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THE
HISTORY OF PRINTING
IN
AMERICA.
WITH A
^ , BIOGRAPHY OF PRINTERS,
AND AN
ACCOUNT OF NEWSPAPERS.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A CONCISE VIEW OF
THE DISCOVERY AND PROGRESS OF THE ART
\. IN
OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.
( > IN TWO VOLUMES.
\ BY ISAIAH THOMAS, ^' '^ ' ^^
PRINraR, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.
Volume I.
PRINTING dispels the gloom of mental night- Hail ! pleasing fountain of all cheering light ! How like the radiant orb which gives the day. And o'er the earth sends forth th' enlight'ning ray !
WORCESTER : FROM THE PRESS OF ISAIAH THOMAS, JUN.
ISAAC STURTEVANT, PRINTER.
1810.
/6/^
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT.
^^_^^ BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eleventh day of May, in the thirty fourth Year of the Independence of the United Statesof America, Isaiah Thomas, of the said District, has deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as Author, in the Words following, to luit : The History of Printing in America. With a Biography of Printers, and an Ac- count of Newspapers. To which is prefixed a concise view of the Discovery and Progress of the Art in other Parts of the World. In two Volumes,
In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by- securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned;" and also to an Act entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, en- titled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing .he Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the Times therein mentioned ; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etch- ing Historical, and other Prints."
WM. S. SHAW, Ckrk of the District of Massachusetts
V
\
DEDICATION.
TO
The President J and other Officers and Members, of the AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SO- CIETY, in Pennsylvania : —
AND,
The President^ Counsellors and other Members, of the AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, in Massachusetts.
GENTLEMEN,
I KNOW not to ^vhom I can with more pro- priety dedicate this work than to you, who are pro- fessedly patrons of the arts.
No writer, on either side of the Atlantic, has presented to the world a History of Printing in America ; and, as many of the facts relating to the subject were in danger of being irrecoverably lost, I have, with a view of placing them in a state of preservation, undertaken to collect the same, and now take the liberty to present them to you.
IV DEDICATION.
Should these volumes meet your approbation, so distinguishing an honor will afford ample com- pensation for the labor which has attended the con- struction of them.
With the greatest respect and esteem, I have the honor to subscribe myself, Gentlemen,
Your faithful servant, ISAIAH THOMAS. JForcester, Massachusetts^ May 7, 1810.
CONTENTS.
VOL. I.
Page.
HISTORY of Printing, 17
Account of Books, ibid
Materials of which books have been made, .... 28
Invention of Parchment, 29
Various kinds of paper, 34
Scarcity and value of books before the discovery of
printing, 48
Books written by the scribes, compared with those first
printed, 48
Description of ancient Bibles, 45
Illumination of books, 70
Origin and practice of Printing in China, .... 73
Discovery and progi*ess of the art in Europe, . . . 85
Introduction of Printing in England, 125
Account of the first English Printers, 133
List of the first Printers in Europe, Asia, Africa and
America, . 141
Miscellaneous Observations, 158
On Printers and Printing in Europe, . . . ibid
. Stereotype Printing, . . do 161
. Logographic do. . . . do 168
. Engraving Machine, . . do ibid
. Ancient Engraving, . . do 170
. Modern . do, ... do 181
. Printing Presses, ... do 185
VI CONTENTS.
Page.
Introduction of the ait into Spanish America, . . . 189
Mexican editions of books, 194
Peruvian . . do 196
Introduction of Printing into Portuguese America, . 201
English America, . . 203
the art in Newengland, ibid
General Remarks, 209
on Papermaking in the United States, . 211
Type Foundries, . . do. . . . 213
Stereotype Printing, .do. . . . 215
Engraving, ... do. . . . ibid
. : . . . . Printing Presses, . . do. . . . 220
Printing in Massachusetts, . . . 220
Printers, . . do 227
Catalogue of books first printed in Cambridge by Daye, 23 1
Books printed by Samuel Green in Cambridge, . . .252
Catalogue of books printed by Marmaduke Johnson
in do 273
Printers in Connecticut, 405
. . . Rhodeisland, 418
. . . Nevi^hampshire, 432
Notes, • 437
See INDEX at the end of Vol. II.
In page 68, r^ai—between the years 1428 and 1431.
PREFACE.
THERE is implanted in man by the alhvise Creator, a principle which stimulates him to invention, and produces a desire to communicate his discoveries to his contemporaries and to posterity. With this natural disposition to invent, and then to reveal the products of his ingenuity, is connected an insatiable curiosity to become acquainted with the origin and history of every discovery made by his fellow men.
In no condition of man are the first principles of the arts and sciences vmknown ; which circumstance demonstrates that the efforts of invention arise from natural propensities, pei'petually stimulated by his desire to render his woi'ks more perfect and useful. Rousseau says, " Man is employed, from the first age of his being, in invention and contrivance."
As respects the communication of discoveries, it has been the custom of all civilized nations to hand them down from age to age by the pen of the scribe, and by the types of the printer; and, even among savages, it is the office of particular persons to chronicle, in their memories, the most interesting occurrences and extraordinary events, in order that they may be conveyed to future generations.
But notwithstanding all that has been done, to transmit to us the history of the origin and progress of the arts, we are still very deficient in this branch of knowledge. The Greeks pretended to know the source, from whence every thing: was
8 PREFACE.
derived ; and it was, probably, to conceal their ignorance of the riseof the arts, &c. that they assigned the invention of them to fabulous personages of fabulous ages. — To Prometheus they ascribed the discovery of fire ; to Ceres, or the Egyptian Isis, the method of sowing wheat and barley; to Bacchus the introduction of wine ; to Cadmus the art of carving, or stat- uary, &c.
On the other hand it has been pretended that there never was a first physician, statuary, architect, or asti'onomer ; but, that each art and science has been the result of the combined knowledge and application of a number of individuals who, in most instances, succeeded each other. And, it is said, that the progress of every art was a mystery to those who first practised its rudiments. As an illustration of this position, it is maintained, that he who invented an alphabet never thought of a library so large as that oi Alexandria.
As the discovery of all those arts, which have a just claim to antiquity, is involved in obscurity, we cannot wonder if some dark clouds should render a view of the origin of Print- ing indistinct. The following pages will shew, that the pre- cise date of the invention of it in China cannot be ascertained; and, that the first principles of it were known in Europe, and in other parts of the world, from very remote ages ; and, long before the reputed discovery of the art at Hacrlem by Lau-
RENTIUS.*
* In a work called the Cabinet, printed at Edinburgh, there is an account that several plates have been found in the ruins of Hercu- laneum, a city of the kingdom of Naples, supposed to have been overwhelmed by the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79, on which plates were engraven the names of eminent men. By means of these plates they were enabled to affix their signatures to any paper, or parchment, with greater expedition than by writing them. This was printing to all intents and purposes, but not ar- ranged into that useful form wliich it lias now acquired.
Solomon has said, that "there is no new thing under the sun ;" and DuTENS, in his Recherches sur les Dfcowvertrs attribues aux Modernes, makes some observations, which are humiliating to the vride of modern inventors. He affirms, *' there is scarcely one of
PREFACE. S
But whatever obscurity may rest upon the origin of Print- ing, the invention has happily been the mean of effectually perpetuating the discovery of all other arts, and of disseminat- ing the principles by which they are accomplished. It is, therefore, considered as the most important of them all. This benefit which has afforded to the world, together Avith its use- fulness in propagating knowledge of every kind to all classes of men, has excited the attention, and engaged the patronage, not only of monarchs and civil rulers,* but also of those who have held the highest rank in literature ; and, has induced authors in the civilized nations of the old world, where this art has been introduced and established, to write histories of its origin, and the various stages of improvement it has under- gone, down to a certain period of time.
the discoveries attributed to the moderns, which had not been, not only known, but also supported by the most solid reasonings of the ancients."
The celebrated French academician Freret, much to the same effect, observes, " Being, at this day, destitute of the works of the ancient philosophers, we are, necessarily, ignorant of the methods they followed in the arrangement and the connexion of their ideas ; their systems are to us like those ancient statues of which only frag- ments remain ; and, consequently, we have it not in our power to form a complete judgment of them, unless we could restore tlie parts which are lost. We owe the same justice to the ancient philoso- phers as to the ancient sculptors ; we should judge of the parts which are lost by those which remain, as it is reasonable to suppose there was a mutual correspondence between them ; and, that a col- lection of them would form a whole, which would be perfectly uni- form and consistent. If the moderns have any advantage over the ancients, it consists in their coming after them, and in travellino- in roads which have been beaten and prepared by the ancients • and by the advantages for instruction which we derive not only from their discoveries, but, hkewise, from their errors."
* King George II, of England, it is said, entertained a great re- gard for this art. In a London newspaper of February i6, I'l-ii is the following paragraph—" A printing press, and cases for compos- ing, were a few days since, put up at St. James's house for their majesties to see the noble art of Printing. The royal family, and several lords and ladies of the household, attended the exhibition yesterday."
I B
JO PREPACE.
Amidst the darkness which surrounds the discovery of many of the arts, it has been ascertained that it is prac- ticable to trace the Introduction and progress of Printing, iri die northern part of America, to the period of the revolution. A history of this kind has not, until now, been attempted^ ivlthough the subject, in one point of view, is more interesting to us than to any other nation. We are able to convey to pos- terity, a c&rrect account of the manner in which we have i^rown up to be an independent people, and can delineate the progress of the useftd and pcJite arts among us, with a degree of certainty which cannot be attained by the nations of the old world, in respect to themselves.
I ani sensible that a work of this kind might, in other hands, have been rendered more interesting. It has a long time been the wish of many, that some person distinguished for literature would bring it forward ; but, as no one has ap- peared who Avas disposed to render this service to the repub- lic of letters, the partiality of some of my friends led them to entertain the opinion, that my long acquaintance with Printing must have afforded me a knowledge of many interesting facts, and pointed out the way for further inquiry, and that, therefore, I should assume the undertaking. Thus I have been, per- haps too easily, led to engage in a task which has proved more arduous than I had previously appi-ehended; and which has been attended with much expense.*
It is true, that in the course of fifty years, during which I have been intimately connected with the art, I became acquainted with many of its respectable professors ; some of whom had, long before me, been engaged in business. From
* Few persons would form an idea of the cost which has attended the collection of the information 1 have found it necessary to pro- cure, from various parts of the continent. An entire sale of the edition of this work would barely defray it. The purchase of vol- Mtnes of old newspapers alone, hasre(iuircd a sum amounting to up- wards of a thousand dollars. It is true, however, these volumes are valuable; and, together with the collection previously owned by the author, probably, constitute the largest library of ancient public jour- nals, printed in America, which can be found in the United States.
PREFACE. 11
them I received information respecting the transactions and events, which occurred in their own time, and also concern- ing those, of which they received the details from their pre- decessors. By these means I have been enabled to record many circumstances and events, which must soon have been buried in oblivion. My long acquaintance with printing, and the researches I made in several of the colonies before the revolution, certainly afforded me no inconsiderable aid in this undertakings and, to this advantage, I may add, and I do it with sincere and grateful acknowledgments, that I have received the most friendly attention to my inquiries, from gentlemen in different parts of the United States ; among whom I must be permitted to name the following, viz. — Eb- ENEZER Hazard, esq. and judge J. B. Smith, of P/uYarfe/- phia; the hon. David Ramsay, of Charleston, Southcaroli- na; rev. doctor 'Mi'L'L'f.K', oi JVewyork ; rev. Aaron Ban- croft, andmr. William Sheldon, of Worcester ; the rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, of Dorchester ; the rev. doctor John Eliot, of Boston; and the rev. William Bentley, of Sa- lem; Massachusetts. To these I must add, among the elder brethren of the type, William Goddard and John Carter, c?>(\T?,.oi Fro-uide?ice ; and mr. Thomas Bradford, and the late mr. James Humphreys, of Philadelphia. Many others belonging to the profession, in various parts of the union, have iaid me under obligations for the information they have giv- en me.
Through the politeness of various gentlemen, I have had access to the ancient MS. records of the counties of Middle- sex and Suffolk, in Massachusetts, where Printing was first in- troduced to this country ; to those of the colony of Massachu- setts, and of the university of Cambridge ; and, also, to those of the United Newenglaiid Colonies ; all of the seventeenth century ; — likewise, to the records of several of the southern states; and, to many of the principal libraries, in different parts of the United States. From these documents and institu- tions I have obtained much valuable intelligence.
Yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, I have experi- enced much difficulty in collecting, through this extensive countr)', the facts which relate to the introduction of the art
12 FRETACE.
of Printing in the several states. These facts were all to be sought for, and the inquiry after them had so long been neg- lected, that the greater part of them uould soon have passed beyond the reach of our researches. Most of the printers, mentioned in these volumes, have long since been numbered with the dead, and of whom many were but little known while living; yet, the essential circumstances respecting them, as connected with the art, will, I believe, be found in the follow- ing pages ; although I cannot flatter myself that they will be entirely free from unintentional errors or omissions.*
The length of time devoted to collecting materials for this histoiy, has prevented my paying so much attention as was necessary for the revision of it. I make no preten- sions to elegance of diction ; but had I not been pressed by advancing age, and a multiplicity of domestic concerns, I might, perhaps, have attempted some improvements in the phraseology, although I should not, probably, have altered the general arrangement. As it is, the reader will receive a simple and unadorned statement of facts ; and to his judgment and candor I submit the work in its present state. Should any object that the statements, respecting some persons men- tioned in these pages, are rather unfavorable to their charac- ters, I can only assure them that they are such as came to my hands, and that I have " neither extenuated, nor set down aught in malice." My first object has been to publish noth- ing but historical truth. The satires and lampoons which were published during the war, had their effects, but they will now pass only " for what they are worth ;" and will not affect the moral character of any man. I introduced some of them with a view to give a true idea of the spirit of the press in those times.
* Those who discover errors, and such as can add to the inform- ation contained in this work, are requested to acquaint the author therewith, by letter ; as it is his intention to make every necessary correction and amendment, which from time to time may come to his knowledge, in a copy he has appropriated to this purpose ; in -order, that if, hereafter, another edition should be called for, the corrections, &rc. may appear therein.
PREFACE, 13
The reader will perceive that I have followed the common practice of the writers on Printing, and have traced the art from the period of the discovery of it in Europe ; but I am persuaded that few will consider tliis as a work of supereroga- tion; for although histories of the origin and progress of Printing have been written by several eminent men in Europe, yet, I presume, that the reader will prefer having a view of the whole subject laid before him ; especially, as it will be very difficult and expensive to procure the works of those Eu- ropean writers. I have, therefore, endeavored to comprise within a few pages, the substance of many volumes published on the subject ; and, I conceive this compressed statement will give a new, and, I hope, a clear view, of the discoveiy and progress of the art on the other side of the Atlantic*
An account of the Origin of Books, and of the arts of Pa- permaking, Engraving, Sec. which are intimately connected with Printing, were, by several of my friends, recommended to my attention ; and, I flatter myself, that the introduction of these subjects into the work, will prove to be not altogether uninteresting, or inapplicable.
In the notice I have taken of ancient and modern books, and of the arts of Printing, Engraving, Sec. if the reader should not think the observations important, I am persuaded he will find some which are new.
It may be thought that I have given in the account of the printing and the printers of this country, too much attention to some circumstances that are not generally interesting. Eu- ropean writers, however, have been very precise in such par-
* One of the ancient fathers, by way of apology for publishing a book on a subject that had been treated of largely by others, observed, " This advantage we owe to the multiplicity of books on the same subject, that one falls in the way of one man, and another best suits the level or comprehension of another. Every thing that ^ written, does not come into the hands of all ; perhaps, says he, some may meet with my book who may hear nothing of others, which have treated better of tlie same subject. It is of service, therefore, that the same subject be handled by several person* and that the explications of difficulties and arguments for the truth may icome to the knowledge of every one by one way or other."
{_Encyc!op, Ext,
li PREFACE.
ticulars, and I have thought it best to follow their example. It will be recollected that things have a relative importance ; and minute circumstances often serve to elucidate a subject. To inquisitive minds, even the Jmfirints and Colofihons to old gazettes and books, are more interesting than any thing which could now be written ; they carry us back to the time when those publications first appeared — the publishers of them seem to sf)eak to us in their own persons — they take us to the very spot Avhere they printed, and shew us things as they were ; in a word, these are images of antiquity which we can- not in any other way so accurately delineate as by reprinting them.* They are, therefore, in every instance, copied with exactness, as are also extracts from ancient printed books and manuscript records. In such quotations, both the orthogra- phy and syntax of the original works from which they Avere taken, whether in English or in other languages, have been carefully preserved, and may, therefore, in these cases, ac- count for misspelling.
In the arrangement of the work, the memoirs of printers follow each other in the order of time in which the subjects of them began business in the respective towns or cities where they resided.
* What is denominated an Imprint by printers, is the informa- tion given, commonly at the foot of the title page of a book, where, and by whom, it was printed and sold, the date of printing, &c. Formerly imprints were placed at the conclusion ot the text, or at the end of a volume, with, or without, a colophon.
Colophon, is a word derived from a city of that name in Asia, where the artists of all descriptions were exceedingly expert, inso- much that KoXoipwva e7r*7»9E»«i, became a proverb among the Greeks ; signifying «//i;reflwz manumimponere, to put the finishing hand to any thing. The same idea was implied by the word Colophonem among the Romans; and, hence our ancient typographical fathers usually concluded the books they printed with an article written by them- velvcs, expressing the time they had spent in printing them ; tho labor and expense attending the business; the patronage they had received from great men ; some observations respecting the nature of the work, or the design of the author, or translator, in having it published, &c. accompanied by pious ejaculations. These conclu- sions, or finishings of the work, they culled Colophons.
PREFACE. 15
The biographical sketches of printers are principally con- fined to their professional concerns, and to such events as are connected with them.
Newspapers ai'e placed in the proper order of succession, or agreeably to the periods in which they wei*e established in the various cities, towns, Sec.
The narratives respecting such persons as remained in business after the American revolution, and such newspapers as were continued after this event, are brought down to the time when those printers quitted business, or died, or these publications were discontinued. From the settlement of the country to the establishment of the independence of the Unit- ed States, few Printers, and not many Newspapers, have, I believe, escaped my observation ; and, I may venture to as- sert that the data respecting them are as correct, as can, at this period of time, be obtained by the researches of an individual.
Histories of printing in Europe, end at the period when the art became generally diffused over that quarter of the globe; that is, at the close of the fifteenth century. Historians who have written on the subject of Printing, in particular king- doms, have observed the same rule ; indeed, when an art be- comes generally known through a country, it is no longer necessary to trace its course.
