find it
very correct. Moreover, there is more in it than in the
previous edition.

CUSTOMER.--I congratulate you, but I fear you will get but
little credit for all your labour; besides, do you not find
so much toil hastens old age?

FROBEN.--What matters it? ’Tis my destiny. And if she does
bring me old age and its troubles, you have the power to
ease them.

CUSTOMER.--Indeed, how?

FROBEN.--By purchasing this volume at once, and thanking me for
offering it to you.

CUSTOMER.--But have you no compunction in thus selling your own
child?

FROBEN.--Not the least. It was for you and not myself that I
begot it.

CUSTOMER.--What is its price?

FROBEN.--Stoop, and I will whisper it in your ear.

CUSTOMER.--Oh! goodness; much too dear.

FROBEN.--There! take it home and look at it. If you then repent
your bargain I will return your money.

CUSTOMER.--You could not say fairer.

FROBEN.--Everyone can be prodigal of words, but Froben holds to
what he promises.

CUSTOMER.--Here, then, is the purchase-money in full tale.

FROBEN.--And here is the book in good condition, and I hope we
shall both be pleased.”

THE NETHERLANDS.

J. BELLAERT, of Haarlem, 1483, is the first printer whose name we find in Dutch typographical annals; and of the numerous other names in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, but few call for special notice.

Perhaps the most celebrated printer who flourished in Holland was ABRAHAM ELSEVIER, who was born at Leyden in 1592. Baillet calls him “the Prince of Printers, not only in Holland, but throughout all Europe,” and no doubt for many years that character was true. The family flourished for more than one hundred and thirty years as printers, and to this day some of the books which issued from their presses are among the chief treasures of the bibliophile.

W. J. BLAEU, in the early part of the seventeenth century, was not only remarkable for the excellence and diminutive size of the books he issued, but deserves honourable mention for greatly improving the old wooden presses used in his day.

The “Pensioners” of Holland and the “Doges” of Venice were important persons in their day; that day has passed, and now who thinks much about them? But our Elseviers and Aldines live still, not in name only, but as vital realities; and their books continue to be prized not only for their beauty and rarity, but for the standard accuracy of the text.

BELGIUM.

After the printers who first brought the art to Belgium we meet with no one of special note until the time of CHRISTOPHER PLANTIN, (_Portrait on_ p. 76.) who founded a family of printers of world-wide fame. His great Polyglot Bible of eight folio volumes, published in 1569-72, is a wonder of erudition and good workmanship. The last descendant of the family, ED. MORETUS, has lately disposed of the old house and all its contents to the town of Antwerp, who have opened it to the public as a museum, where may be seen five portraits of the family painted by Rubens, and many other noteworthy objects of art and typography. No one should visit Antwerp without paying a visit to this most interesting museum.

SPAIN.

The only name of great repute in this country is that of IBARRA, who printed some excellent books at Madrid in the Bodoni style. He died in 1785.

ENGLAND.

After the death of Caxton, in 1491, his workmen set up for themselves. WYNKEN DE WORDE, who succeeded his master, was the most celebrated, and issued many hundreds of books. Dibdin, some seventy years ago, quoted over 400, and there are probably now more than 600 known to bibliographers, the whole sadly in want of an enthusiast who would devote a few years to their study. PYNSON and WOLFFE were prolific typographers, and JOHN DAY, the printer of the Reformation, gave to the world over 350 books. In the 16th century, however, the Government interfered and placed the Press under severe restrictions, upon pretence of stopping treasonable and heretical publications. A series of barbarous enactments soon reduced printing to a dangerous and unremunerative employment. The effects were seen at once by the degraded condition to which both master printers and their workmen were reduced; ignorance and incapacity being the leading characteristics of the craft, instead of learning and intelligence. Thus, while in France and Germany the printer held an honourable position, above that of the trader, in England he was a mere slave to the Stationers, to whom Government deputed tyrannical powers of oppression and suppression.

With the restoration of freedom a great improvement took place; and the names of JOHN CAVE, who originated the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, the WOODFALLS, JOHN NICHOLS, BENSLEY, BASKERVILLE, and others, raised the fame of English printers to a great height. The SPOTTISWOODE family are also celebrated in our typographical annals, and none more so than the philosopher, the antiquarian, the great man of science, the hard working printer, and the warm friend, WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, F.S.A., F.R.S., who died in 1881.