The history of printing in America, I have brought down to the most important event in the annals of our country — the Revolution. To have continued it beyond this period, all will admit would have been superfluous.
From the consideration that the press, and particularly the newspapers to which it gave birth, had a powerful influ- ence in producing the revolution, I have been led to conceive there would be much propriety in giving accounts of the pros- ecutions of printers for publishing Libels, which occurred un- der the several colonial governments. Articles of this descrip- tion, will be found in such parts of this work as contain me- moirs of the Printers who were prosecuted, or descriptions of the Newspapers in which the supposed libels were published.
With a view to gratify the admirers of typographical anti- quities, I have, in several instances given, as accurately as the
16 PRLFACE.
nature of the case would admit, representations of the titles of the most ancient Newspapers ; from which a tolerable idea may be formed of the fashion of the originals.
Altliough a work of this nature may be principally inter- esting to the professors of the typographic art, yet the facts relating to printing are necessarily connected with others which I have thought it proper to enlarge upon. This cir- cumstance may render these volumes amusing to the man of letters, and not altogether uninteresting to the antiquary.
I devoted some time to obtain a correct account of the booksellers in Boston ; it having been my intention to take notice of all who were in the trade from the first settlement of each colony to the year 1775 ; but I discovered that particular information from other states respecting many, who, in this character, have passed over the stage of life, could not be pro- cured, therefore, the statement is not so complete as I intended it should be. But supposing that the particulars which I have collected may afford some gratification, I have annexed them to this work.*
I will conclude by remarking, that in the account of print- ers and newspapers, I have not thought it necessary to attempt the avoidance of a repetition of the same terms; indeed, I much doubt if our language afibrds a sufficient variety for the purpose of changing the phraseology in the narratives given of a great number of persons, or things, which are alike in their nature, professions, or descriptions.
If this work should fall into the hands of critics who may feel disposed to treat it with severity ; in case I have not already said enough to ensure their forbearance, I beg leave to inform the liberal and ingenuous writers who " assume the critic's noble name," that I will readily coiTect all errors which may be candidly pointed out to me ; and, that I will bear all "just reproof with decent silence."
I. THOMAS.
IForccsfcr, May 7, 1810.
• It was my dcsip;n to have given a catalogue of the books printed in the English colonies previous to the revolution ; finding, however, tliat it would enlarge this work to another volume, I have deferred the publication ; but it may hereafter appear.
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
Books being the great offspring of the press, before I enter into the history of Printing, it may be proper to state the advantages and disadvantages commonly imputed to books ; and, give a detail of their mechanical construction, and the materials whereof they are composed.
Of Books.
AT different periods of time objections have been urged against books and learning, the principal of which are, that they may be employed to excite the evil passions, and propagate heresy and impiety ; that they may be used for the purpose of imposing on the people ; and the famous John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster was of opinion, that books are perni- cious, because they have a tendency to make people idle.
But, if books may be employed for ill purposes, they are much oftener used for those which are good. They are the chief instruments of acquiring knowl- 1 c
18 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
edge ; they are the repositories of the laws, and ve- hicles of learning of every description ; our religion itself is contained in books, and without them, says Bai-tholin, " God is silent, Justice dormant. Physic at a stand, Philosophy lame, Letters dumb, and all things involved in Cimmerian darkness." The eulogia which have been bestowed upon books are numberless ; they ai'e represented as *' the ref- uge of truth, when it is banished out of conversa- tion ; as standing counsellors and preachers, always at haiid, and always disinterested ; having this advan- tage over all other modes of instruction, that they are ready to repeat theii' lessons whenever we have oc> casion for them." They supply the want of mas- ters, and even, in some measure, of genius and in- vention, and can raise the dullest persons, who have memory, above the level of the greatest geniuses which are destitute of the aid of books. " Perhaps their gi-eatest glory is the affection borne to them by same of the greatest men." The devotion of the renowned Scipio for them was so great, that he pre- ferred their company to- that of living beings, and used to say,, that " through their means he was nev- er less alone than when by himself;" to him may be added, M. Cato, the elder Pliny, the emperor Julian, and many other distinguished chai'acters, Richard Bury, bishop of Durham and lord chan- cellor of England, wrote a treatise expressly on the love of books.
As to their being a source of idleness, that is contradicted by the experience of all ages, and the examples of eminent men. If Anaxagoras, througli a love of contemplation, neglected his worldly aifairs.
OF BOOKS. 19
he has had but few imitators- Many illustrious Romans could be mentioned who alternately'follow- cd the plough, harangued in the forum, and com- manded armies, who were attentive to books. The patriarchs and the inspired psalmist were eminent men, yet did they not neglect tlieir business as shepherds ; and St. Paul, an eminent scholar, was a tentmaker. Cleanthes was a gardener's laborer ; Esop and Terence were slaves. Augustus Cesar had his garments spun and wove in his own house. Mahomet kindled his own fire, swept the floor, milk- ed his ewes, and mended his shoes and his woollen garment with liis own hands. Charlemagne made a law to regulate the sale of his eggs ; and of Gus- tavus Vasa, it is said that " a better laborer never struck steel." Although most of these great characters had much acquaintance witli books, yet that circumstance did not prevent their attendance on the most minute of theii' public or private con- cerns.
We must admit, however, that the paths of knowledge are not entirely free from difficulties or causes of regret. The more a man knows, the more fully will he be convinced of the circumscribed lim- its of the human understanding, which are confined, principally, to this earth, and to a very contracted viev/ of the transactions of men which h^vc taken place in the course of some thousands of yeai's. The infinity of space, the remote, if not tlie bound- less ages of antiquity, are, as it were, before him, but must for ever remain unexplored and unknown, although they are not entirely impervious to conjec- ture. It is a cause of regret that Homer did not
20 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
enlarge on the subject of the Atlantic Island ;* that Solon did not finish his poem of the Atlantides, and that Plato did not complete his Timaeus, which would have contained all the information he obtain- ed from the wise men of Egypt on that interesting part of the history of the world. It occasions regret that the three great libraries of Alexandria were de-
* The Atlantic Island, or continent, was supposed to have been situated where the Atlantic Ocean now is. There are several hints in ancient authors respecting the Atlantides, a people said to inhabit that country. Plato, who lived about four hundred years before the time of Christ, gave some ac- count of them in one of his dialogues ; he intended to have given a full account of them in his Timaeus, but he did not live to finish the work. He had his account of them from the wise men of Sais, in Egypt. The particulars he has written con- cerning their cities, buildings, Sec. are more like romance than history. Among other things he mentions, that they invaded Greece with a powerful army some thousands of years before^ his time. In Gen. x. 25, there is mention made of Peleg the sonofEber, who was so called because in his days the earth was divided. From this passage some learned men have in- ferred that anterior to that period the country of the Atlantides, was joiiied to Europe ; and that, by some great convulsion of nature, it was then disjoined and torn from Europe and Afri- ca, removed farther west, and was this identical continent of America.
The Rev. Samuel Mather, of Boston, who nearly forty years since, wrote a small, but ingenious treatise, intitled,; " America known to the Ancients," appears to have been of opinion, that the posterity of Japhet, by INIagog, were the pri- mary inhal)itants of America.
Should this be true, this country was, thousands of years since, inhabited by a renowned and warlike people, who were well qualified to make those ancient encampments, the re- n>ains of which have lately been discovered.
OF BOCTKS. f?l
stroyed ; first, by the Gentile Cesar ; secoixlly, by the Christian Theophilus ; and thirdly, by the Ma- hometan Amrou, by order of the Saracen caliph Ornai'. The contents of those libraries might have thrown light on the history of the Atlantides, and many other curious facts, which ai*e, for ever, sunk in oblivion.
The Goths and Mahometans ai-e not the only people who ai-e to be blamed for the destruction of ancient manuscripts. Many, very many, valuable works have been destroyed by the Popes, and other intolerant bigots among Christians. These things are to be regretted, and particulai'ly the burning of the library of the Escurial, which contained the learning of the Moors in Spain. The superstitious priests who followed Columbus to America, in their zeal to promote the Christian religion, destroyed the ancient records of the natives, depictured and perpetuated by hieroglyphics, which in fact gave the history of that part of this immense continent ; but which the Spanish priests supposed were used in the rites and ceremonies of Paganism, and believ- ed them to be the works of the devil, with whom they imagined the Mexicans had leagued them- selves.*
To get wisdom, is not only pleasant and conven- ient, but it is a duty frequently enjoined in holy VJYit.-^Happy is the man xvho findeth wisdom^ and the man who getteth understanding. For the mer- chandise of it is better than the 7nerchandise of sil- ver^ and the gain thereof than fne gold. She is more precious than rubies ; and all the things thou const
* Clavigero's Hist, of Mexico,
22* HISTORY OF PRINTING.
desire, are not to be compared unto her. Proverbs iii. 13-^15.
HoAv great then are our obligations to the in- ventors of the art of Printing, who have rendered wisdom easy of attainment, and given us an im- mense advantage over the ancients, who
Wand'ring from clime to clime observant strayM, Their manners noted and their states survey'd.*
Like the bees, they were obliged to collect their sweets by roving from flower to flower ; but we come at once to the hive, and get our fill without difficulty or labor. Lycurgus and Pythagoras were oblige<d to travel into Egypt, Persia and India, to learn the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, the prin- ciples of Zoroaster and the Gymnosophists. Solon, Plato, and most of the ancient sages and philoso- phers, were under the necessity of seeking the wis- dom of Egypt in Sais, and other Egyptian cities. Herodotus and Strabo, had to collect their materials for history and geography from the observations they made in their travels. Till within the last three hundred and forty yeai's,t there were no print- ed books in our language ; they were all wTitten ; and being scarce and of great price, were conse- quently in but few hands ; the means of knowledge were then very inconsiderable, compaied with what they aie at present. If a man wanted to become ac-
• Pope's Odyssey. B. I.
t The first book known to be printed in English was, The History of Troy, translated from the French by William Cax- ton, at Cologne, and by him printed in that city, anno 1471.
Of BOOKS. 23
quainted with the history of any particular country, or to gain other useful information, perhaps he had to travel several hundreds of miles to get sight of some manuscript which related to, or explained the subject matter of inquiry. But we are contempo- raries of all ages, and citizens of all nations. We can ti-avel much farther than did Jason or Ulysses ; and by our fire sides extend our acquaintance to the regions they visited ; where we can also scan the great Southern Ocean with Drake, Bougainville, Cook, and many other circumnavigators ; and be- come acquainted with the history, geography, laws, manners and products of all the known nations of the earth, in company with a vast number of well informed ancient and modern travellers. We aspire with Copernicus, Gallileo, Huygens, and Newton, to explore the infinite regions of space, and to as- certain ** what other systems circle other suns.'* We soar with Leibnitz, or Locke, into the regions of metaphysics ; or descend with Woodward, or Buffon, De Luc, or Whitehurst, to an examination of organic structures on the face of the earth ; or search beneath its surface, and discover the ruins of antiquity, which have been ludden for ages. We survey superfices and solid contents with Fergusson, De la Hire, or Herschel ; or, enter into the chym- ical analysis of matter with Priestley or Lavoisier. Books afford us opportimities to become acquainted with all subjects, recondite and familiar — ^with the religions of all ages and nations^ — ^with the institu- tions of Moses, and of Lycurgus— with the Theog- ony of Hesiod, and the Mythology of Homer. We leani to revere the happy influences of genuine re-
24 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
ligion ; and to detest the baneful operations of big* otiy, enthusiasm, superstition and infidelity.
Such are the benefits we derive from books ; and, as it respects the gi'eat body of the people, nearly all these advantages result from Printing ; for without this discovery few would have been able to procure even a Bible, a manuscript copy of which must have cost, perhaps, five or six hundred dol- lai's.
At the present period of light and information, we can easily conceive of the shackles which retard- ed the progress of the human mind, in its researches after truth, before the invention of the ars artium.
Ancient authors had no means of conveying to the world the knowledge they had acquired ; they could, it is true, transcribe a few copies of their works, which, in circumstances the most favorablcj could only reach a very few libraries of the most wealthy in a kingdom, and then, perhaps, were doomed to pei-petual rest, or subjected to be de- stroyed by the caprice of the powerful > and the pre- judices of the illiterate.
Printing removed the veil which obscured the reason of man ; it broke the chain that bound him in superstition. By multiplying copies of the labors of the learned, and dispersing those copies over the earth, even to its remotest regions, he was enabled to search after truth in religion, in philosophy, in politics ; and, improvement in the mechanic arts.
The advantages of books to society, have been a theme which has employed the pens of many writ- ers, from the time of the origin of Printing to the present day.
OF BOOKS. ^S
A celebrated modern French author,* thus ele- gantly describes the benefits which the world has al- ready received from the invention and progress of the art, by augmenting the number of books.
" Printing has been applied to so many subjects ; books have so rapidly increased, they have been so admirably adapted to every taste, eveiy degree of in- formation, and every situation of life ; they afforded so easy, and frequently so delightful, an instruction ; they have opened so many doors to truth, which it is impossible ever to close again, that there is no longer a class or profession of mankind from whom the light of knowledge can absolutely be excluded. Accordingly, though there may still remain a mul- titude of individuals condemned to a forced or vol- untary ignorance, yet the barrier between the en- lightened and unenlightened proportion of mankind is nearly effaced, and an insensible gradation occu- pies the space which separated the two extremes of genius and stupidity."!
An English divine,^ whose Essays ai'e well known and approved by the leai^ned and pious, is
* M. de Condorcet, in his " Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind."
t These distinctions between genius and stupidity have been revived within the course of a few centuries in Europe where, in the dark ages, all were reduced to nearly the same level of ignorance and brutality. Lord Lyttleton, in his life of Hen- ly II, informs us, that in the reign of King Stephen, in the twelfth century, it was considered as a mark of nobility not to know a letter. This was before the discovery of Printing in Europe.
i Di'. Vicessimus Knox. 1 D
26 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
one among many who inform us of the benefits which Chi'istianity has derived from the increase of books ; as well as the great utility of Printing to the literaiy and political world, notwithstanding the abuse of it by the artful and licentious. The obser-^ vations of this ^bje and pleasing writer are these, viz.
" To the art of printing, it is acknowledged we OAve the reformation. It has been justly remarked, that if the books of Luther had been only multi* plied by the slow process of handwriting, they must have been few, and would liave been easily suppressed by the combination of wealth and pow* er ; but, poured forth in abundance from the press, they spread over the land with the rapidity of an in* undatron, which acquires additional force from the efforts used to obstruct its progress. He who un- dertook to prevent the dispersion of the books once issued from the press, attempted a task no less ar- duous than the destruction of the hydra. Resist- ance was vain, and religion was reformed ; and we,, who are chiefly interested in this happy revolution^ must remember, amidst the praises bestowed on Luther, that his endeavors had been ineflfectual, un- assisted by the invention of Faustus.
" How greatly the cause of religion has been promoted by the art, must appear when it is consid- ered that it has placed those sacred books in the hands of every individual, which, besides that tliey were once looked upon in a dead language, could not be procured without great difficulty. The numer- ous comments on them of every kind, which tend to promote piety, and to form tlie Christian phi-
OF HOOKS,
St
lOfSOphcr, would prol)iihly never hnvc been com- posed, and c.ertainl}' would not h^vv extended theif iK'neficial influenec, if typofjpaphy had still been un> known. By that art, the ligiht, whieh is to illnmin- fite a dark world, has been plaeed in a situation more advantageous to the emission of its rays ; but if it has been the means of illustratinp; the doetrincs, and enForeinc^ the practice of reliji^ion, it has also, piuticnlarly in the pa^s<Mit ap;e, struck at the root of piety and moral virtue, !)y propagating; opinions fti- vorable to the sceptic and the >'oluptuary. It has enabled modern authoi's, ^vantonly to J^ratify their avarice, their vanity, and their misanthropy, in dis- ^minatinu; novel systems, subversixe of the dii!;ni- ty and happiness of human nature. But though the perversion of the ait is lamentably remarkable in fhose volumes which issue, Mith ofTi nsive profusion, from the vain, the wicked, and the hungry, yet this ^ood results from the evil, that as truth is great and will prevail, she must derive iresh lustre, by display- ing the superiority of her strength, in the conflict with sophistr}'.
*' Thtis the art of Printing, in whatever light it is viewed, has deserved respect and attention. From the ingemiity of the contrivance, it has ever excited mechanical curiosity ; from its intimate connexion with learning it has justly claimed historical notice ; and from its extensive influence on morality, poli- tics, and religion, it is now become a subject of very important speculation.
" But, however we may felicitate mankind on the invention, there are those, ])erhaj)s, who wish that, together with its compatriot ait of manufactur-
28 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
ing gunpowder, it had not yet been brought to light. Of its effects on literature, they assert, that it has increased the number of Books, till tliey distract, rather than improve the mind ; and, of its malignant influence on morals they complain, that it has often introduced a false refinement, incompatable with the simplicity of primitive piety and genuine virtue. With Inspect to its literary ill consequences, it may be said that though it produces to the world an in- finite number of worthless publications, yet true wit and fine composition will still retain their A^alue, and it will be an easy task for critical discernment to select these from the surrounding mass of absur- dity ; and though, with respect to its moral effects, a regard to truth extorts the confession, that it has dif- fused immorality and irreligion, divulged with cruel im.pertinence the secrets of private life, and spread the tale of scandal tlii'ough an empire ; yet, these are evils which ^vill either shrink away unobserved in the triumphs of time, and truth over falsehood ; or, which ma}^, at any time, be suppressed by legisla- tive interposition,"
The Materials of xvhich Books have been made,
THE methods of making books, and the materi- als of Avhich they ^\'ere composed, have been various in different ages of the world. Our progenitors ap- pcLU- to have been desirous of transmitting tlieir knowledge and discoveries down to posterity ; for that purpose they have successively used the ma-
OF BOOKS. 29
terials which they called folium, tabula, tilia, or phi- lyra, scheda, codex, liber, biblos, &c.
A very ancient method was, that of spreading wax on wood made into thin boards, and writing on them with the stylus ; the boards were strung to- gether, and thus made books. At other times the stylus was employed on thin sheets of lead, on ivo- ry, the bark of trees, on spade bones, which were strung together, until they were supplanted by the Egyptian papyrus*, which made decent books. That article, however, was not produced in suffi- cient quantities to furnish the literary nations of an- tiquity ; therefore parchment was used in many countries ; the invention of which has been ascrib- ed to Eumenes king of Pergamus.
But there are those who doubt whether Eume- nes was the original inventor — it must have been known long before his time ; for mention is made of it by more ancient authors. The prophecy of Jer- emiah was written, by Bai'uch, in a roll of a book^ which could not have been the linen roll made use of in less ancient times. Some have supposed that the book of the law of Moses must have been of parchment, or it could not have lasted so many ages
* In the 2 1 st Odyssey of Homer it is mentioned, that when Ulysses was preparing for the destruction of the suitors of Penelope, Philaetius fastened the gate of the palace yard with a cable made of the biblos, which was brought from Egypt^ this seems to imply that the papyrus became an article of com- inerce much earlier than most antiquarians seem to have imag- ined— and from the Greek word biblos, being applied to it by Homer, we may conclude that books were made of it be- fore his time.
30 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
as it did. What king Eumenes did, was, probably, nothing more than to make an improvement on parchment, which from him came to be called Fe?'- gamena. The occasion was this — Eumenes was ambitions to rival the Alexandrian library, founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Eg}^pt ; but, in order to circumvent him, Ptolemy prevented the exportation of the papyrus, that Eumenes might not find a substance on which his scribes might copy tlie books ; upon which Eumenes directed them to make use of parchment, which many suppose was then ^'ery well knoivn — ^and, as his scribes became so familiar \nX\i it, we cannot wonder they hit upon some improvement. In process of time the papy- rus, perhaps on account of the troubles of Egypt, grew into disuse, and parchment supplied tlie place of it, msomuch tliat nearly all tlie ancient manu- scripts which have been handed down to us are made of that material. There are some in differeiit parts of the world, which are from twelve to fifteen hun- dred years old ;* some of them are in the shape of
* See Wctsteiii, Woidc, Griesbach, Michaelis, Sec. on the Alexandrian manuscript, in tlie British Museum, of which Dr. Woide published an edition in 1786, with tj-pes cast for the purpose, line for line, without intervals between the words, as in the manuscript itself. This copy is so perfect an imita- tion of the original, that it might supply its place. Its title is, .Yovum Testamentvm Gnecum Codice. MS. Alexandrino qui LoTid'mi in Bibliotheca Muaci Britannici asservatur descrip- tum. It is a very splendid folio, asnd the preface of the learn- ed editor contains an accurate description of the manuscript, ^vllich is wipposed by many critics, to be about 1 500 yeai^ old. Considerable dispute, howcter, has arisen respecting its antiquity.
OF BOOKS. 31
our quarto books, and many of them are considera- bly larger. Some wiitings were made on rolls of parchment down to the period of the invention of printing. Such are the British rolls of parliament, for the care of which an ojBicer is appointed by the British government, who is called the Master of the Rolls.
That Eumenes, king of Pergamus, was not the inventor of parchment, appeal's clear ; because Dio- dorus Siculus says, it was used by the Persians in very ancient times ; and, Herodotus remarks, that the skins of sheep and goats were used among the ancient lonians long before the time of Eumenes. Some have concluded that it was not known among the members of the Amphictionic league, because they engraved their ancient treaties on columns ; but that was done with a view to make them more public and durable ; and it might be for the same reason that the children of Seth, as mentioned by Josephus, wrote, or engraved, their astronomical discoveries on columns. The vinriting of the law of Moses on two tables of stone, does not prove that parchment was not then in use j for Moses mentions some books ; and the book of Jasher^ is mentioned in Joshua, &c. and as it is believed that Moses was the author of the book of Job,t we may, from the
* Joshua X. 13. — See also Gen. v. 1. — Exod. xvii. 14. —
Numb. xxi. 14. — Deut. xxxi. 84, 26 Josh, xviii. 9. —
1 Sam. X. 25,&c.
t Commentators on the book of Job have differed respecting the author ; some ascribing it to Moses, some to Job, and oth- ers to Eliphaz the Temanite. The Rabbins, and the gener- ality of Christians, consider MQses as the writer of it.
32 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
exclamation, O that mine adversary had wriffe?t a book! presume that in those days the mak- ing of books was a familiar practice. Indeed from another passage in Job, chap. xix. v. 23,24, it might be presumed that all the different modes of wTiting, as well as printings eJigrav'mg and book- making were known in those days; for he says, Oh that my xvords were now written ! Oh that they wa-e printed iji a book! That they were graven with an iron pen [the stylum] and lead, i?i the rock for ever !
The Greeks had many authors before the time of Homer, such as Orpheus, Musasus, Hennes, and sixty or seventy more, who are mentioned by an- cient writers ; and, some ai'e of opinion, that Homer lived much earlier than is generally supposed. His works were wTitten, according to some authors, in tablets of wood covered with wax. The writ- ings of Hesiod, which were deposited in the Tem- ple of the Muses in Boeotia, were originally \^Titten upon plates of lead. These facts seem to prove that in the time of the most ancient Greek authors, paixhment and the papyrus were unknown ; but there can be no doubt that the skins of beasts prepaixd either as leather or pai-chment, were known before the time of Alexander, and, consequently, prior to the pretended invention of Eumenes.
Solomon was a great maker of books ; for he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and fve.^' He also wTotc upon natural history, trees, plants, herbs, beasts, fowls, insects
*1 Kings, iv. 32.
OF BOOKS.TC 33
and fishes ; and he was acquamted with the works of learned men of other nations. He was a gi-eat author ; but at last he found his subjects so inex- haustible, that he came to the conclusion that, " in making many books there is no end.''''^ It is sup- posed that Solomon was contemporary with Zoroas- ter,! the founder of the Magian religion, in Persia ; that he wrote his book of Ecclesiastes against the dogmas of Zoroaster ; and, it is probable, he had those works written on parchment, according to the custom of Persia. Therefore, supposing pai'chment had not been introduced into Judea, previously to his time, we cannot suppose that a king, who was acquainted with all the rich productions and luxu- ries of the world, could remain ignorant of so great a convenience. We cannot, indeed, doubt that parchment was, before his time, known by the Is- raelites ; and, that it was used even in the times when the Jews were liberally supplied with the pa- pyrus from Egypt. It has continued in use from those days until now ; and is still much used in Eu- rope, in all records and legal transactions.
Paper, for more than two centuries, has been employed in the manufacture of printed books.
* Eccles. xii, 12.
t We learn from ancient authors that tlie writings of Zoro- aster amounted to two millions of lines, or verses, which must have made a very considerable number of books. As it has been affirmed there were many learned men of that name, it is thought, by some, the writings of all have been imputed to one of them. Seneca, in his Epistle Ixxxviii, mentions that most of the 4000 volumes [perhaps pages] of Didymus, were written concerning the birth place of Homer. 1 E
34 HISTORr OF PRINTING.
Numerous authors have written largely both with respect to parchment and paper ; but, I will endeav- or to comprise^ in a few pages, the substance of what they have published in many volumes.
It is the opinion of many of those autliors, that the art of making paper from silk and cotton, came, like many of our arts, from the Chinese. The use of it in Europe cannot b© traced higher than to the eleventh centur}\ In England, the oldest testimony ,^ of paper, made from linen, does not ascend higher tkm to the yciir 1320.
Of paper, there have been four principal kinds ; Chinese, Japanese, Eg>^ptian, and European, wliich were hivented in different periods of time.
As to the epocha when the Chinese paper was invented, we are left in darkness ; nearly all we know of the matter is, that the Chinese have had the use of paper from time immemorial. They still excel all other nations in the manufacture of it, so far as relates to fineness, and delicacy of texture. Silk is supposed to be lui ingredient in the manufac- ture of the best Chinese paper.* Common paper is manufactured in that country, from the young bamboo, the inner bark of the mulberr}-, and other trees, and from the skin which is found in the web of the silk worm.
Paper is made, in Japan, from the baik of trees, the growth of tiiat country. Kempfer describes four, but the best paper is made of the bark of the young shoots of the true paper tree, called in the Japanese language kaadsi ; this bark is properly
* The Chinese have a book called Yexim, sukl to have beci> written by their first king Fohi, abdut 3000 years bcibi e Christ.
OP BOOKS. 35
cleansed, and boiled in clear lye, till the matter ac- quires a proper consistency ; it is then washed and turned till it is sufficiently diluted, and reduced to soft and tender fibres ; after this, it is laid on a smootli table, and beaten with a kind of batoon of hard wood, till it resembles paper steeped in water ; the bark thus prepared is put into a narrow tub, and a glutinous extract from rice and the root oreni, is added. These are stirred together till they form a liquor of an equal and uniform consistency ; then poured into large tubs, and the workmen proceed to form the slieets. The Japanese paper, according to Kempfer, is of great sti'engtii ; and, it is said, the materials which compose it might be manufactured into ropes ; one kind of it is fit for bed hangings and wearing appai-el, resembling so much stuffs of avooI and silk that it is often mistaken for them. When paper was first made in Japan cannot be known ; it is believed they received tlie art from China.
In Egypt, the western parts of Asia, and the civilized parts of Europe, it is probable, paper was not known till long after it was discovered and used in China. The ancients wrote on stones, bricks, the leaves of trees, and flowers, the rind or bark of trees, tables of wood covered over with wax,* and on ivory, plates of lead, linen rolls, spade or blade bones. Pliny says, the most ancient way of writing was on the folium, or leaves of the palm tree. Then they used the inner bark of a tree ; and hence, biblos in Greek, and liber in Latin, came to signify a book. When they wTote on harder substances, they used
* This method is mentioned by Homer.
36 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
iron styles, and from this circumstance, it is said, came the plirase of different styles in ^vTiting.
According to Varro, paper was not made from the Egyptian papyrus, till about the time that Alex- ander the great built Alexandria. From the term papyrus, is derived our word paper. The pap}Tus was a laige rush, or reed, which grew in Egypt to the height of several feet, and of a considerable big- ness.* The Egyptians made sails, rigging, ropes, mats, blankets, clothes ; also, small ships of the stalks of the papyrus, and paper.
From Pliny,! Guilandinus and Salmasius, we learn that the Egyptians made their paper in the fol- lowing manner. They began with lopping oif tlie t^vo extremities of the papyrus, namely, the head and root, as of no use to the manufacturer ; the re- maining stem they slit lengthwise, into two equal parts, and from each of these they stripped the thin scaly pellicles, of which it consisted, with the point of a needle, or knife. The innermost of those pel- licles were looked upon as the best, and those near- est the rind, the worst. They were, accordingly, kept apart, and constituted different sorts of paper. As the pellicles were taken off they extended them on a table ; then two, or more of them, were laid over each other transversely, so as that the fibres made right angles. In this state they were glued together by the muddy ^vater of the Nile, and put
* It grew in marshes near the Nile, was of a triangulai' shape, about fourteen feet high, and eighteen or twenty inches in ciixumferencc.
t Pliny, lib. xiii. c. 2. '
OF BOOKS. 37
under a press to produce adhesion. When the wa- ter and pressure proved ineffectual, a paste made of the finest wheat flour, mixed with hot water, and a sprinkling of vinegar, was used ; the sheets were again pressed, and afterwards dried by the sun; they were then flattened and smoothed by beating them with a mallet, when they became paper; which they sometimes polished by rubbing it with a smooth hemisphere of stone, glass, &c.
Paper was an important branch of commerce to the Egyptians, which continued to increase towards the end of the Roman republic. In a letter of the emperor Adrian, the preparing of the papyrus is mentioned as one of the principal occupations in Alexandria. " In this rich and opulent city," says he, " nobody is seen idle ; some are employed in the manufacturing of cloth, some in that of paper," &c. " The demand for this paper was so great to- ward the end of the third century, that when the ty- rant Firmus conquered Egypt, he boasted that he had seized as much paper and size as would support his whole army."*
By a publication of M. Meerman, at the Hague, in 1767, it appears that paper made from linen rags had been used in Europe before the year 1300.
The abbe Andrez published, at Parma, in 1782, a work wherein he maintains, that paper made from silk was very anciently fabricated in Chma, and the eastern parts of Asia ; that the art of making this paper was carried from China to Persia about the year 652, and to Mecca in 706. The Arabs sub-
•Eucyc. Vol. I2.p. ros.
38 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
stitiited cotton, aiid carried the art of making paper into Africa and Spain ; from Spain it passed into France, from thence to Germany and England, &c.
The European paper made from bark, was only the inner, whitish rmd inclosed between the bark and the wood of various trees, particularly the ma- ple, plane, beech, elm, the tilia, philyra or linden- tree, the last of which was cliiefiy used for tlie pur- pose. On this, stripped off, flatted and driod, the ancients wrote books, several of which are said to be still extant.
The j(3ojtA|3u0, or Cliarta Bombyciim, mentioned by Greek -\\Titers, formerly w^as used to signify silk, though afterwai'd the term was applied to cotton paper, which Jias been in use for several centuries past Cotton paper appeal's to have been veiy com- mon eight or nine hundred years ago, consequently it must have been invented long before. Anterior to the destruction of the late French king's library, at Paris, tliere were manuscripts in it on cotton pa- per, which apjjeai^d to be of tlie eleventh century. The learned antiquarian, father Montfaucon, saw one there, proved to be written in 1050. The same author mentions that cotton paper was commonly used in the eastern empire, and even in Sicily, in the twdftli centmy.
When, or by whom, linen paper was invented, is not known ; as Polydore Virgil confesses, it may be of great antiquity. If the Decalogue was written on tables of stone, the laws of Solon on rollers of wood, those of the Roman Decemvii's on brass, and the ordinances of the Areopagus, and the various treaties of the Greeks, were engraved on columns ;
OF BOOKS. 39
if monuments have been found with Egyptian hi- eroglyphics, with Pelasgic, with Runic, characters on them ; this does not prove that the ancients had not more convenient materials to write on. The quaint Dr. Arbuthnot says, that Augustus Cesai' had neither glass to his windows, or a shirt to liis back ; but however that may have been, linen was made in very ancient times. There is mention made of flax, and fine i'meji^ in the writings of Moses,*
* Although Varro ascribes the manufacture of the papy- rus to the time of Alexander ; yet, it is certain, they had paper in much more ancient times ; and from their great ingenuity in the manufacture of the linmn, or flax, in which they excelled all people, both ancient and modern, we may presume they had linen paper. The making of fine linen was a very important branch of manufacture among the Egyptians, who were so ex- pert at the business, that they carried it to a most wonderful degree of perfection. It is related, that they could draw out threads which were finer than the finest web of the spider. The priests were always habited in linen, and never in wool- len ; and, not only the priests but generally all persons of dis- tinction wore linen garments. The ^ne linen of Egyfit was renowned through all antiquity, and a most extensive trade in it was carried on ; much of it being exported into foreign coun- tries. The making of it employed a great number of hands. Fine linen is the first aiticle of Egyptian commerce, mention- ed by the prophet Ezekiel, chap, xxvii. 7, and the women were much employed in the manufacture of it, as appears from a passage in Isaiah, chap, xix, 9, in which the prophet me- naces Egypt with a drought of so terrible a kind, that it should interrupt every description of labor. Moreover, they that -work infinejlaxn, and they that iveave net ivork, shall be confounded. We find that one consequence of the plague of hail, brought upon Egypt by Moses and Aaron, Exodus ix. 31, was, that
40 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
The following is the best evidence I have been able to collect, respecting the invention of paper, made from linen, in Europe ; which the reader will see is not entirely free from contradiction.
Scaliger ascribes the invention to the Germans, Maffei to the Italians, others to some Greek refu- gees at Basil, who took the hint from the maimer of making cotton paper in their own country ; Corin- gius thinks we received it from the Arabs. Linen paper appears to have been introduced into Europe, about the fourteenth century, according to the Count Maifei, who found no traces of it before the year 1300. Some go much farther back, and take the libri lintei mentioned by Livy, and other Roman writers, to have been -vvi'itten on linen paper. Oth- ers, make the invention more modem than it is, as can be clearly proved, for they date its origin only about thi'ee hundred years ago : but Mabillon has shewn the contraiy, from many manuscripts about four hundred years old, written on linen paper ; and Balbinus has produced divers instances of such man- uscripts written before the year 1340. To this we may add, that there are ^vi'itings on linen paper, in the Cottonian Library at Oxford, in the times of most
the Jlax ivas smitten,, because it was boiled. The embroidered •work from £gy/it, mentioned by Ezekiel, was made from the finest of the Imen, and frequently died purple. This, in Pliny's estimation, held the second rank ; the first place he gives to the Asbestos, or Asbestinum, or incombustible flax. As there was so much trade in flax and linen in Egypt, it is not unlikely paper was made from it ; and this may account for the difficul- ty the moderns have met with in tracing the origin of linen paper.
OF BOOKS. 41
of the kings and queens of England, as high as the year 1335. That celebrated historian and divine. Dr. Humphrey Prideaux, wrote as follows, on this subject.
" The invention of making linen paper, Mr. Ray puts very late. For he tells us in his Herbal, that it was not known in Germany till the year of our Lord 1470 ; that then two men, named Antho- ny and Michael, brought this art first to Basil, out of Gallicia, in Spain, and that from thence it was learnt and brought into use by the rest of the Ger- mans. But there must be a mistake in this, there being both ^vi'itten aixl printed books, as well as manuscripts, of this sort of paper, which are cer- tainly ancienter than the year 1470. There is extant a book called Catholicon, written by Jacobus de Janua, a monk, printed on paper, at Mentz, in Germany, anno 1460 ; and therefore the Germans must have had the use of this sort of paper long be- fore Mr. Ray saith. And there ai'e manuscripts that are written on this sort of paper, that are much ancienter, as may be especially evidenced in several registries within this realm [England] where the dates of the instruments or acts registered prove the time. There is in the Bishop's registry at Nor- wich, a register book of wills, all made of paper, wherein registrations ai'e made which loear date so high up as the year of our Lord 1370, just an hun- dred years before the time that Mr. Ray saith the use of it began in Germany. And I have seen a registration of some acts of John Cranden, prior of P^l}% made upon paper, which beai' date in the four- teenth year of king Edward tl^ie second, that is, l" ' F
42 HISTORY OF PRINTIN-G.
Anno Domini 1320. This invention seems to have been brought out of tlie East. For most of the old manuscripts in Arabic, and other oriental languages, which we ha\e from thence, ai'e A\Titten on tliis sort of paper, and some of them are certainly much an- cicnter than any of the times here mentioned about this matter. But we often find them WTitten on pa- per made of the paste of silk, as well as of Imen. It is most likely the Saracens of Spain first brought it out of the east into that country ; of which Gallicia being a province, it might, from thence, according to Mr. Ray, have been from tlience first brouglit into Germany ; but it must have been much earlier than the time he says."
This passage from that learned author, makes it sufficiently clear, that the in^•ention of linen paper was earlier tlian the period marked by several of the autliors I have mentioned. His supposition, that it '' came from the east," favors the opinion that it was kno^vn in the east, and most likely in Egypt, from very ancient times.
It is not only possible, but probable, that tlie Egyptians made it some thousands of years since, perhaps long before the}' manufactured the papyrus from the fragments of their linen ; and, that they made the pap}-rus for ordinary purjDoses, to which it '»\ould have been extravagant to apply the paper made from their fine linen.