AMERICA.

In the New World, the most famous name in the annals of printing is that of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, who, as a lad, learned his trade in the printing-office of Samuel Palmer, in London, in 1724. On his return to his native country two years later, he entered into business as a printer in Philadelphia. His literary and scientific tastes soon made him a man of mark, and America to this day claims few more distinguished sons than the philosopher and statesman, one of whose chief boasts it was that he had served his time at the press. The actual press at which he worked in London is still in existence, and is preserved by his countrymen, as a precious relic, in the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington. (_See a cut of this press on_ p. 56.)

In our own days, America has, in the person of THEO. L. DE VINNE, of New York, a worthy type of the enlightened and artistic printer.

DEUTERONOMY.

“_They have sought out many inventions._”--

ECCLES.

DEUTERONOMY.

In Leviticus we traced the laws which governed the earliest stage of the printing-press. In Deuteronomy--which is the repetition and development of the law--we see an expansion and a second birth of the press, almost equal in importance to the first--viz., the invention of the Steam Printing Machine. The advance then made towards rapid and cheap printing has had almost as revolutionary an effect on the education and opinions of the nineteenth century masses as had the original invention of printing upon the sixteenth century middle-class. And as at first the art of printing was developed and improved both in excellence and speed for many a year after Gutenberg, so the modern machine, which started in 1814, is still developing its wonderful capacity for improvement and speed until the mind wonders if any limit can be assigned to its powers.

In 1790 all printing was effected by hand-labour. The types were hand-cast--the compositors’ hands were employed in arranging them--the paper was hand-made--the pressman’s muscles were called into play to handle the bar. Sheet by sheet he took up the paper and placed it in position upon the tympan, brought down the frisket to keep it in place, turned it over upon the ready-inked type, ran the whole by means of a winch under the press, pulled the bar or lever which gave the impression, turned the winch again, raised the tympan and frisket, and released the now-printed sheet. This series of movements, all requisite to print one side only, took really a shorter time in action than is here taken in the description; but the strongest workman, with muscles indurated by years of labour, could, with the help of a “fly-boy” to take off the sheets, and a “partner” to beat the form, scarcely exceed 250 pulls per hour, and that only on one side of a sheet--a snail-pace at which all _cheap_ printing was impossible.

In this same year, 1790, the shadow of a great change soon to be effected in printing was thrown upon the scene. John Nicholson, a clever mechanician, took out a patent for printing by machinery, in which he specified those very principles of action which have been the basis of every successful printing machine since made. Nicholson, although clever in many ways, had none of the qualities which ensure success in life. Improvident, without tenacity of purpose or perseverance, his brains benefited others but not himself, and he died in 1815 without seeing the success of any of his numerous inventions.

Until the year 1811, when Kœnig succeeded in the attempt, the possibility of a machine being invented which could successfully perform all the varied operations just described was considered by all master printers as a scheme fit only for Utopia. Thus it happened that Nicholson, bankrupt and disheartened by misfortune, let his plans slumber in the Patent Office neglected and unnoticed, simply because no one had sufficient faith in him to advance capital for the purposes of experiment.

Of a very different mould was Frederick Kœnig, a young German, who about 1804, began to work out his ideas for improving the mechanism of the old wooden press. Endowed with mechanical genius, great perseverance, and, above all, a firm belief in himself, he worked unceasingly to accomplish his aim, and to him, without doubt, must be awarded the honour of making the first workable printing machine. His early attempts were quite unsuccessful. Neglected in his native land, and befooled in Russia, he at last came to London, where, after a period of want and disappointment, his evident cleverness and perseverance interested the well-known printer, J. Bensley, in his designs. Although in after years bitter feelings existed, and still more bitter words passed between these two, it should never be forgotten that Bensley was Kœnig’s earliest and best friend in London. He was the first to recognise his powers, and without his assistance, Kœnig would, in all probability, have gone to his grave--as many other inventors quite as clever have done--his genius unrecognised, and his whole life embittered by disappointment. Mr. Walter, of _The Times_, although more interested than any one in the improvement of the press, did not see enough in Kœnig’s first machines to induce him to assist, until success had made assistance safe; but Bensley year after year supported him, and found funds for costly experiments, which, although displaying great cleverness and ingenuity, led to no successful result. From 1806, when he came to London, to 1811, Kœnig made two complete machines (not including his first wooden trial), but both were unsuccessful, because they were founded on the false principle of the old hand-presses, viz., impressions from a flat surface or platen. Disheartened by failure, and, as he himself confessed, at his wits’ end what to do next, an accidental occurrence put him on the right road. Bensley, his partner, by chance visited Nicholson, to obtain from him some information concerning those patent laws with which a long and sad experience had rendered him familiar. He found him in the debtors’ gaol, and then he heard for the first time of Nicholson’s patents. Fluttered and anxious, Bensley took Kœnig straight off to read the particulars. Kœnig did read them, and read them carefully, but with great contempt for their crudeness, and immediately forgot all he had read! (at least he declared so fifteen years later). However this may have been, he at once set about constructing a new machine, in which all his previous plans of impression were thrown aside, and (wonderful coincidence!) Nicholson’s method of pressure, by means of a cylinder, beneath which the type ran, was adopted. This was the turn in the tide which led on to fortune, at least the magic word “success” crowned Kœnig’s toil.

_(a) Type. (b) Platen._]

John Walter, of “The Times,” now approved and adopted the new machine; and from that time to the present improvements have been made by a succession of clever mechanicians, until the printing machine of today is a surprising piece of human ingenuity, which by its simplicity excites the wonder, and by its cleverness the admiration, of every beholder.

_(a) Type or Plates. (b) Cylinder. (c, d) Direction of Cylinder._]

It is here only fair to state that Herr Goebel, the German biographer of Kœnig, and all who sympathise with him, are very indignant at this version of the story. They utterly deny that Kœnig owed _anything_ to Nicholson, and have heaped scorn on the heads of unbelievers in their hero. But the plain sequence of facts is against them. First, we have Kœnig unsuccessful in his trials with a platen machine; secondly, we find him reading Nicholson’s plans for a cylinder machine; thirdly, we see Kœnig rejecting at once his first ideas, and successfully adopting those of Nicholson. I adhere to my opinion that, while admitting the great mechanical genius of Kœnig, as shown throughout his career, he nevertheless at this critical point owed his success to the undeveloped plans of William Nicholson.

_(a) Type or Plates. (b1, b2) Cylinders. (c, d) Direction of Cylinders. (e) Ink Rollers._]

To consider this as derogatory to the genius of Kœnig is to take a false view of things. No one doubts Handel’s genius because he built some of his melodies upon the themes of previous musicians, or thinks the worse of Shakespeare for adopting the old story of “Romeo and Juliet,” and weaving therewith his immortal tragedy. Why, then, should Germans resent the statement (which is simply historical) that Nicholson supplied Kœnig with an idea which his mechanical genius at once made his own, and successfully developed?

Kœnig’s first success was a machine which printed one side of the paper only. He next constructed one which, by duplicating the parts, printed both sides of the sheet. Donkin and Bacon made the great advance of using a composition of glue and treacle for rollers, instead of leather, which had never been satisfactory. In 1815 Cowper took out a patent for placing curved stereotype plates round a cylinder, the principle of which had already engaged the attention of Nicholson. Cowper carried this plan to a great pitch of perfection in the machines made for _The Times_, and from that time to the present every year shows new improvements and higher efficiency. The varieties in modern printing machines are innumerable, and their management requires great intelligence on the part of the “minder,” who, if he understands his duty, deserves and can command high wages.

_(b) Cylinder. (c, d) Direction Of Cylinder. (c) Ink Rollers. (f) Cylinder on which are mounted Curved Stereotypes._]