Paper was, for near three hundred yeai's, manu- factured on the continent of Europe in a much bet- ter manner than in England. I have seen books, printed at Paris about two hundi"ed and fifty years ago, on paper A\hich appeal's to have been chiefiy
OF BOOKS. 43
made fi'om silk. It resembles the Chinese paper in regard to its strength, delicacy of texture, and want of whiteness. This shews that the French, as well as the Dutch, had made great progress in the busi- ness of papermaking, near three centuries back. Till within the last century the Eliglish did very lit- tle in this line of business ; but they now manufac- ture paper in greater perfection than the Dutch, from whom they formerly purchased the greatest part of their fine paper.
From the preceding remarks it appeal's^ that books were originally written on stone, bricks, bones, wooden planks, bark, leaves, wax, leather, lead, linen, silk, horn, skins and paper. The forms' of books were almost as diflPerait as the materipJs of which they were made. When bark was introduc- ed, it was rolled up, in order to be removed with greater ease ; the roll was called volunien, a volume ; the name was continued afterwards to written rolls of paper and parchment, which were composed of several sheets fastened to each other, " and rolled upon a stick, or umbilicus ; the whole making a kind of column, or cylinder, which was to be managed by the umbilicus as a handle, it being reputed a crime to take hold of the roll itself; the outside of the volume was called ^ro??^ ; the ends of the umbil- icus, cornua^ which were usually cai'ved, and adorn- ed with silver, ivory, or even gold and precious stones ; the title, <ruXA«^o?, was struck on the outside ; the whole volume, when extended, might make a yard and a half in width, and fifty feet in length. The form, which obtains among us, is the square, composed of separate leaves ; this form was kno\vn,
44 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
though Httle used, by tlic aiicients. To the form of books belongs, iilso, the internal economy, as the or- der iuid iu-rangement of letters and points, into lines iuid pages, Avith maigins and other appurtenants. This has undergone many varieties ; at first, the let- ters ^vere only divided into lines ; then into separate words, Avhich, by degrees, were noted with accents, and distributed, by points and stops, into periods, pai'agraphs, chapters, and other divisions. In some countries, as among tlie orientals, the lines began from the right, and ran to the left ; in others, as the northern and western nations, from left to right ; others, as the Greeks, followed both directions, al- ternately going in the one, and returning in the oth- er. In most countries, the lines run from one side to the other ; in some, particularly the Chinese, from top to bottom.*
The ancients iitg said to have made paper of the asbestos. Signior Castagnatta proposed a scheme for making books of that kind of paper, which from its imperishable nature, he would call Books of eter- nity ; not only the leaves, but the thread which sew- ed the books, and the covers, were all to be made from the same substance ; and the letters Avere to be made of gold. Dr. Brukmann, professor at the university in Brunswick, in German}-, published the natural history of that fossil, and four copies of his book were printed on paper made of it.
The reader will find, hereafter, some notice of the rise of papermaking in our coimtry. Many of our
* Fabric. Bibl. Antiq. c. 19.— Brit. Encyc. Vol. 3.
OF BOOKS. 45
manufacturers appear to be too intent upon profit ; although some of them attempt to rival the best per- formances of the papermakers of Europe.
Scarcity and value of Books, before the hwention of Priyiting.
.Wharton* mentions the scarcity of books in the seventh, and several subsequent centuries ; among many instances he gives the following.
" Towards the close of the seventh century, even in the papal library at Rome, the number of books was so inconsiderable, that pope St. Martin requested Sanctamund, bishop of Maestricht, if pos- sible, to supply this defect from the remotest parts of Germany."
" In the year 855, Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, in France, sent two of his monks to pope Benedict III, to beg a copy of Cicero de Oratore, and Quintilian's Institutes, and some other books ; " for, says the abbot, although we have parts of these books, yet there is no whole or complete copy of them in all France."
" Albert, abbot of Gemblours, who with incred- ible labor, and immense expense, had collected an hundred ^^olumefe on theological, and fifty on pro- fane subjects, believed he had formed a splendid librar}."
* Hist, of EngUsh Poets. Vol. 1.
46 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
" At the beginning of the tenth century, books were so scarce in Spain, that one and the same copy of the Bible, St. Jerome's Epistles, and some vol- limes of ecclesiastical offices, &:c. serAcd several different monasteries."
" The libraiy of the bishop of Winchester, in 1294, contained nothing more than " Septemdecem parti I'lhrum de diver sis scientiis.^^ That prelate in 1299, boiTowed of his cathedral convent of St. S within, " Bihliam bene glossatam ;" that is, the Bible with marginal annotations ; but gave a bond for the due return of the loan, drawn up with great solemnity."
" If any person gave a book to a religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation merited eter- nal salvation; and he offered it on the altai' witli great solemnity."
" The most formidable anathemas were peremp- torily denounced against those who should dare to alienate a book presented to the cloister, or library, of a religious house."
" The prior and convent of Rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle's Physics, or even obliterate the title."
" When a book was bought, the affair was of so much importance, that it was customary to assem- ble persons of consequence and character, and to make a formal record that they were present at the sale."
" About the year 1225, Roger de Insula, dean of York, gave several Latin Bibles to the univer-
OF BOOKS. 47
slty of Oxford, with a condition, that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionaiy pledge."
" The library of the university at Oxford, before the year 1300, consisted only of a few tracts, chain- ed or kept in chests in the choir of St. Mary's church."
" About the commencement of the fourteenth century, there were only four classics in the royal library at Paris ; the rest were chiefly books of de- votion ; the classics were Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, and Boetliius."
"About the year 1400, a copy of John of Meun's Romum de la Roze^ was sold before the pal- ace gate, at Pai'is, for forty crowns,"
The dutchess of Buckingham, left to the lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of king Henry 7th, of England, " in consideration of the lady Margaret's love of literature, a book of English, being a legend of saints ; a book of French, ' of the Epistles and Gospels ; a Primer, with clasps of silver, gilt, cov- ered with purple velvet."* This was estimated a most valuable legacy.
It is certain that after the art of making paper was known, manuscript books were multiplied ; but the number of books was greatly enlai'ged when Printing was discovered. Reesf obsei-ves, that " the invention of the art of making paper, and the inven- tion of the art of Printing, are two very memorable events in the history of literature £md of human civ- ilization."
* Strype's Annals. f Cyclo. Vol. 4.
48 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
Of Books WRITTEN by the Scribes, before the art of Printing ivas discovered s and, of those which wei'e first printed.
Ncai-]y four centuries having elapsed since the art of making books was practised wholly by the scribes ; and we, having been so long familiarized to the productions of the press, cannot form an ad- equate idea of the methods which were used to complete manuscript books, in the elegant manner in \\hich they were found. Many thousands of ^■olumes have, at great expense, and by strenuous exertions of learned men, been collected from all the ancient depositories of Asia and Africa, as well as Europe, which were accessible, and placed in the gi-eat public librai'ies in Italy, Germany, France, and England, &c. but few, on either side of the Atlantic, who ha\ e not had the opportunity to visit those li- braries, and examine the antique volumes, can be ^vell acquainted with the state of perfection to which the art of making them had been brought. As this part of America was not settled till printed books had been neiu'ly t^vo hundred years in use, very few manuscript volumes were brought here by our forefathers ; of those few there ai-e now scarcel}' any remains ; so that even a leaf is held in high estima- tion, b}- the American antiquary, as a precious relic of the ingenuity and skill of the ancient scribes.
Fiom oiu- A\'ant of information, we readily be- lieve that, w ith Printing, originated the many nice- tics, and methodical arrangements, which constitute
OF BOOKS. 4§
books, and produce their convenient forms and ele- gant appearance. The fact is otherwise-— printed books were made to imitate, in the most minute particulars, those which liad preceded them from the hands of the scribes. The persons who printed them, kept the art a secret, that the books might be sold at the prices usually charged for those which were written.* Ancient manuscript books were written, generally, on parchment, after the time of Eumenes ; and, to carry on the deception, those which were printed, before the secret was exploded, were printed on parchment ; and, indeed, for some- time after, until the aiticle became scarce through the multiplication of copies, when paper was made to resemble vellum, and substituted in its place ; that paper was, at least, equal to the finest vellunl paper in use at the present day. The scribes pre- pared their paixhment according to the size of the books they wrote. The sizes were generally fo- lios and quartos — but few of octavo ; and some of a smaller size for children. Paper was made for books, the dimensions whereof corresponded with those made of parchment. The sizes of the sheets were, generally, those of pot and foolscap ; and, for a century, that used for printing did not exceed the limits of crown.
After the parchment for manuscript books waS prepared, the margin to the pages was determined ; which, in all eminent works, was large and hand- some. The spaces for pages, columns and lines,
* Trimethius calls Printing, " the wonderful art of charac- terizing books."
1 G
50 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
were marked out with the greatest exactness, from the beginning to the end of a volume — the space for the lines was in proportion to the size of the script or ^vriting ; the letters, or chai'acters, for which, were what is termed Gothic tl^C&fil? very similar to the blacks or types of German and Eng- lish text, now occasionally used. The inventors of Printing carefully imitated the sizes and shapes of those characters, first on blocks of wood, and after- ward on metal types. Pages, columns and lines of written books, corresponded with the nicest accura- cy on each side of a leaf, occupying the like spaces on one side as on the other, and were continued with the same uniformity tlii'oughout the volume— this, which is by printers called register, was perfect. The pages of written books were in two columns ; so were those of books from the press, for a centu- ry after it came into use. The space between the columns was large. In folio volumes, written with letters of the size of pica, I have measured, in sev- eral MS. books, or rather the leaves of them, which I possess, five eighths of an inch between the col- umns ; and three eighths of an inch in quaitos, or works written in smaller characters than the size of pica. The same space was made between the col- umns of pages in books first printed.
In the infancy of the art, the variety in the sizes of the types, was but inconsiderable ; however, such as they were, they were copied from the sizes of the letters made use of in manuscript books. I have compared the pages of several of those books, writ- ten before the era of Printing in Europe, with the casts of both old and modern specimens of types,
OF BOOKS. 51
and have found the lines of whole pages of the an- cient manuscripts to correspond in breadth of face, &c. with the pica blacks in the printed specimens ; the written and printed works measuring so exactly together, as not to gain one line in thirty. The let- ters of some that I have compared, corresjDonded exactly to english, and those of others to long- primer and brevier. I was struck with the great resemblance of written brevier, on a parchment leaf of an ancient MS. quarto volume, to that of brevier tl^CR early printed. At first sight, I thought the work was impressed by types ; but, soon discovered my error, by obsei-ving that the spaces for the pages, columns and lines, were all marked out by the rule and divider ; and that the letters crowded on each other, in many places, more than they could have done, had printing types been used. I criti- cally examined this manuscript leaf, and laying it by the side of a printed column, from brevier types, I found that the lines of each ran exactly parallel, for the whole length of the manuscript, containing sev- enty lines. The manuscript page was in two col- umns ; the width of each column, twenty two bre- vier ems. The space between the columns three eighths of an inch ; the breadth of the faces of the letters, wqyq as uniformly true and exact as if they had been cast ; the ink was a fine black, precisely similar to that anciently used for Printing ; or, to speak more correctly, the ancient printers used ink exactly resembling in color that which was used by the scribes. No rules at the sides, head or feet of the pages, or between the columns, were used by the scribes, nor were they to be seen in books
52 HISTORY OF PRINTIIfG.
made by the earliest printers. The use of rules, or such black lines as divide the advertisements in newspapers, and flowers, and two line letters, were unknown till long after the invention of Printing in Europe.
Scribes, or illuminators as they M^ere called, decorated the beginnings of manuscript books, and their several chapters, or divisions, with ornamented capital letters. The ornaments were made with liquid ink of various colors, and they were often very elegantly and beautifully pencilled ajid gilded. At the beginning of books, and at the principal di- visions of them, the letters were larger than at the subheads, Sjcc. The same method was used in the first printed books; a space was left in printing them, for tlie ornamented letters, which were af- terwiirds filled up by the illuminator. This meth- od was practised for nearly a century ; or until, at length, ornamented letters, engraved on wood, sup- plied the place of the largest illuminations ; and two, three, or four line letters, from the foundry, the place of the smaller letters for the purposes men- tioned. The principal colors used in the illumina- tion of such works, as I have seen, were red and blue ; and, in books, made three or four hundred years ago, they appear as fresh as if just laid on ; and, although some of the manuscripts have been, in part, decayed, by having been frequently wet, and by other accidents, yet the ink with ^^diich the letters were made, and the colors of the illumina- tions, remain fresh and unaltered.
The [ut of cutting on wood, for letter press, was brought to considerable maturity in the fifteenth
OF BOOKS. 53
century, and to great perfection in the sixteenth. Large ornamented capital letters, as substitutes for the works of the illuminator, were then introduced, and were soon after followed by those decorations called head and tail pieces.
From what has been said, it appears that the scribes excelled in the art of wiiting ; and that Printing was, for a long time, modelled by the works of the scribes, of which it was an imitation. Perhaps it never equalled their performances as long as it continued to imitate them.
Manuscript books, and those printed for many years after the invention of types, were variously decorated in binding. Strength appeared to be the first object, neatness the second, and elegant works were executed for those who chose to pay for them. They were sewed on single, or double bands, of strength proportioned to the bulk of the work. The bands were fastened to boai'ds of compact wood, of a proper size, and planed to a suitable thickness. The boai'ds were covered with parchment, and then impressed with divers figures. Some of the most elegant books were covered with clear vellum ; then overlaid with gold leaf, and impressed with a stamp nearly the size of the boards, and others were hand- somely ornamented ; after which they were clasped. Stamps, with various devices, were used for that purpose, and the year in which the book was bound, appeared in large figures, on its covers.
Printing was introduced at Venice, as early as 1469 ; that city was famed for improvements in the art. Books printed there before 1476, and for many years after, exceeded, in neatness of type, and
54 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
elegance of impression, those of all other parts of Eu- rope. I had read of the beauty of the Psalter, print- ed by Faust and SchoefFer, in 1457, and of several early editions of the Bible, &c. printed at Mentz and Venice. I supposed, however, no more was meant than that they were so estimated considering the in- fancy of the ait ; and, I should not have had a due knowledge of the beauty of ancient typography, had I not seen a Bible, which I have the satisfaction to own, printed at Venice, in fourteen hundred and seventy six ; a date which cai'ries us back within about twenty years of the time when metal types were invented, by SchoefFer, with cast faces, and to witliin forty six years of the period when Printing was discovered by Laurentius.
Tliis Venetian edition of the Bible is a copy of the Latin Vulgate. It is a folio ; and the paper is an imitation of fine, clear vellum. The types ai-e semi Gothic, differing from either ancient or modem blacks. They are superior in neatness ; and, com- pared with blacks, may be considered as an elegant specimen. The letters are shaped more like Roman than any other characters ; their faces are broad and bold, and have but few fine strokes. Double letters and abbreviations are very freely used. The ink is clear, and of a fine black ; and, in no book, ancient or modem, have I seen better press work. There is not a- letter but what is fair. In technical lan- guage, no pick, blot, blur, friiu- or monk, is to be seen in the work. It is printed, generally, in insets of five sheets each, but some are of six. Insets of five sheets, require ten forms of two pages to a form ; and would render a very lai'ge cast, or fount, of types
OF BOOKS. 55^
necessary. The size of the types is near that of small pica in width of body, the ancient pica gain- ing of the modern about one line in twenty four. The sheets have signatures at the foot of every other page, for the first ten, of the insets. There is no catch, or indicative words at the bottom of the pages ; no folios, or pages numbered ; no running titles, excepting every other page is headed; the head extending beyond the limits of the page, with the name of the book, as 3l3Um0tl, ^ZZttliZ, in larger type, of the size of two lines english, of handsome face, and more resembling blacks than the types of the text ; the pages are in two columns, with a space of nearly half an inch between them ; and a similar space between the body of the page and the heads abovementioned. There are no typographical dec- orations whatever ; but the whole work is handsome- ly ornamented by the illuminator ; and, the colors of the illuminated letters are as lively as if just laid on with the pencil. The illuminated I, which be- gins the first chapter of Genesis, is very beautiful ; it is of the length of seventeen lines pica, and eight in width ; two ems of the width, encroach on the margin of the page. For the width of two ems, tlie ornamental part of the I, is carried in the margin, close to the text, along the side of the page, and ex- tends below its foot. The beginning of each book, has a larger illuminated letter than its several chap- ters. Those for the chapters are three lines in depth ; of only one color, and that is red. Each capital letter in the text has, throughout the volume, a touch of red from the pencil. In printing the work, spaces ^vere left to add the illuminated letters.
56 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
Every chapter is \vithout a break, or indentation, from the beginning- to the end of it, except for the illuminated letter. If a chapter ended with part of a line, the other part is filled by the number of the chapter followmg, if only room barely for the nume- rals. If no room was left, the number of the succeed- ing chapter is inserted at the end of the first line of that chapter, which follows on without any white line or space ; the illuminated letters being the only marks for dividing the chapters. Where a book ends, a white line follows, with a short prologue, or introduction, to the next book ; then another white line succeeds, and the text begins with a large illu- minated letter, and the whole of the first line in krge types, of the same size as those used for the heads to every other page.
A prologue of seven parts, and the preface of St. Jerome, precede tlie Pentateuch ; after the Pen- tateuch, the books of the Old Testament, accom- panied with the prologue of St. Jerome, &c. are arranged, as is usual in the Latin Vulgate, as fol- lows, viz. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings, in four books. Chronicles, Esdnis I, Nehemicih, Esdras II, Esdi-as III, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Job, Psalms, [the divisions in the 119th Psalm are all numbered as distinct Psalms, making the number of Psalms 171] Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaiali, Jeremiali, Lamentations, Ba- ruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Oba- dicili, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, ^Zechai-iah, Mcuuchi, and Maccabees. The books of the New Testament follow each other, as in the present English translation, ^^dth the addition
OF BOOKS. 57
of the prefaces of St. Jerome prefixed to each. Then follows an alphabetical explanation of Hebrew names, in sixty six pages. The whole work makes nine hundred and fourteen pages.
This edition is mentioned by Le Long " Bihl'iO' theca Sacra,''^ page 253 ; and by Clai'ke, in his Bib- liographical Dictionary. Vol. 1. page 191, in these terms — " This is a beautiful ancient edition ; it has a copious index at the end, which enhances the val- ue of it. As it is not described by Clement, or mentioned in the Harleian catalogue, it is, undoubt- edly, rare in Europe. De Bure mentions it, as ime edition rare, for t recherches des curieux.''^
In all probability, it is the most ancient printed book now in America, excepting one hereafter men- tioned.
This Bible, which has been preserved with great care, resembles the work of the most perfect ancient manuscripts. Not ally of the leaves are torn, and only two are wanting, one of wliich contains a part of the prologue to the Pentateuch, and, unfortunate- ly, the other was the title page. The imprint is at the end of the apocalypse, and is as follows :
" Explicit biblia ipressa Venetijs : p Fraciscii de Hailbrun 7 Nicholaii y frankfordia socios M.CCCC.LXX.VI."
I have a copy of the celebrated Bible called, by way of distinction, " The Great Bible ;" by Arch- bishop Cranmer;* printed in the reign of Henry VHI, anno 1540.
* This is Tyndal's version revised by the directions of Archbishop Cranmer, by Miles Coverdale, afteinvards bishop of Exeter, and others, and examined by Cranmer, who pre- 1 H
58 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
This Bible is a folio, of large size, printed on good \'ellum paper, from a black type of the size of large bodied english, and in insets of four sheets. Ever)^ other page is numbered at the end of the running title, e. g. JfoL )CU» and so on. The ink is excellent ; and the work is well executed, though inferior to the printing done at Venice, and in other pai-ts of Europe, sixty years before. This volume never received the finishing touches of the illumina- tor. The prologues, the first chapter of Genesis and of Matthew, are begim with very large ornament- ed letters ; and all other chapters with smaller deco- rated letters, from wooden engravings. The large T, at the beginning of MatthcM^, fills the whole wddtli of the lines of the column, and a space of eighteen lines in length. Wooden cuts of scripture history, of nearly the width of the columns, and twelve lines deep, are interspersed tliroughout the work ; but are not so well executed as cuts for similar pur- poses, which were made at the same period in Ger- many, and many other parts of Europe, where ai'- tists excelled in engraving on wood for letter press printing. TIic archbishop's prologue ends with (30X\ SaUe tf)Z Einge; and beneath, by way of what aie called tail jiieces, are>two very large orna- mented letters, f^, E» [Heniy King] of Gothic shape, well engraven on wood.
The title is, " f[ The Byble in Englyshe, that is to saye the contet of al the holy scrypture, bothe
fixed a prologue, &c. to it; whence it is called Cranmer's, or, « The Great Bible." Tyndal's was the first translation of the Bible, printed in England ; though WicklifFe was the first translator of it into the English language.
OF BOOKS. 59
of the olde, and ncwe testaiiiet, widi a prologe ther- into, made by the reverende father in God, Thomas archbyshop of Cantorbury, f[ This is the Byble apoynted to the vse of the Churches. f[ Pr}-nted by Ry chard Grafton. Cum priuilegio ad imprimen- dum solum. ^, "^^ ]rt," The Unes are printed in black and red alternately. This title occupies three inches, by three and five eighths in the centre of a lai'ge frontispiece, or border, in magnitude thirteen and six eighths by nine and six eighths inches. This border is mentioned by British writers, in the Encyclopedias, &c. as a *' beautiful frontispiece.'* It is from a wooden engraving, and if not beauti- fully, it may be said to be well executed for that kind of work done in England in 1540; a description of this frontispiece may, to many, be acceptable.
Before I give an account of it, I will observe, that it is used also as a border to the title page of the Nev/ Testament ; which, that title informs us, is " translated after the Greke ;" and then mentions all the gospels, epistles, &c. which it contains. Like the title of the Old Testament, it is printed with black and red lines, alternately. The frontispiece, or border, is said to have been designed by Hims Holbein, a celebrated Swiss artist of that time. A description of it follows.
On the top of it, is a representation of the Al- mighty in the clouds of heaven, with both his hands stretched out, and two labels going from his mouth. On that going toward his right hand are the follow- ing words, " Ocrbum meum quon egtetiierut rsc ore meo non retiettctur aD me uacuum, seD fa« iizt quaecunquc uolui, (^m. Iti." His left
60 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
hand points to the king, who is represented kneeling at some distance bai'eheaded, and his hands Ufted up toward heaven, with his crown on the ground be- fore him, and a label going out of his mouth. Qn the label which comes from the Almighty is this
texi-^" 3lnueni Dirum jurta cor mcunt, qui Mitt omne0 tioluntatcsi meas* Ztu riii."— to
Avhich answei^s that proceeding from the king,
" luccma peDitJus meig uetljum tuum, psal.
CrUiii." Underneath the Almight}-, the king is again represented, but enthroned, and the royal arms placed before his feet. On the right hand stand two bishops bareheaded, and their mitres on the ground, in token, as it should seem, of their acknowledg- ment of the king's supremacy. The king gives to one of them a book, shut, with these words on the cover, " VERBUM DEI;" aiulthe following words on a label going out of his mouth, " \^tt ptCCip0 tt DOC0»" The bishop receives it, bending his right knee. On the king's left hand stand several of the lords temporal, to one of whom he delivers a book, clasped, with " VERBUM DEI" on the cover of it, and the followirig words on one label — " 3 1110
tongtitutum est D0cr0rum, ut in unit)0rsfo im^ perio et regno 11100 ttemigcant 0t pat)0ant ri0um
Dll)0ntCm» Dani0, DL" And on another label,
this text, " ciuoti nmum m iuDicat0» 3ita pat* uum auni0ri0, ut magnum* D0ut. primo." The
nobleman receives the book, bending his left knee. Underneath the bishops, stands lu'chbishop Cran- mer, with a mitre on his head, and habited in his rochet, over which is a stole. Before him is one kneel- ing with a shaven crowTi, and habited in a surplice,
OF BOOKS. 61
to whom the archbishop delivers a book, clasped, with the words " VERBUM DEI," on the cover of it ; he uses the following sentence, which appears on a label coming out of his moutli — " lPft0Clt0 QUI
in mhifi m srepm C&riiSt!* primo. Pe> t). "
Behind the archbishop seems to stand one of his chaplains. At the ai'chbishop's feet is placed the coat of arms of his family, which is the same as that af- terwards prefixed to bis life published by archbishop Parker, only here distinguished by the crescent, as the arms of a younger family. Under the lords tem- poral stands the lord Cromwell, the king's vicege- rent, as appears by his arms placed at his feet, as the archbishop's are. His lordship is represented a? standing with his cap on, and a roll of paper in one hand, and inttie other a book, clasped, with " VER- BUM DEI" on the cover of it, which he delivers to a nobleman, who receives it of him bareheaded. The following label is over their heads, " 2I)it)Ctt0 B ttia-
lo et fac fionum, inquite pacem et pergequete earn* IP^almo ^^^iiir At the bottom, on the
right hand, is represented a priest with his square cap on, in a pulpit, preaching to a lai'ge auditory of persons of all ranks and qualities, orders, sexes and ages, men, women, children, nobles, priests, soldiers, tradesmen, and countrymen ; \\^hich are represent- ed, some standing, and others sitthig on forms, and expressing themselves very thankfulh' . Out of the preacher's mouth goes a label with these words —
" £)b0ecto igitur ptimum omnium fieri ol)0c* cratione0, ocatione0, po0tularionc0, gratia* rum actione0 pro omnitJU0 J)ominibu0, pro re-
gil)U0, (JC. 1 Cim« iU' On the right side of the
62 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
pulpit are the words, " VIVAT REX ;" and, in labels coming from the mouths of the people and children, " VIVAT REX," [Long live the Awg^ to express the great and universal joy and satisfac- tion which all the king's subjects, high and low, great and little, had, and their thankfulness to the king, for his granting them the privilege, of hav- ing and reading the holy scriptures in their mother tongue. On the left side, are represented prisoners looking out of the prison grates, and participating this great and common joy.
In the text of this Bible, those parts of the Latin version, not found in the Hebrew or Greek, are in- serted in a smaller type ; such, for instance, are the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th verses of the 14th Psalm, as in the translation used in the English book of Com- mon Prayer ; and the disputed texts, 1 John, ii. 23, and ch. v. 7, 8 — also. Rev. viii. 23, &c. A mark is used to denote the difference of reading between the Hebrew and Chaldee. Johnson calls this edition of the scriptures, " The Bible in the large or great vol- ume," and ascribes it to the yeai' 1539. He, and several other English writers, in the notice they take of it, observe that king Henry VIII, at the request of ai-chbishop Cranmer, who had long been engaged in revising and correcting T}ndaPs trans- lation, determined to have it printed, although great opposition was made to it by some of the superior clergy ; particulaily in the convocation, the interlo- cutor Avhereof, made a speech against putting the scriptures into the hands of mere English readers; in the course of which he made use of this cmious ar- gument— " If,'' said he, " we give them the scrip-
OF BOOKS. * 63
tures in their vernacular tongue, what ploughman, who has read, that fio ?nan having set his hand to the plough, and looking back, is Jit for the kingdom of heaven — will make a straight furrow?"* But the power of the king prevailed, and the opposition was overcome. He allowed Grafton, the printer, and bishop Coverdale, as corrector of the press, by per- mission from the French monarch, Francis I, to go to France, and execute the work at Paris ; where printing was done better, and where paper could be had cheaper, and of a quality superior to what was made in England, f They accordingly went to Palis in 1537, and nearly completed an impression of 2500 copies ; when, notwithstanding the royal per- mission to e^xecute the work in that city, the officers of the inquisition, by virtue of an order, dated De- cember 17, 1538, seized the work, prohibited their proceeding with it, and ordered all the copies to be burned. Coverdale and the English agents fled, and the holy office became appeased ; but the officer, who had the charge of committing the books to the flames, was bribed to save a part of them ; and Graf- ton's agents afterward returned to Paris, recovered the copies that were preserved, and caiTied them to London, together with the types, presses and French printers, where the edition was completed ; as ap- pears by the imprint of the book in 1540. If this account be correct, the work, though completed iji London, must be considered as a specimen of French, rather than of English, printing. \_a'\X
• Ryder's History of England, f Rees's Cyclo. Vol. 4. % References of this description point to notes near the close of the volume.
64 ' HISTORY OF PRINTING.
While I am treating of ancient books, I will mention one or two more in my possession. The first of tliem, I belies e was printed as eai'iy as the year 1470. A number of pages are lost, botli from the beginning' tmd end of it ; but above 500 pages of the work remain. The title page, as well as the latter part of the book being gone, no imprint is to be found ; and neither the place where it was print- ed, nor tlie year can be ascertained. But the fea* tures of the t;y'pography are such, as to ascertain that * it came from the press in the infancy of the tj^po- graphic art. The subject of the work is natural his- tory. A considerable part treats of botany, part of zoology, part of ornitholog}^ part of ichthyology, pait of petiif action, &c. The treatise on plants con- tains 530 chapters ; each of which begins with an illuminated red letter. The chapter, whatever its length, is but one continued paragraph, from begin- ning to end, without a break line. Sections of chap- ters are distinguished by capital letters ; i. e. A shews the first section, B the second, and so on. The letters are placed in the beginning, middle, or end o£ the line ; and wherever one section ends, an- other immediately succeeds it. The volume is a folio ; the work is in Latin ; the pages contain two columns each ; they are not numbered ; have no catch or direction words ; but have, in large types, a rumiing title, as, " CtaCtatUg," on tlie left hand page, and " 2^0 fl)0tbi0," on the right, placed two pica ems distant from the body of the page. The \\ork has a large margin, and a space of three eighths of im inch between the columns of each page. It has not the features of ancient English
OF BOOKS* 65
I
printing ; but by comparing the book with other antique vohimes, I am led to beUeve, that it came from a German press. This, like the Bible printed at Venice, has no typographical ornaments ; such as head pieces, flowers, rules, &c.- — and, similar to that, has, throughout the whole, types of only t^vo sizes — one for the text, and a larger for the heads. The ink, like that of all ancient Printing, is excel- lent, as is the press work. There is no perceptible diflerence in the color, or in the impression, through- out the volume. The monks, friars, and other im- perfections of the press, we should suppose were unknown to the fathers of the type. The work is printed in insets of four sheets each, with signa- tures ; and on good vellum paper. The types are the ajicient tlldCl^) well cast, of the size of english, but broader faced, and not so handsome as those of a later period. The illuminated letters at the begin- ning of the chapters, appear to have been made with despatch, and ai'e of inferior execution. About the middle of the book, a small letter is introduced in tlie space left for the illuminator, as a direction for him to make the same letter with his pencil.
Preceding every chapter is a cut of tlie plant, animal, or bird, &c. concerning which the chapter treats. These cuts are of the width of one column of the page, and are, generally, from three, to four and a half inches in length ; coarsely executed, and appear to be the rude efforts of the earliest design- ers, in wood, for letter press printing. However, the articles are well expressed, and ai'e all colored.
This book is a valuable relic of ancient typogra- phy, and engraving on wood ; and would, doubtless,
1 I
66 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
be held in high estimation, if placed in the cabinet of an European antiqumy.
Magdeburg acquired considerable renown, on account of the printing done in that city, in the six- teenth century. I have a Romish Missal, by Simon Paulus, beating the following imprint. "Ex of- ficina T3-pographica VVolfgangi Kirckneri. Anno 1573." It contains seven hundred pages, small oc- tavo, well printed with good ink, on vellum paper ; and is principally from the cursive [^Italic'] type. Old German, and a very handsome Greek letter, were occasionally used for quotations, &c. and Roman for the introductions, or what is since called, from its ha\dng been printed in red letter, the rubric to the prayers. A few of the Roman two line letters, in the title page, &c. are of rude workmanship ; and appear as if the faces were not cast, but cut ; others ai'e well shaped. The book lias a number of well exe- cuted wooden cuts of scripture history. The print- er of it appears to ha,ve had a great vaiiety of founts for tliat time. Among them I observed a very neat cursive paragon, used for die dedication. The book is complete, and in its original binding of 1573. The year when it was bound, is impressed on each side of the cover ; and the execution is in the best style of that age. The cover is vellum, impressed Avith various figures, &c. over boards of ku'd wood. Pajsteboard was not then, nor for many }ears after, used by bookbinders.
Among the early productions of the press, may be distinguished various splendid editions of Prim- ers, or Prayer Books ; they were embellished with cuts, iinished in most elegant taste. Many of them
OF BOOKS. 67
were grotesque, and some obscene, though not de- signedly so. In one of them is a representation of an angel crowning the virgin Mary, and the Al- mighty assisting at the ceremony. The editors of the Encyclopedia mention that they had seen in a book of natural history, the Supreme Being repre- sented as reading on the seventh day, when he rested from all his works. In some places St. Michael is seen overcoming Satan ; in others, St. Anthony ap- pears attacked by several devils, of most hideous forms. " The Prymer of Salisbury," printed in 1533, is full of cuts ; and, at die bottom of the title page, is the following remarkable prayer. *' God be in my Bede,
And in my Understandynge, God be in my Eyen,
And in my Lokynge, God be in my mouthe,
And in my Spekynge, God be in my Herte,
And in my thinkynge, God be at my ende.
And at my departynge." Scaliger tells us, his grandmother had a printed Psalter, with cuts, the cover of which was two inches thick. In the inside was a kind of recess, which contained a small silver crucifix : The book appeared to have been printed from engraved blocks of wood ; and, probably, was bound according to the prevailing fashion of those times.
Luckombe, in his " History and Art of Print- ing," mentions that, " about the time of king Henry II, of England, the manner of publishing the works
68 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
of authors was, to have them read over three days successively, before one of the universities, or other judges appointed by the pubHc ; and, if they met with approbation, copies of them were then permit- ted to be taken, which were usually written by monks, scribes, illuminators, and readers brought up to tliat business for their maintenance."
I will quit the subject of ancient books, after having stated some brief observations on the " Ho- rariuni''' of Laurentius. This work, made for the use of children, in eight very small pages, is sup- posed to liave been the first book printed by the discoverer of the art in Europe, between the years 1430 and 1431.
That adept in t}^pography, and learned anti- quary, Gerai'd Meerman, l. l. d. and pensionary of Amsterdam, became acquainted -with the first literaiy characters in Europe. He visited the prin- cipal libraries where any tiling that first issued from the presses of Holland, Germany, France, or Eng- land, was preserved ; and, it is presumed that no one, either before or since his time, was better in- formed with respect to ancient printing. He was the most active of all the writers who ha\'e attempt- ed an investigation of facts, relative to the com- mencement of the art in Europe. He examined, with the eye and judgment of a profound critic, QYtTj description of printing that he met with from the presses of Laurentius, Geinsfieiche, Faust, Gut- temburg and Schoefter, as well as those of all the other patriarchs of the type, who flourished in the first age of the art. In his Origines Typogi'aphicte, he gives the result of his reseaixhes respecting the
OF BOOKS. 60
Horarkim, m substance, as follows — '' It was the first work of Laurentius — ^there is a rudeness in the types that I have not observed in any other in- stance.— After it was critically examined by proper artists, and good judges, they gave it as their opin- ion, that it agreed exactly with the description given of it by Junius, &c. It is conformable to tlie first edition of the Dutch Speeuliim Salvationist and the fragments of the first Haerlem edition of Donatusy both of wliich are the works of the same Lauren- tius, and were preceded by the JHorarium.^''
Meerman has published Jac similes of pages of several productions of the press of Laurentius, which shew the progressive improvements he made in the art. Of these specimens the Horarium occu- pies the first place. I have had an exact engraving made from Meerman's fac simile of it, which is annexed to this volume. It may be considered as the greatest typographical curiosity ever exhibited in this part of the world.
This small tract, which contains only the Alpha- bet, the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria oro pro no- bis, the Apostles' Creed, a short prayer beginning, *' Ave salus Mundi;'''' and another prayer, seems to exhibit, as Meerman observes, " a specimen of his piety, and a first attempt in this newly invented art." It has no signature, no directions, or catch words ; nor has it any numbers to the pages ; those which appear on the plate, wei'e added, together with the crooked lines, by Meerman, to direct the pages as they followed each other, when folded. There ai'c no hyphens at the end of the lines "where words are divided ; on the contrary, a syllable, divided in
70 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
the middle, is seen in the last page ; and, in the third and fourth lines, words are divided thus Sp iritu ; and in page one, line six, " sanctijicetur.^'* There are neither distinctions, nor points seen, as in other works printed by Laurentius. The lines aie une- ven ; the letters vary in size, are dissimilar in fig- ure, and many of them appear as if broken in the act of engraving them on the wooden blocks, from which I have a strong belief it was printed, notwith- standing the opinion of abler judges in Europe, who have concluded the work was impressed on movea- ble wooden types. The imperfect letters and words in the eighth page, appear so in the original. The spaces at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, &c. were left, as was usual in all the books first printed, to be filled, by the illuminator, with the large letters, which axe wanting.
Books Illuminated.
The ingenious art of illuminating was practised long before, and for some time after the discovery of Printing in Europe ; but as soon as the ait of cutting pictures on blocks of wood was brought to some degree of perfection, the ornamented letters of the engravers on wood, supplied the place of the illuminations formerly made with the brush or pen. The ornaments of the illuminators were, many of them, exquisitely fine, and curiously variegated wath the most beautiful colors^-very often with gold and silver. The margins of books were embel- lished with a variety of figures of kings, and otlier
K/r !^y/V^ Jfi'ernuirui' Or/
'^ines
Typo
GIIAPBTUJE.
ucci
w
?.;!«
bus
atcnioftct qutc^ iucc
UCCtlW Uruiic t^'imH)
J^buumot reguu en
70 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
the middle, is seen in the last page ; and, in the third and fourth lines, words are divided thus Sp iritu ; and in page one, line six, " sanctijicetur.^'' There are neither distinctions, nor points seen, as in other works printed by Laurentius. The lines aie une- ven ; the letters vary in size, are dissimilar in fig- ure, and many of them appear as if broken in the act of engraving them on the wooden blocks, from which I ha-ve a strong belief it was printed, notwith- standing the opinion of abler judges in Europe, who have concluded the work was impressed on movea- ble wooden types. The imperfect letters and words in the eighth page, appear so in the original. The spaces at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, &c» were left, as was usual in all the books first printed, to be filled, by the illuminator, with the large letters, which are wanting.
Books Illuminated.
The ingenious art of illuminating was practised long before, and for some time after the discovery of Printing in Europe ; but as soon as the ait of cutting pictures on blocks of wood was brought to some degree of j^erfection, the ornamented letters of the engravers on wood, supplied the place of the illuminations formerly made with the brush or pen. The ornaments of the illuminators Avere, many of them, exquisitely fine, and curiously variegated W'ith the most beautiful colors-— very often with gold and silver. The margins of books were embel- lished T\ ith a variety of figures of kings, and other
-/y,^^/^//^- o/LAUUK^rriUS'S, or Coster: SEOKAmTAr I Supprwdte haxelcmfnuhdkhym>A:n.W>^-m'')f'7/o>//,;'m JkermaiUf Onpn,:T
Tyv 0 GiLirincM.
to\n?4? (j)r>tH « sou
SOUiJoui 53 sou
I01UO CiUjVid IJi^ VAJ-)
nojJqnj0ua»(xtmi0'
ao«v)nuuc(^uiiutuu $u\j) mu\\^\uu«a;
|u(i ntuK ux o^lo tb Wt^cvapaae not ixww cotiDimwl ou fviobi:. (jOiMg tg.c ^i irtitte uob\5 ix^bica nofira ?5\CUP,et UO0 hmuttuntts b?biton bus iiottt\s -^tt ue
^e Tiitus muu5i
i.tfbmn jJatinsr
ijoUiuCacvav)a'uti
Uficavpti?itftsmtc^
pmvs \jOmO
lD?vu^ ^^ ^^^^
guis tifu ^oC
tviiljcdcaiCtltuCta
V ua-'^u£ iiuiuft
tt.o?Mt oBCiT^le I ^u'l beueijiCauoitfio I niavuv cnc^iTiu^x^
iitcvuoUec qtttcs tucc
ticctiu* umii? t^'uuij ^t)U\imot recjuu eu
OF BOOKS. ' 71
great men, saints, beasts, birds, monsters, flowers, &c. which sometimes bore a relation to the contents of the page, though often these symbols were not analogous. These embellishments were costly ; but, for those who could not afford to go to the expense of the most superb ornaments, others were made of inferior degrees, to coirespond with the ability of the purchaser.*
The origin of the practice of illuminating is not known. Plinyf informs us, that Vai*ro wrote the lives of seven hundred illustrious Romans, and or- namented their histories with their portraits. Cor- nelius Nepos,^ also says, that Pomponius Atticus wrote a work on the actions of great men among the Romans, which he decorated with their por- traits. These works are lost. The great libraiues in Europe, such as those of the Vatican, at Rome ; St. Mark's, at Venice ; the royal librai'ies at Paiis ; the Escurial, in Spain ; St. James's and the Bodleian librai'ies, in England ; and several others, have in them vast numbers of manuscripts of Roman and even Grecian art. In the year 1731, a most la- mentable accident happened at the Cottonian library on the 25th of October. A fire broke out, which did considerable damage ; and among the manu- scripts and books which were injured, was that of Genesis in manuscript. That work contained two hundi-ed and fifty curious paintings in w^ter colors ; and, unfortunately , only twenty or thirty fragments of this invaluable work escaped the fire. Lambe- cius has made a catalogue of the imperial libraiy at
* Luckombe. t Nat. Hist. lib. 35. cap. 2. :f Opera, cap. 18.
7S, HISTORY OF PRINTING.
Vienna, from which it appears he found some draw- ings nearly as ancient as those of the Cotton Ubrary. The Vatican Virgil, which was made in the fourth century, is ornamented with drawings of the sub- jects which ai-e descanted on by the Roman poet. A copy of the gospels was carried into England by St. Augustine, in the sixth century, to each of which a miniature drawing is prefixed. This work is preserved in the library of Coq^us Christi Col- lege, Cambridge, in England. There cU"e specimens of the state of tlie arts in England, from tlie seventh century, downward, to be found in the libraries of the two universities ; and others, particularly in that of the British museum, M'hich shew the prog- ress made in the illumination of books, as long as the practice continued in fashion.
CHINA.
Origin and Practice of the Arti.
IT is acknowledged by all writers on the origin of Printing) that the art was first practised by the Chinese. The precise epocha when it was invent- ed, cannot be ascertained. The Chinese assign a date to its origin, which is anterior to the promulga- tion of Christianity. Some historians, of other na- tions, who have attempted to ascertain the fact, ad- mit that the Chinese practised Printing as early as the sixth century ; others, among whom is Phil. Couplet, who has always been considered by the learned as a very accurate historian, ascribe the invention, in China, to the year 930.* The cele- brated Meerman, in his history of Printing, men- tions that " The Historia Sinensis of Abdalla, writ- ten in Persic in 1317, speaks of it as an art in very common use." And, indeed, as the art is so useful, and, as practised in China, so simple, we cannot have a doubt that it was, at least, coeval with many other arts ; which, though less needful, and more complicated and intricate in practice, are very gene- rally acknowledged to have been in use, in that great
•Brit. Encyc. Vol. 15. 1 K
74 HISTORY OF PRINTING
and veiy ancient empire, for many ages previous to a knowledge of similai' arts in Europe.*
The latest account of Chinese Printing, is given by sir George Staunton, who was attacihed to the embassy of lord Macartney, to the court of Pekin, in 1793.
He informs us, that " the art was, probably, prac- tised at a very early period of the ©mpire ; and, may have contributed to preserve its government, in a neai'ly uniform state, to the present time.
Sir George Staunton's account of Chinese Print- ing, agrees with the accounts given us by the learn- ed disciples of Ignatius Loyola,f who long resided in China, and others, M-ho have written on the arts and manufactures of tliat country. His is, however, more circumstantial on the subject of Printing, than any other which I have had an opportunit}- of reading.
Mr. Winterbotham, who, to enable him to com- pile " An historical, geographical and philosophical
* Th« abbe Raynal, Histoire Philosophique et Politique, tome l.p. 151, says of the Chinese — " 11 leur faut des siecles pour perfectionner quelque chose ; et quand on pense a I'etat ou se trouvoient chez eux les arts et les sciences il y a trois cens ans, on est convaincu dc I'etonnant duree de cet empire." The same argument will apply to the antiquity of their lan- guage, and the art of Printing among them ; in which they have not for many ages made any improvement, because, " La langue des Chinois demande une etude longue et penible, qui occupe des hommes tout entiers durant le cours de leur vie."
t Ignatius Loyola was founder of the oi-der of Jesuits. He was born anno 149 1, died in 1556 ; and, was canonized by Paul V, anno 1609.
IN CHINA. 75
View of the Chinese Empire," consulted the various ^\Titers of Chinese history, as well as some of the gentlemen who were in the suite of lord Macartney, in treating of the literature and arts of that country, gives an account of Printing, similar to the naiTa- tions of the other writers I have mentioned. From these authorities, the process of Chinese Printing is ascertained to be as follows. — They first write, or draw, a fair copy of the work intended to be printed ; it is then given to the engraver, or, more properly, the carver, who glues the leaves of the manuscript upon a piece of hard board, or plank, properly pre- pared, on which he traces over, with a suitable in- strument, the strokes of the writing ; carves out the characters, in relief, and cuts down the intermedi- ate parts of the wood ; therefore, the beauty of the letters depends on the dexterity of the pereon who writes the copy. The adroitness of the carver is such, that he copies every stroke exactly ; his work is sometimes so neatly executed, it is difficult to distinguish a book that is printed, from one which is Avritten. The board, thus carved, or engraved, generally contains the characters for two pages. When the work of the carver' is completed, it is taken by the printer, laid level, and fixed in that position. The printer being provided with two brushes, he takes tliat Avhich is hardest, dips it into the ink, and therewith lays the ink on the carved board in such manner as to have a quantity which will be exactly sufficient for four or five impress- ions, as he does not ink the boai'd for every im- pression. When tlie board has received as much in.k as the artist judges to be sufficient, he lays on
76 HISTORY OF PRINTING
the paper ; and, with the other brush, which is of an oblong figure, and softer than the first, he presses the paper upon the board, by gendy dra^^dng the brush over it, with a force, which is a litde increas- ed for each impression, until the ink, put on the letters, is all tiiken off by the paper. In this mode of perfonning the business, one man is able to throw off several thousand copies in a day.
The ink, the Cliinese use for printing, is made in a peculiai' manner ; and is different from their common sort, which they roll in oblong sticks or cakes.
After an edition of a book is printed off, the plates, or carAed boards, ai'e collected together ; and, it is generally mentioned in the preface, where they are deposited, in case a second edition should be wanted.
The paper they use for printing, is not sized by any glutinous liquid ; it is too thin and weak to receive distinct impressions on both sides ; there- fore, no more than one side is printed. For this reason, the printed sheets, when they are to be bound into books, are taken separately and doubled j the blank sides touching each other ; and, they ai-e folded so exactly, as to make the extremities of one page conespond with those of the other, as is the method with our bookbinders ; but, contrary to our mode of binding, all the single edges are placed so as to form the back of the book ; the folds make the front, and are never cut. Their books are, gen- erally, covered with neatly manufactured, colored pastcboLud. Those who wish to have them done out of the common way, cover the pasteboai^d with
IN CHINA. 77
rich and elegant fancy colored silk, or satin ; and, sometimes, with gold and silver brocade, &c. The folded edges of the leaves are left plain.
It has been thought by printers in Europe, and others, that moveable types would answer a better purpose for the Chinese, than their method of carv- ing characters on wooden plates, or blocks ; but, until they invent something like an alphabet, of which their words, or characters, may be composed, moveable types cannot be of great use to them. They are not without the knowledge of separate types ; though such as they use are cut in wood ; and, when the same characters frequently occur, as is often the case in the Calendars and Gazettes, they occasionally insert those separate types, in places fitted to receive them in the wooden plates, on which the other part of the Gazette, Calendar, &c. is carv- ed ; or, otherwise, fix them for the purpose for which they are wanted. They have no alphabet, from which they can form words as we do. Their words are represented by cliaracters ; and, these characters have been usually said to be 80,000 in number ; but, from the Dictionary which was made by the emperor Cam Hi, who lived in the time of king Chai'les II, of England, it appears, that their characters do actually amount to the number of 120,000.*
* This fact has been ascertained by doctor Benjamin Car- ter, son of John Carter, esq. of Providence, Rhodeisland ; who, having been some time in China, acquired a knowledge of the Chinese language, and brought one of Cam Hi's diction- aries over with him.
78 HISTORY Ol TRINTING
A compositor, in our printing houses, easily distinguishes the various letters, &c. of an alpha- betic language ; he at once sees where each is to be found in the tjpe cases before him ; he distin- guishes tlicm at a glance ; his hands even acquire the habit of reaching them rapidly witliout looking for them, as the fingers learn to touch the keys of a harpsichord, without turning the eyes toward them ; were there many thousands of such keys, it is ob- vious that no such habit could be acquired ; nor could the keys be within reach."* It would be equally inconvenient to print with an hundred and twenty thousand difierent characters ; especially, as many types or characters of the same denomination vrould be wanted, which vvould increase them to a prodigious number. It has not, it seems, occurred to the Cliinese artists to make moveable and separate types for pails of characters, which, when placed together, would form whole characters, as is the practice of European founders, widi their types for music. But this mode would be attended with greater difficulty, in a printing house, than casts of whole characters ; because, a great increase of num- bers would be necessary ; and, consequently, the labor and inconveniences of a compositor would be augmented. He could not use them with the same facility that a Chinese carver of cku-acters forms them on wooden plates. It is admitted, that sepa- rate types, cast for the whole, or the parts of char- acters, would ans\ver for any ^York until worn
* Sumjtou's Embassy to China. Vol. 2. p, 295, London 4to. edition.
IN CHINA. 79
down ; but, it must be considered, that they would be much more expensive than the cai vcd, or en- graved plates which are now used. Hence it appears, that, unless the Chinese form an alphabet, and substitute it for their characters, they cannot prosecute the business of Printing witli more ease and expedition, or with less expense, than by the process they have adopted, and practised for centu- ries past.
Winterbotham mentions, that a work which is printed and published every three months, in Pekin, intitled, '* The State of China," is altered, or cor- rected, at each time of publication, by means of moveable wooden characters, in the mode before described. He adds, that some " very smcill works are printed in the same manner."*
As we have so little information respecting that interesting country, where striingers cannot travel, but by permission, which is obtained with great difficulty, all authentic Intelligence respecting it — particulai'ly the state of its arts, and, above all, the art of Printing, cannot fail to excite attention. For this reason, I will here insert a few passages from authors of the highest reputation, respecting Chinese publications.
Like the capital cities of European kingdoms, " Pekin the capital of the Chinese empire, is fur- nished with a Gazette, which circulates into the re- motest provinces, and which is even considered, by the administration, as an essential piut of tlie politi- cal constitution. It is printed daily ; and, conttuns
* View of the Chinese empire. P. 41,5.
80 HISTORY OF PRINTING
an account of all those objects to which the atten- tion of administration is directed. In tliis Gazette, may be seen the names of all those delinquents who lu-e punished with death, and of the officers appoint- ed to fill the places of the disgraced mandarins ; — the relief given by government ; and the expenses incurred by administration, -for the subsistence of the troops, supplying the wants of the people, re- pairing, or erecting, public works ; and, lastly, the remonstrances made to the sovereign by the superi- or tribunals, either with regard to his public decis- ions or private conduct ; and, sometimes, even with relation to both. Nothing, however, is con- tained in this Gazette, which has not immediately come from the emperor, or been submitted to his inspection ; and, immediate death would be the consequence of inserting a falsehood in tiiis minis- terial paper."*
" Gazettes are frequently published in Pekin, under the authority of government. The various appointments throughout the empire, the favors granted by the emperor, all his public acts, his re- mission of taxes to districts suffering by dearth, or other general calamity ; his recompenses of extra- ordinaiy services ; the embassies sent, and the trib- ute paid to him, form a considerable part of the public news. The domestic details of his house- hold, or of his private life, are seldom, if ever, mentioned. SinguUu' events, instances of longevi- ty, sometimes the punishments of offences, com. mitted by mandarins, are there recorded. Even,
• Encyclopedia} American edition. Vol. iv. p. 676.
IN CHINA. 81
sometimes, instances of the adultery of women, which is a punishable, though not a capital offence ; are occasionally published, perhaps, by way of de- terring others from the commission of the like en- ormities. While China was at wai% its victories, as well as the suppression of rebellions, were an- nounced. In all other cases the world, in point of intelligence, is confined to China. Beside the classic works of the Chinese, of which the multiplication by Printing is prodigious ; the lighter literature of the country gives no inconsiderable occupation to the press.
" Notwithstanding the vigilant police of the Chinese magistrates, books disapproved by them, are, in various instances, privately printed and dis- seminated in China. It is not easy to prevent^ or even always to detect, the operations of a trade, which, beside paper and ink, requires little more than some pieces of board, and a knife to cut the characters upon them. The books thus published, privately, are chiefly those which are offensive to decency, and inflame the imaginations of youth. It is not said, that any are levelled against the gov- ernment. The political, moral, and historical works of the Chinese, contain no abstract ideas of liberty, M'hich might lead them to the assertion of indepen- dence.
" The art of Printing, has been the mean of diffusing, universally, and establishing among all ranks of men, certain fixed principles of right, and rules of moral rectitude, which serve as so many dykes, or barriers, against the tumult of human passions, and restrain the propensities of conquerors
J82 HISTORY OF PRINTING
in the plenitude of power. At every change in the governments of the neighboring countries, not so circumstanced, success, like a torrent, sweeps be- fore it, and levels all former arrangements of soci- ety ; but, in China, institutions and opinions, sur- vive the ^vreck of revolutions. The sovereign msty he removed, his whole family cut off; but, the manners and conditions of the people remain the same. The throne itself is supported by maxims from the press ; the virtues of its possessor are bla- zoned by it to all his subjects. It gives him the vast advantage of directing their sentiments as he thinks fit. His palaces, his gardens, his magnifi- cence, create no envy toward a prince represented to be endowed with the most transcendent qualities ; and to be employed, without intermission, in pro- moting the happiness of his people."*
Dictionaries, almanacks, and novels which are, generally, simple and interesting, are allowed to be published in China ; and, pennission has been given ,to the Christian missionaries, who visited that comi- tr}^, to publish several religious works in the Chi- nese language.
Dr. Ducarel, commissaiy general of tlie city and diocese of Canterbury, keeper of Lambeth library, &c. had a collection of specimens of Chi- nese ingenuity, among which, Nichols,t in 1776,
* Staunton's Embassy. Vol. 2.
t Nichols's Orig. of Printing, p. 300. Bowyer and Nich- ols were two eminent printers in London, whose account of Printing was introduced into the Encyclopedia. As many writ- ers on Printing will be mentioned in the course of this work,
r.N CHINA. 83
saw a Chinese book, in which all the miracles re- corded in the New Testament, are exhibited, printed from wooden blocks ; our Savior, the apostles, and all persons therein mentioned, are dressed in Chi- nese habits. The Jesuit missionary, probably, gave the Chinese block cutter an European book, with prints, for him to copy ; and directed him to dress the figures in the fashion of his country, as being most pleasing to its inhabitants.
I will make the reader acquainted with some of them who are modern, viz. — Dr. Conyers Middleton, keeper of the public li- brary at Cambridge, in England, was celebrated for his learn- ing, and acquaintance with ancient typography. — The Rev. Mr. Lewis, an English author, who has written much on the sub- ject.— Joseph Ames, esq. fellow of the Royal Society, and sec- retary to the Antiquarian Society, who, in 1749, published a large quarto volume of The History of Printing in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and has given more particular and mi- nute details of English typographical antiquities, than any other author.— Andrew Coltee Ducarel, l.l.d. commissary general of the city and diocese of Canterbury, and f.r. a. s. of Eng- land.—Mr. Palmer, who wrote a history of Printing in Eu- rope.— M. Maittaire, a very respectable French writer, and author of Annales Typographic^ — John Enchedi, a well edu- cated printer, in Holland, who made great researches to ascer- tain the origin of the art in Europe, and published a treatise on the subject.— P. Luckombe, m.t. a. author of The History and Art of Printing in England. — C. Stowers, author of The Print- er's Grammar, and History of Printing, lately published in England ; a work which may be very serviceable, not only to master printers, but to journeymen and apprentices. — Gerard Meerman, mentioned p. 68; who, when in England in 1759, received the degree of doctor of civil law at the university of Oxford.
84 HISTORY OF PRINTING.
In the curious and extensive collection of George Perry, Esq. f. a. s. in England, was a number of admirable specimens of Chinese print- ing, which demonstrate the zeal and the genius of the Jesuits. Among those specimens was a book intitled, " Sinurum Scientia Politico — M oralis, a P. Prospcro Intocretta, siculo, Societatis Jesu, in lu- Qem editu." Pait of the book was printed at Can- ton, and the other part at Goa. The license of the \ ice provincial of the order is dated " In urbe Quam Cheu metrepoli Sinensi provincias Quam tiim, die 31, mensis Julii, anni, 1667." After a preface, printed at Goa, with Roman types, there is a second title, viz. *' Scientia Sinciae liber secundus. Chum medium. Yum constanter tenendem Versio litera- lis." Then follow twelve double leaves in Chinese characters, with a Latin version, in Roman charac- ters, all cut in blocks in the Chinese manner, printed at Canton ; and fourteen single leaves in the Euro- pean manner, printed at Goa. In the translation of this latter pait, both the Chinese and Latin are print- ed with separate types. The Roman types are of metal coarsely cast; and, those of the Chinese, are cut on wood. The volume closes with the life of Confucius, in Latin, with several Chinese words in- terspersed; and, an additional license.*
* Nichols's Origin of Printing, p. 286.
EUROPE.
Discovery and Progress of Printing.
IF we consider the remote periods in which the arts and sciences began to flourish in Europe, we shall think it remarkable, that, previous to the fif- teenth century, no method of multiplying copies of the works of the learned, or of communicating past and present events, should have been practised, ex- cept by the slow operation of the pen of the spribe, the pencil of the painter, or the chisel of the sculp- tor ; especially, as China, where the art of Printing has been practised for a thousand years, was not unknoAvn to Europe.
Bacon says. Homo naturae minister et interpres, tantumfacit et intelligit, quantum de nature ordinej re, vel ?nente observaverit : nee amplius scit, aut potest. Perhaps the European world was influenced by this maxim ; or, other sufficient reasons might be given for the slow progress of this discovery. In ancient times, we may believe, there were not many readers of books, although the number who pur- chased them was not small ; and, it was a business, a trade, to copy them,
86 HISTORY OF PRINTING
The scribes formed a numerous fraternity ; and, were much interested in preventing the introduction of any new practice, or art, which would take from them their bread. They had brought their art to great perfection ; and no one, who is not acquainted with ancient manuscripts, can have a just idea of the neatness of their performances. The forms and sizes of the types for Printing, were taken from the letters as written by the scribes, just as the copper- plate engravers now engrave from written copies. In short. Printing, for a considerable length of time, as has been observed by a British \vriter, was " as much the cotmterfeit, as it ^vas the stibstitute of writing ;" being the fac simile of the hand writing of the most approved scribes.
Should we even admit, tliat some method of printing wns known in ancient times, we cannot wonder that the common use of the art met with successful opposition. That, at least, a partial knowledge of the art existed many centuries ago, is probable. Seals, or signets, must have been in common use before the time of Moses, for they are mentioned very familiarly ; and, directions are given for engraving precious stones. We find, that Beza- leel, and Aholiab an engraver and a cunning -work- man — wrought onyx stojies ifjclosed in ouches of
gold; GRAVEN AS SIGNETS ARE GRAVEN, with
the names of the children of Israel.^- We further find, that they were in the habit of engraving the sai-dius, topaz, carbuncle, emerald, sapphire, ligurc, Jigate, amethyst, beryl, jasper ; and, the dlamondy
• Exodus, xxxix. 6. 14.
IN EUKOPE. 87
(which, it seems, no caie can tmw engrave ;) for it is said, that these stones were according to the names of the children of Israely twelve^ according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, evert/ one mith Ms name J according to the twelve tribes. Hence it is evident, that engravings were made in stones as well as metal ; and, we may suppose, dierefore, impressions wene taken from the engravings, and, consequently, the first principles of printing known, even in those early ages.
Homer is called the most ancient author of all the heathen world ; and from his writings, particularly from his description of the shield of Achilles, it is sufficiently evident, that the art of engraving and embossing was cairied to a very great degree of perfection in his time. Had he never seen en^-av- ings in metal, it is next to impossible that he could have given a description, so exact in all its propor- tions, as is that of which we are speaking. In the centre of the sliield, he describes the earth, -with tlie gun revolving round it — ^the full moon — ^the signs of the zodiac— with several of the constellations. Round that picture he describes twelve others, in twelve separate compartments, representing, first, a marriage ; second, an assembly of the people ; third, a senate ; fourth, a beleagured town, with a sally of the besieged; fifth, shepherds and their flocks fallen into an ambuscade ; sixth, a battle ; seventh, tillage ; eighth, a harvest ; ninth, a vin- tage ; tenth, lions and herds of cattle ; eleventh, sheep ; twelfth, the dance ; and, round the >^'hole, he represented the ocean.* As most of the poets
* Homer's Iliad. B. 18.
S8 HISTORY Of PRINTING
took their images from the labors of the painters, sculptors, &c. we may conclude Homer did the same. Indeed, from Ms own words it amounts to a certainty ; for he acknowledges, that his repre- sentation of the dance, on the shield, is similai' to one made at Gnossus, by the renowiied Daedalus, for the queen of Crete.
In like manner, if we examine the historians and poets of all succeeding ages, we shall find materials to justify the opinion, that the art of engra^dng has been known from time immemorial ; and, that al- though Maso Finiguerra, and the other Florentine engravers, made some innovations and improve- ments in the art, they were, by no means, the inven- tors of it ; and, we may reasonably believe, that though the ait of Printing was not brought to any great degiee of maturity, the means for performing it were not entirely unknown ; especially, as it is so neai'ly allied to engraving.
Ulphilas, who flourished about the yeai' of Christ 370, became the apostle of tlie Goths, and converted many of them to Christianity. At that period, the Goths used the Runic characters ; but, as those characters had been used in magic incantations, Ulphilas would not employ them in the cause of Christianity ; he, therefore, invented new charac- ters, which were called the Mceso Gothic ; and into that language he translated the Bible. A large part of this identical version of Ulphilas, was found, many years ago, in the abbc}'^ of Werden, in West- phalia. It was carried from that place to Prague, where it was discovered by the S^vedes, in 1648, who conveyed it to their queen, Christiana ; and, it is
IN EUROPE. 89
now deposited in the library of the university of Upsal. The Swedish antiquarian, Ihre, who has published an edition of the remains of this ancient work, gives it as his opinion, that the letters in the original were made by hot metal types, in the man- ner the backs of books are lettered ; for the letters, except the initials, are all of silver ; and thence the work is called the Codex Argenteus — ^the initials are of gold. Carr, who examined this book, supposed the letters were made by the pencil ; which, proba- bly, was the fact; although, it is not impossible that types, of some sort, were known in the days of Ulphilas ; but, in the dark ages which succeeded, that knowledge might have been obscured, or ex- tinguished. [5] We cannot, however, be certain that the Dutch and German printers, to whom v\^e ascribe the merit of the invention, had not a knowl- edge of this work of Ulphilas ; or even of the exist- ence of some kind of types ; and, of the Chinese method of printing, which had existed from 500 to 700 years at least, before the time of Laurentius or Geinsfleiche.
If the Dutch and German printers did make a new, and a second discovery of the art, it is strange that the mechanical management of the business, should have been exactly the same as had been hO long known and practised in China. It is not im- possible that the art of Printing, on the European continent, should have been discovered by accident. This has been asserted by all writers on the subject, excepting those to whom the credit of the invention is given; they have said but little respecting it; and some doubts will always remain on the mind,
1 M
90 HISTORY or PRINTING
whether some information conceniing the Chinese method of printing, had not been communicated to him who first, as is commonly supposed, attempted the business in Europe.
Great disputes have arisen, respecting the place where the art was first discovered and practised, in Europe ; and, who made the discovery. Almost as many cities have contested the honor of the invention, as ever contended for being the birth place of Homer. Didymus, it is said, wTote hun- di'cds of volumes, chiefly with a view to determine that question ; and, perhaps, his works may be outnumbered before the true origin of Printing is ascertained. In the midst of this uncertainty, how- ever, I proceed to state such facts, as ai-e the result of accurate disquisitions on this well canvassed sub- ject ; those that are admitted, ai'e as follow.
1. That the cities of Haerlem, in Holland, and Mentz and Strasburg, in Germany, all claim the honor of being the birth place of the art of Print- ing.
2. That Laurentius, sometimes called Coster, Koster, or Kustos, has the best claim to the honor of the discovery, which was made about the year 1429 ; or, as several writers state, not earlier than 1422, nor later than 1436.
3. That he lived at Haerlem, was a man of large property, had a lucrative office under the govern- ment, and there practised printing in its original rude state.
4. That Laurentius, for some time after he began printing, used wooden blocks, or plates, on ^vhich he engraved, or carved, in pages, &c. the
IN EUROPE. 91
words for several small works ; in some of which were pictures, cut in the blocks with the words. These he printed only on one side of vellum, or paper, and doubled and pasted the leaves together, thus forming them into books. After practising this way for a few years, he invented and used sep- arate wooden types, but never attempted to cut or cast types in metal.
5. That Laurentius employed several servants in his business ; among whom was John Geins- fleiche, senior. There were two brothers of that name — the younger was sometimes distinguished by the name of Guttemburg. He was an ingen- ious artist, and lived at Strasburg.
6. That John Geinsfleiche, senior, communi- cated, first, the theory of the ait ; and, afterwai'd the practice of it, to his younger brother ; whom, for the sake of distinction, I shall, hereafter, call Guttemburg.
7. That Laurentius followed printing during the remainder of his life ; and that, after his death, the business was continued in his family at Haer- lem, for many years.
• 8. That John Geinsfleiche, the servant of Lau- rentius, about the time that his master died, with the aid of a fellow servant who was his accomplice, took an opportunity, on a festival, to steal a con- siderable part of his master's wooden types, with other parts of his printing apparatus, and abscond- ed ; and having conveyed his plunder toMentz, his native place, he there commenced printing, about the yeai' 1440, with the types be had stolen from his master.
92 HISTORY OF PRINTING
9. That after Geinsfleiche settled at Mentz, hf was assisted with money, &c. by Jolin Fust, alias Faust, alias Faustus, a rich and very respectable man; who, consequently, sliared the profits witt| Gemsfleiche. Fust and Geinsfleiche afterward form^ ed a company, and admitted as a partner John Mei-i denbachius, with some other persons.
10. That Guttemburg, the younger brother of Geinsfleiche, continued at Strasburg till 1444, and was in various emplo3'ments ; but he made great efforts toward attaining the art of Printing with cut metal types. He could not, however, bring the art to any degree of perfection. It is believed by some, that he, and the partners with whom he was concerned, printed a few verj^ small works. Their performances, have ail disappeared ; and, as far as is known, have been entirely destroyed. Al- though, whilst at Strasburg, Guttemburg had made consideralDle progress in improving the art ; yet, having quarrelled widi his partners, and being in- volved in law suits, he quitted that city, and joined his brother at Mentz.
11. The two brothers had the management of the printing business at Mentz ; and they united their endeavors to form a fount of metal types, with cut faces. Their method of making these types was, first to cast the shanks, or bodies, to a suitable size, and afterward to engrave, or cut, the letters on them.* After a labor of several years, they accom- plished the undertaking ; and in 1450 a part of the
* Polydore Virgil mentions, that metal types, with cut feces, vcre first thought of in 1442.
(N SUROPB. 93
Bible appeared from their press, which was printed with those types. The same year, and very sooa after they began to work with those types, the part- nership between the brothers, Fust, and company, was dissolved ; and a connexion between Fust and Guttemburg commenced ; but a difference between them arising, an action at law was instituted by Fust, for money advanced to Guttemburg; and» their joint concern in business ended in 1455. Af- ter this, Guttemburg was assisted by Conrad Hu- mery, syndic of Mentz, and others ; and, this new company opened another printing house in that city. Fust also continued the busmess ; and took into partnership one of his servants, called Peter Schoef- fer ; an ingenious man, who had become very skilr fol in the printing business.
12. That Schoeffer, in 1456, completed the in- vention of metallic types, by casting them with, faces. " He privately cut matrices for the whole al- phabet ; and, when he shewed his master the types cjast from these matrices. Fust was so much pleas- ed that he gave Schoeffer his only daughter in mar- riage.'* There were, at first, many difficulties with these types as there had been with those of wood, and those that were cut on metal. One was owing: to the softness of the metal, which would not bear forcible pressing ; but this defect, as well as some? others, was soon remedied. The first book printed with the improved types was Durandi Rationale, It was not finished till 1459.
These facts give us a clear idea of the rise and progress of the art, until it was, in a great measure^ brought to perfection, by the invention and use of metal types, cast with faces.
94 HISTORY OF PRINTING
It will now be proper to make some further in- quiry respecting the manner in which the art was discovered ; and, the claims of the cities of Haerlem, Mentz and Strasburg, to the honor of having made the disco ver}^
Hadrian Junius* ascribes the invention of Print- ing to Laurentius. Some have controverted his au- thority ; but, it has been, eventually, very generally admitted to be indisputable. This Junius relates, that Laurentius was the son of John Laurentius, who held the reputable office of Custos, or edituus, of the cathedral church in Haerlem ; which circum- stance occasioned the epithet of Gustos or Koster, to be added to his name. Others mention Lau- rentius the younger, merely by the additament of Koster. Junius explained — That he received this information from his schoolmaster, Nicholas Galius, and, from Quirinius Talesius,t his acquaintance
♦ In his Batavia. p. 253. ed. Ludg. 1588. Hadrian Junius was born at Horn, in Holland, in 1511. He was at first rector of the Latin school, and teacher of natural philosophy at Haer- lem, where he composed a Greek and Latin Lexicon, to which he added 6500 words : — He wi'ote also Animadversa et de Co- ma Commentarius, which was greatly applauded. His histoiy of Holland is Avritten in elegant Latin. He was the author of many other works ; became a learned physician ; and prac- tised for some time with much reputation in England, where he was esteemed a man of great integrity and impartiality. Vide Biographic Generale des Pays Bas. Art. Jun.- — Encyc. vol. 9. &c.
t Quirinius was many years amanuensis to the learned Erasmus, as appears by his epistle dated July 23, 1529. Opera. Tom. iii. p. 1222. In 1537, he was scabinus ; and consul ia
IN EUROPE. 9S
and correspondent ; both of whom were men of respectable characters.— That GaUus had his testi- mony immediately from Cornelius, who was a fel- low servant with the elder Geinsfleiche and others, to Laurentius the younger, when he practised the art of Printing. — This Cornelius, after the death of his master, Laurentius, was bookbinder to the ca- thedral of Haerlem ; a branch of business which had, long before, been performed by the Franciscan friai's ;■ — ^that he lived to a great age ; and, accord- ing to the register of that cathedral, died in 1515 ; — and, that he was a very conscientious man, and often spoke with sorrow of the loss his master had sustained by the roguery of Geinsfleiche, his fellow servant, associate and bed fellow.
The account they gave of the discovery of Print- ing, is as follows. — " Laurentius went to walk in a wood near the city (as the citizens of opulence used to do) and when there, he began at first to cut some letters upon the rind of a beech tree, which for fan- cy's sake he afterwards set and ranked in order, and put with their heels upward upon paper, and so im- pressed or printed on paper, one or two copies, as specimens for his grandchildi^en (the sons of his daughter) to follow in writing. This having hap- pily succeeded, he meditated greater things, as he was a man of ingenuity and judgment ; and, first of all, with his son in law Thomas Pieter, invented a more glutinous ink, because he found the common ink sink and spread, and then formed whole pages
1552. He lived during the troubles in the Low Countries; and was killed by the Spanish soldiers in 1573. Some have written his name Salesius.
96 HISTORT OF PRIKTING
of wood with letters cut upon them ; of which sort I have seen some essays in an anonymous work printed only on one side, in which it is remarkable that in the infancy of printing (^ nothing is com- plete at its first invention) the back sides of the pages were pasted together,* that they might not by their nakedness betray their deformity. This book was entitled Speculum nostra salutis.^^
Junius then goes on to mention Gerard Thomas, whom he knew, a person of great reputation, and a great grandson to Laurentius, who gave him a sim- ilar account of the invention of printing to that which he had received from Galius. Junius ob- serves, " A new invention never fails to engage cu- riosity ; and, when a commodity, which was uncom- mon, excited purchasers, to the advantage of the inventor, the admiration of the art increased ; de- pendants, workmen and servants were multiplied-— the first calamitous incident ; among them was one John, unfaithful and unlucky to his master. This man, bound by oath to keep the secret of Printing ; when he thought he had learned ttie art of joining the letters, the method of making the types and other things of that nature, takii g the most con- venient time that was possible, on a Christmas eve, when every one was customarily employed in lust- ral sacrifices, seizes a collection cf types, and other implements of printing, and, wiih one accomplice, marches off to Amsterdam, from thence to Cologne, and at last settled at Mentz, as at an assylum of se-
• This account of the first printing in Europe, proves the method to be similar to that practised by tlie Chinese.
IN EUROPE. 97
curity, where he might go to work with the tools he had stolen.* It is certain that in a year's time, viz. in 1442, the Doctrinale of Alexander Gallus, a grammar which was much used at that time, togeth- er with the Tracts of Peter of Spain, came forth there also, from the same types that Laurentius had made use of at Haerlem." This is the substance of the account which Junius tells us he received from Nicholas Galius, to whom it was related by Cor- nelius ; and from Quirinus Talesius his intimate friend, t
Petrus Scriverius, an early writer on the dis- covery of Printing, gives an account substantially the same as that of Cornelius. He says ; " Lau- rentius walking in the wood, picked up a small bough of a beech, or rather of an oak tree, which had been broken off by the wind. He sat down and amused himself with cutting some letters on it ; and wrapped up, in paper, the part he had thus en- graven. He afterward fell asleep, and when he awaked, he perceived that the paper, having been moistened by a shower of rain, or some other acci- dent, had received an impression from the letters he had engraven; which induced him to pursue the accidental discovery."
No one but Laurentius himself could tell how he discovered the art ; and, it is probable, he gave
• « It is not to be supposed that Geinsfleiche carried ofFthe whole printing apparatus of his master ; but a pait of his types, and such things as were necessaiy for specimens to form others by," &c. Nichols's Orig. Print,
t Meerman. Orig. Print. In
98 HISTORY OF PRINTING
the accounts, related by Junius and Scriverius, td his friends and servants ; but let this matter be as it may, the truth of his being the first who made use of it in Europe, must have been known to many. The fact is well supported by abundance of testimony produced by Gerard Meerman, in his Orig'mes Typographicce ; and, by other credible writers.
Respecting the claim of Mentz to the invention of Printing, it is agreed by the best writers that it cannot be admitted. But the invention of metal types,, both with cut and cast faces, is certainly due to that city ; and this is, unquestionably, the most important of all the branches connected with the typographical art ; for all the subsequent improve- ments ai'e of minor importance.
In regard to the claim of Strasburg to the inven- tion of metal types, I cannot agree, altogether, with Meerman and others who assert, that it is entirely Avithout foundation. It is admitted by those who oppose the pretensions of Strasburg, that Guttem- burg, the brother of Geinsfleiche, was, for sevei'al years, employed in endeavoring to attain the art of Printing ; and, it could not be meant simply print- ing from wooden blocks; for it is proved, that Guttemburg and his partners were at such gi-eat ex- pense of time and money, in attempting the business, that they became bankrupts. It aj^pears from an authentic record of a judicial decree of the senate of Strasburg in 1439, that Guttemburg and his associates engaged In the business about the year 1436 ; and European wiiters admit, that Guttem- burg persevered in his endeavors to become mas-
IN EUROPE. 99
ter of the art, until he left Strasburg m 1444, when he joined his brother at Mentz. They all allow that metal types were the invention of the two broth- ers Geinsfleiche and Guttemburg. They further admit, that Guttemburg was more ingenious than Geinsfleiche in the mechanical arts ; but they are silent as to which of the two invented the cut face metal types. Geinsfleiche did not use metal types till after his brother joined him at Mentz ; it is, therefore, as some writers mention, highly probable that Guttemburg was employed, at Strasburg, in endeavoring to complete the cut face metal types ; but that for want of a more accurate knowledge of the art of Printing, which he could only obtain from his brotlier, he failed in his attempts till he joined Geinsfleiche at Mentz ; where, by their united endeavors, they became successful. So that, although Guttemburg did not accomplish what he had long labored to complete at Strasburg ; yet, it is almost certain, that he performed some printing, either from blocks, or moveable wooden types, or from those of metal with engraved faces, in the course of several years that it appears he was em- ployed in that business, before, he removed to Mentz. No proof to the contrary has been pro- duced. And, as he was engaged in cutting metal types long before any thing was printed at Mentz, this circumstance may, in some measure, justify the claim of Strasburg to the invention of metallic types ; and, even her pretensions that the art of Printing was practised in that city before it was known at Mentz.
100 HISTORY OF PRINTING
The claims of the three cities have, however, been determined, and arranged by Meerman, Nich- ols, Sec. as follow — ^the discoven^ and first rudi- ments of the art, are allotted to Laurentius of Haerlem ; — the invention and improvement of the moveable, cut face, metal types by Geinsfleiche, senior, and his brother Guttemburg, and the com- pletion of the business by the invention of metal types, cast with faces, by Schoeffer — ^to which op- erations John Fust, or Faust, had the honor of con- tributing by his liberality — the merit of this is giv- en to Mentz ;■ — but the claim of Strasburg, they set aside, as altogether unsupported, and unsup- portable.
It is not strange that the origin of an art which has given light to all other arts, should be involved in obscurity ; when we consider what has been ob- served by Meerman, Maittaire, and many others, who have wTitten on the subject, viz. " that Print- ing was invented as a more expeditious method of multiplying books than by wiiting, which it was at first designed to counterfeit ;" and, consequently, was concealed from motives of private interest, rather than revealed to the honor of the first in- ventor ; and the advantage of the public.
The Psalter, printed by Fust and Schoeffer, at Mentz, in 1457, is celebrated for the beauty of its typography ; and, although it is difficult to believe, that an art, so complicated, could be brought to so high a degree of perfection in the course of fifteen or sixteen years, from so rude a beginning ; yet, such is the fact.
IN EUROPE. 101
I will here remark, that the Psalter of Fust and SchoefFer, is the first book to which any printers put their names, or which is known to have a gen- uine date ; but, from that time, it became common for printers to ascertain the works they printed by putting their names, and the date when the work was executed, in an imprint at the end of the vol- ume.
Having stated the facts respecting the discovery of the art of Printing in Europe^ as they are re- lated by the best authors ; and given an account of Printing tlirough its several stages, from wooden blocks, to separate wooden types ; and from cut face wooden and metal types, to its completion with metal types cast with faces ; I will now proceed with an account of the earliest printers ; taking them in the order of time in which they arose.
HOLLAND.
JOHANNES LAURENTIUS; alias Laurence Zanssbn, alias Coster, alias Kostus, or KosteR) alias Law- RENTz Jan Koster ; of Haerlem.
THIS is the person to whom the writers on the origin of Printing give the credit of first discover- ing* the art in Europe. His real name is said to be Johannes Laurentius; and, as I have before re- marked, the addition of Coster, Kostus, &c. is a mere title of ofiice^ which was given to his father j
10^ HIST'pRy OF PRINTING
who was, by the citizens of Haerlem, elected their edituus or custos, according to a privilege granted to them by count Albert of Bavaria. In a diploma signed by count Albert, in 1390, the father of Lau- rentius is mentioned by the name of Johannes Lau- rentii filius.*
Laurentius, the printer, was bom at Haerlem, about tlie year 1370, from an illegitimate branch of the Gens Brederodia. He was edituus, or custos, after his father, and was, at different times, appoint- ed to several departments of the magistracy. His offices are said to have been very lucrative. He was religious ; a man of great property ; and, lived in a splendid style,t in a fashionable house, at Haer- lem, in the market place, opposite die royal palace, now the town house.
I have already related the inanner in which, it is said, he made the important discovery diat led to the art of Printing. According to the best accounts given of him, he must then have been about fifty nine years of age. He practised the ait eleven years ; and, during that time, he made great improve- ment in it. The precise date of the discovery, can- not be determined ; but, it is believed to be about the year 1429. Scriverius, whose testimony has not been disputed, when mentioning the year in which Laurentius died, i. c. 1440, observes, that his discovery was made about ten or twelve years before tliat period. He further mentions, that soon after Laurentius had developed the first principles of the art, he exhibited some rude specimens of his
• Meerman*s Orig. Typog. tlbid.
IN EUROPE. 103
performances. Junius gives a more particular ac* count, which was derived from the servants of Lau* rentius ; and, afterward, describes some of those specimens, which he saw. One of them was the Horarium,
More modern writers inform us of some of the early productions of Laurentius's invention, seen by them. Among the manuscripts relating to Haer* lem, in St. John's college, Oxford, is a letter from John Laughton, esq. an English gentleman, who visited Holland in 1699, which is dated Amster- dam, June 23, 1699. Its contents are as follow. " I made some stay at Haerlem, and visited the learned antiquary Van Dalen ; he received me with abundance of humanity, and shewed me all his col- lections of antiquities, which are very numerous^ and many extremely curious. He introduced me td a young lady there, born deaf and dumb, yet taught to speak and read, very intelligibly, both Dutch and Latin. Her preceptor is Dr. Amand, a German ; she is the only child of a very rich mer- chant. I was very desirous of seeing the first book printed here by Coster, of which we have had many false accounts in England. It is kept in a chest in the Stadthouse ; and the masters keep the key, which we procured, and found the book to be a Dutch piece of theology, with cuts, printed on only one side of the paper. We saw, also, one leaf of Latin, intitled, ' Liber vitre Alexandri Magni,' that seems to be monkish Latin. These, the Dutch say, were printed 1430, the year he invented the art. There is bound up in the same volume an- other Dutch piece, said to be printed by Coster in
104 HISTORY or PRINTING
1432. The time when he invented the art, and the years when those small works were printed, is sig- nified, not on them, but in an inscription under his picture in the room where the books are."
Mr. Ellis, in the Philosophical Transactions,- published in England, gives an account of small articles said to be printed by Coster, or Laurentius, as early as 1430 or 1432, but they are all without a printed date.
I have been informed, that some specimens of very ancient and unskilful printing are preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford ; in that of Bennet's college ; and, also in the libraiy of the king of Eng- land ; they are said to be samples of some of the first essays of Laurentius in the art of Printing, im- pressed from wooden blocks before he had acquired the art of making ink suitable for the purpose ; and, like some other samples, before mentioned, are printed only on one side of the paper, which is doubled, and the pages pasted together. As many frauds have been practised by the artful venders of ajicient books ; and, as specimens of the printing of Laurentius are very rare, there is no possibility of ascertaining whether these relics are, or are not genuine. If no fraud has been practised, doubtless, these fragments must be allowed to be- long to that period when the art of Printing was first attempted.*
* Notwithstanding the European virtuosi have been able to make very considerable collections of ancient piinted books, yet, such is the scarcity of articles from the press of Lauren- rius, that in all the cuiious libraries and cabinets of antiquities,
IN EUROPE. 105
As no name or date appeared with the books of Laurentius, to shew that they were from his press, only the following can be ascertained to have been printed by him.
Horar'mm. Mentioned before ; supposed to have been impressed in 1430 or 1431.
Oe Spiegel ©nser 'Befioeoinge^ it was
printed from wooden types made separately, and executed in a superior manner to the Horaiium ; — it, however, bears evident features of the in- fancy of Printing. In this work are pictures, im- pressed from wooden blocks on which they were cut ; they are the first that are known to have been introduced into any book, or letter press work. De Spiegel is one of the books described by Had- rian Junius ; mentioned by Ellis, and by many oth- ers. A copy of it has been carefull}" preserved at Haerlem, and from time to time she^vn to the curi- ous. It was seen by Mr. Laughton, in 1699 ; and, since by Meerman, who has given a fac simile of one of its pages, among other specimens of the printing of Laurentius, in his Origines Typograph- icce. From the best accounts, it appears to have been printed in 1432.
Grammatica Donatio Commonly called Dona*' tus. Some fragments of a copy of this book, printed on parchment, were, near tliree hundi'ed yeai's after the death of Laurentius, discovered by John Es-
to which Meerman extended his researches, he could find only two or three works that were entire and some fragments of others, which were genuine. But he discovered many facts, and detected many errors and impositions, relative to the in- vention and progress of printing in Europe. 1 o
106 HISTORY OF PRINTING
chedi, an ingenious printer in Haerlem. Eschedi had purchased, at a low price, some remains of an ancient hbrary ; among which was a very old Dutch Psalter, that excited his curiosity. On examining the binding of the Psalter, he found, to his surprise, pasted to the cover, part of a copy of this identical edition of Donatus.*
Liber Vitce Alexandri Magni.
Speculum Belgium. Printed about 1438, with moveable wooden types.
Speculum nostr^e Salutis. This was generally called Speculum. It was a Latin version of the Spiegel Onser Behoedinge, and said to be printed in 1440, with moveable wooden types.
Grammatica Donati. A second edition, of a smaller size than the first ; and, is supposed to have been issued from the press in 1440.
It is believed that he printed many other books, but I do not find that any mention has been made of them by his biographers. All the editions of his works were printed part on vellum and part on parchment. His press was shaped like the common wine presses. He died in 1440, aged 70 years.
It does not appear that Laurentius had any son ; but he had one daughter, whose name was Lucia, She was mai'ried to Thomas Pieter, alias Peter Thomas, who, in company with his sons, succeeded Laurentius at Haerlem.
Dr. Wallisf relates that, in the time of Hege- nitz, the house in which Laurentius lived, was still
* Seiz's Treatise. Published 1740. t Inquiry into the Origin of Printing.
IN EUROPE. 107
Standing in the market place at Haerlem, with an inscription, in golden letters, over the door, of which the following is a copy.
" Memoria Sacrum.
Typographicas Ars, artium Conservatrix, his pri-
mum inventa circa, Ann. M.CCCC.XXX.
Vana quid Archetypos, et Prasla Moguntia jactas, Haerlemi Archetypos, Praelaque nata scias.
Extulit hie, monstrante Deo, Laurentius artem ; Dissimulare virum hunc, dissimulare Deum est."
THOMAS PIETER and SONS, of Haerlem.
Thomas Pieter son in law of Laurentius, IS mentioned by Cornelius, as being concerned with Laurentius in bringing the art of Printing to that degree of perfection, which it attained in his days.
It is said, that Pieter, with his three sons, Peter, Andrew and Thomas, were the successors of Lau- rentius, and carried on the business several years. Cornelius continued in the family some time after the death of his master ; and, assisted Pieter and his sons. Only a few of the books they printed can be identified ; as, like Laurentius, they printed for profit, not for fame. They neither put thei? names to the books, nor added the date when, nor the place where, they were printed. It is, however, agTeed„ that the sons of Pieter printed new editions of the Donatns and the Speculum ; and, afterwards reprint- ed the Speculum with a Latin translation; in the execution of which work, they used their grand-
108 HISTORY or PRINTING
father's wooden pictures; and printed the book partly on wooden blocks and partly on wooden sep- arate types. This was done between the years 1442 and 1450.* After that time they printed sev- eral editions of the Speculum^ both in Latin and Dutch. Copies of four editions of this book are now to be seen in Haerlem.f
The grandsons of Laurentius printed with wood- en, separate types, the following books ; specimens of which are given by Meerman, viz.
Historia Aleooaiidri Magni. New edition. Flavii Fedatii, for Vegetii, Renati epitome de re Militari. And,
Opera Varia, Thomas a Kempis. In 1472. Thomas a Kempis is supposed to be the last book which was issued from the press of Laurenti- us's descendants ; whose industry in improving the art of Printing is sufficiently manifested by the neat- ness of the editions of their works. They, soon after printing Kempis, disposed of their printing ap-. paratus ; this might be owing to the invention and general use of metal types.
Junius mentions, that the three grandsons of Laurentius attained the consular dignity. Peter and Andrew fell in the civil war of 1492.
♦ Meennan. Vol. 1. p. 150. tibid.
IN EUHOPI. 103
GERMANY. JOHN GEINSFLEICHE, the Elder, of Mestz.^
I HAVE before related, that this John Geins^ fleiche was accused by Cornelius, Hadrian Junius, &c. of having stolen a part of the wooden printing types of his master.
Several credible writers, some of whom lived before Junius, and others his cotemporaries, bear testimony to the fact — ^that Geinsfleiche robbed Lau- rentius of his types, and fled with them to Mentz. They give to Laurentius the merit of having dis- covered the art of Printing ; and, confirm the ac- count which has been given by Junius, that Corne- lius and Geinsfleiche were servants, at the same time, to Laurentius. The following writers, who cor- roborate this material part of our history, appear to have derived their information through difierent channels, t
1. Ulric Zell, almost coeval with Cornelius, was a German. He attained tlie rudiments of the art, at Mentz, by officiating, as corrector of the press, under Fust and Guttemburg ; and was afterwards the first who practised Printing at Cologne. Zell
* Mentz was, at the period of Avhich I am treating, an im- perial city. It was afterward subjected to the crown of France.
t Meerman's Documents, lxxxi— lxxxiv.
110 HISTORY OF PRINTING
published the Chronicon of Cologne, a work written under his own inspection ; in which he is profess- edly an advocate in favor of Mentz ; but, he admits, that the foundation of the art was laid at Haerlem.
2. " Zurenus, in Joannis van Zuyren reliquiae, ex opusculo de perdito cui tit. Zurenus junior, sive de prima, et inaudita hactenus vulgo, et veri- ore tamen artis typographicse inventione dialogus, nunc primum conscriptus, autore Joan. Zureno, Harlemeo, ad amplissimum virum N. N. asservatcc —a Petr. Scriverio in Laurea Laurentiana, c. ii."
3. " Theodorus Volckardi Coornhertius in dedicatione prsemissa versioni Belgicas Officiorum Ciceronis, edit. Harlem. 1561, atque inscripta con- sulibus, Scabinis, et Senatoribus ejusdem urbis."
4. " Henricus Pantaleon, Lib. de viris illustri- bus Germanise, part. ii. Ed. Basil." He mentions two circumstances worthy of notice ; one, of the manner of hiding the types when they were stolen, " eos literas in sacculis clausis secum in officinas tulisse, atque abeuntes abstulisse." The other re- lates to the honor paid to the first artists.*
* Meerman mentions, that to follow any other manual pro- fession than printing, was accounted a derogation to nobility ; but, that this art confen-ed honor on its professors. Hence it was very early practised by many who were of noble families, and even by eminent ecclesiastics. " John Guttemburg was, in 1465, received inter aulicos by the elector Adolphus ; and the emperor Frederic 3d, permitted printers to wear gold and silver ; and both Tyjiographii and Tyfiothetx were honored by him with the privilege of wearing coats of anns." — " Typo- thctis scil. aquil2e,typographis autem gryphi,pedc altero pilam tinctoriam, unguibus tenentis, scutum donavit, cum aperta ga- lea, et superimposita ei corona." Vol. 1 . p. 4T, 48,
IN EUROPE. Ill
5. " Ludovicus Guicciardinus, Descrlzzione di tutti i Paesi Bassi. Edita Antwerp! se, typis Gul. Sylvii, in descriptione urbis Harlemi."
Geinsfleiche was born at Mentz ; and, that he was the first who attempted printing there^ is a fact which is not disputed. It is said his family had been distinguished by the honor of knighthood; but, being reduced to poverty, that circumstance obliged him and his brother to seek a livelihood in a foreign country. Meerman says, that he was called Geinsfleiche k«t« l^o^viv.
He fled to Mentz, with his types, about the year 1440 ; but did not publish any thing till two years after his arrival there. During the interval he was employed in making preparations for business.
Before he left Haerlem, his younger brother was engaged in attempts to execute printing at Stras- burg ; but, being unsuccessful, and learning that his elder brother, by the assistance of John Fust