Few sights are more impressive than the machine-room of one of our daily papers in the small hours of the morning. Suppose you have obtained an order to see the paper put to press, the best way is to engage rooms for the night at a neighbouring hotel. If the stage has attractions for you, there will be plenty of time for a leisurely supper after the play is over, and then, about two o’clock, to sally into Fleet Street, which, even at this hour, is anything but a neglected thoroughfare. Entering the printing-office, we visit the foundry-room first, where the foreman explains the use of various tools and arrangements, and has scarcely finished when the first page of the paper comes down from the composing-room. There is no dawdling now. The page of type is quickly placed beneath the platen of a press, and a thick sheet of a soft material--a mixture of _papier-maché_ and plaster of Paris, called the flong--is placed upon the face of the type. The platen descends, and by pressure forces the type into the soft flong, and makes a complete mould. The flong is then dried rapidly while still adhering to the type. When taken off, it is placed in a beautifully made steel mould. This mould is curved to a quarter-circle, and when the flong is placed inside it, and the liquid metal poured in, the result is a curved plate, with a cast from the type on its outer surface. This plate is placed upon a saddle, and all excrescences rapidly removed with great skill from the edges and various spaces; it is ready then for the machine-room. So soon as eight pages are fastened on the cylinder of the first machine the printing begins. At one end of the machine is a heavy reel of paper, sufficient to make about 6,000 complete papers. It is wound round a core like that used for a garden-hose, and forms a solid mass, which unwinds rapidly when the machine grips it. A knife with unerring precision cuts off each paper as soon as printed, and delivers it onto a collecting board. Soon after No. 1 machine gets to work, No. 2 is supplied with plates and started; so with the other machines, until eight or nine are all printing at once, each delivering about 12,000 complete copies an hour, so that with eight machines the delivery would be 96,000 per hour. The din is something awful, and entirely prevents the asking of questions. Relays of men are always hurrying away from each machine loaded with printed papers. These are counted into quires in the warehouse, and at once delivered to the newsagents. A curious and interesting circumstance attending such speedy printing is the large amount of electricity excited by the friction of the paper in its passage, and the storing of this electricity in the printed heaps. I have seen quite a long spark dart out of a heap into a man’s knee; and occasionally much inconvenience arises from electrical repulsion and attraction, interfering with the passage of the sheets.

The laws of printing machinery are not the only phase of the Art in which the original invention has been supplemented by a second.

The compositor’s work is so specially intelligent that it was thought no machinery could ever be brought to supersede it. Early in the present century, however, an attempt was made to economize labour by cementing into one piece common words, or combinations of letters of frequent recurrence. These “logotypes,” as they were styled, were introduced by Mr. John Walter, of _The Times_, and used in the composition of that paper, as well as in general bookwork, for some years. But the difficulty of adapting the “case” for these numerous additional “sorts” proved a bar to their general adoption, and in a short time the compositor reverted to the single letters.

Of late years the composing machine, formerly but a plaything, has made great strides towards perfection. The help of electricity has here also been called in, and as fast as the hand can move, the separate types make a continuous and rapid flow into perfect lines. More wonderful still, a distributing machine has been made, which takes the pages of types after they have fulfilled their duty, and without the aid of hands sends each letter down a separate channel to its own particular destination, and that at a speed with which a compositor could never compete.

One more marvel: Before me is a book which to the eye appears printed as other books with types, and yet not a type has been used. It is truly an anomaly, typography without types. The machine is worked by means of keys something like a piano. Behind is a block of teak wood, properly placed in its position. This block shifts and adapts itself automatically to the various positions requisite for it to occupy. Suppose the first word of your copy is “Print,” you touch the right key and out darts a steel punch, on the end of which is a “P.” This punch is driven into the wood an exact distance, and in the exact position proper for the first word of a sentence. The blow given, the punch retires, and leaves a beautifully clear matrix in the wood. The punch “r” follows in the same way; the “r” key is pressed, and the punch is driven in just by the side of the former. The other three letters follow in due course, and so on with word after word, until a whole line is complete, when the block automatically shifts itself, and a fresh line just beneath the other is commenced. By a clever arrangement, the lines are all made of one even length, and when a page is thus completely punched, the block of wood is used as a mould from which stereotype plates are taken, which print evenly and beautifully. The speed and accuracy of this wonderful machine is truly astonishing, but there are too many drawbacks to the method to commend it for most practical purposes. Correction, for instance, entails entire recomposition; while as regards the appearance of the matter in print, it must be admitted that, excellent as the result is, considering the method and material in which it is produced, it cannot for a moment compare for delicacy and regularity with the result to be obtained by the old-fashioned use of types, set by the compositor’s hand. The great merit claimed for these machines and others of a similar kind (amongst which the “Linotype” may be mentioned as mechanically the most ingenious), is speed and cheapness,--qualities which do not always assort with fine work, or even easy legibility.

The last invention I will mention is the method of producing printing surfaces by photo-typography--a plan which to a great extent supersedes stereotype plates, especially where any change of size is desirable. A zinc plate is prepared photographically, and the drawing or page of a book to be used is focused with a camera to the size ordered. An image is thus taken on the metal plate, which is chemically rendered insoluble by acids in the parts where the image has impinged. The plate is then treated to an acid bath, when all the parts where the image is not are eaten away, and in half an hour to an hour a raised surface, sufficiently high to print from, is left. For work without very fine lines this process is extremely useful.

A CHAPTER ON JUDGES.

“_’Tis with our judgments as with our watches; none_
_Go just alike, yet each believes his own._”--

A CHAPTER ON JUDGES.

This work is intended to be a popular outline only of an extensive subject; but, in order to assist any reader who wishes to study the question more deeply, a list of authors, who by their works are entitled to be called Judges, is here given. Several works well known to bibliographers, such as those of Dr. Dibdin, have been purposely omitted, because, however pleasant to read, they carry no weight historically or bibliographically. The titles of English works have been preferred when the author has written with care and knowledge; but as the subject in its entirety cannot be mastered without consulting also the writings of French and German Judges, such of their works as supply new facts or arguments unnoticed in English bibliography are also admitted on the list. Full titles are not necessary and occupy much room; and as all the works quoted ought to be in every good public library, short titles have been considered sufficient, the name under which they should be sought in the catalogue being printed in italics.

The bibliography of the GENESIS of Printing may be divided into two classes--external and internal. The external, or historical, aspect has been of late subjected to a searching scrutiny never contemplated a generation ago. The result has been to nullify the testimony of many witnesses whose evidence was considered unimpeachable by former judges. One good result has been effected: the innumerable writers who have founded their theories and arguments upon what now are acknowledged to be spurious documents may be swept out of our path. The real judges are now few.

1. “The Haarlem Legend,” by _Dr. Van der Linde_, was
originally published in Dutch, in 1870. Translated and
printed in English, in 1871. This work sweeps away all the
so-called historical evidence upon which the claims of
Coster to be the Inventor of Printing were founded.

2. “Gutenberg.” By _Dr. Van der Linde_. 1880. Here, in
addition to demolishing the Coster-myth, the author
narrates the invention of Printing by Gutenberg, with full
historical references.

3. “Gutenberg: Was he the Inventor of Printing?” By _Dr.
Hessels_. 1882. All the original documents concerning
Gutenberg, as quoted by Van der Linde, are here examined
critically; many are shown to be false, and the residue not
decisive as to Gutenberg’s claims to the invention.

4. “Geschichte der Erfindung der Buchdruck-kunst.” By _Dr. Van
der Linde_. 1886. The subject is treated in three immense
folio volumes, padded and watered to an unlimited extent,
no attempt being made to uphold the genuine character of
the documents disallowed by Dr. Hessels. This work is not
likely to be translated on account of its swollen bulk and
uncritical character.

The internal evidences deduced from the character of the types, the evidence of individual workmanship often apparent, and what may be called the “habits” of the early printers, are of the greatest importance. They are, to some extent, noticed in works 1, 2, 3, and 4, but may be specially noted under the names of:--

5. _Fournier, Henri_; “Traité de la Typographie.”

6. _Didot, Amb. Firmin_; “Essai sur la Typographie.”

7. _Bernard, Aug._; “De l’Origine et des Débuts de
l’Imprimerie en Europe.”

8. _Dupont, Paul_; “Histoire de l’Imprimerie.”

9. _Faulman, Karl_; “Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst.”

10. _Ottley, W. T._; “Inquiry concerning the Invention of
Printing.”

11. _De Vinne, Theo_; “The Invention of Printing.”

12. _Skeen, W._; “Early Typography.”

Excellent fac-simile plates will be found in

13. _Sotheby, S. L._; “Principia Typographica.”

14. _Berjeau, J. Ph._; facsimiles of the “Biblia Pauperum,”
“Speculum,” and several other block-books, not so good.

15. _Holtrop, J. W._; “Monuments Typographiques des Pays Bas.”

16. _Weigel & Zestermann_; “Collectio Weigeliana,”--best of all.

This list by no means exhausts the books to be consulted under this head, but will furnish the student with an ample basis for further research.

* * * * *

The EXODUS, or spread, of Printing is treated generally in the works 1 to 9. To these must be added the following useful books:--

17. _Cotton, Rev. H._; “Typographical Gazetteer,” series 1 and
2.

18. _Panzer, G. W._; “Annales Typographici.”

19. _Hain, L._; “Repertorium Bibliographicum.”

The special works on the first Presses of the various countries are so numerous that only a few can be noted:--

For England:

20. _Herbert’s_ Edition of Ames’ “Typographical Antiquities.”
This edition is preferable to Dibdin’s.

For Caxton and Westminster:

21. _Blades, Wm._; “Biography and Typography of William Caxton.”

For Cambridge:

22. _Bradshaw, Henry_; Introduction to reprint of “Bullocks’
Oratio.”

For St. Albans:

23. _Blades, Wm._; Introduction to reprint of the “Boke of St.
Albans.”

For York:

24. _Davis, Rob._; “Memoir of the York Press.”

For Oxford:

25. _Latham, H._; “Oxford Bibles and Printing in Oxford.”

26. _Reed, Talbot B._; “Old English Letter Foundries,” Chapter
6.

For Scotland:

27. _Watson, Jas._; “History of the Art of Printing.”

28. _Dickson, Robert_; “Introduction of the Art of Printing
into Scotland.” *

* Since the death of the Author, _Messrs. Dickson & Edmund’s_
“Annals of Scottish Printing” has appeared.

For Aberdeen:

29. _Edmund, J. P._; “The Aberdeen Printers.”

For America:

30. _Thomas, Isaiah_; “History of Printing in America.” (_See_
p. 113.) The reprint of this work, in its omissions and
careless inaccurate extracts, is a disgrace to the Society
which issued it.

Numerous monographs exist, describing the first Presses in most of the large Cities of Europe; but our space prohibits their enumeration here.

The LEVITICUS is treated of in a large number of books on the Mechanics and Practice of Printing; amongst others--

31. _Smith John_; “The Printers’ Grammar” is the oldest
instructor.

32. _Moxon, Jos._; “Mechanick Exercises” is the oldest
mechanical handbook. (_See_ p. 108.)

33. _Johnson, J._; “Typographia.”

34. _Hansard, T. C._; “Typographia.”

35. _Luckombe, P._; “History and Art of Printing.”

36. _Savage, W._; “Dictionary of the Art of Printing.”

For Typefounding:

37. _Mores, E. Rowe_; “Dissertation upon English Typographical
Founders and Foundries.” (_See_ p. 112.)

38. _Reed, Talbot B._; “History of the Old English Letter
Foundries.”

39. _Hansard, T. C._; “Treatises on Printing and Typefounding.”

For an account of the early mechanics of Typefounding, see _Moxon_, (No. 32 _ante_).

The NUMBERS of Printers whose biographies exist have not been very numerous. The best known are:--

For the first German Printers:

40. _Gessner, C. F._; “Die so nöthig ... Buchdruckerkunst.”

For the early Printers generally:

41. _Madden, J. P. A._; “Lettres d’un Bibliographe.”

For the Aldine family:

42. _Renouard, A. A._; “Annales de l’Imprimerie des Alde.”

43. _Didot, A. F._; “Alde Manuce et l’Hellénisme à Venice.”

For Jenson:

44. _Sardini, G._; “Storia Critica de Nic. Jenson.”

For the Junta:

45. _Bandini, A. M._; “De Florentina Juntarum Typographiâ.”

For Bodoni:

46. _Bernardi, Jac._; “Vita di Giambattista Bodoni.”

For the first Parisian Printers:

47. _Philippe, J._; “Origine de l’Imprimerie à Paris.”

For Geofroy Tory:

48. _Bernard, Aug._; “Geofroy Tory, Peintre et Graveur.”

For the Stephens:

49. _Bernard, A. J._; “Les Estienne.”

For the Dutch Printers:

50. _Ledeboer, A. M._; “Alfabetische Lijst der Boekdrukkers ...
in Noord-Nederland.”

For Colard Mansion:

51. _Van Praet, J. B. B._; “Notice sur Colard Mansion.”

52. _Carton, C._; “Colard Mansion.”

For Martens of Alost: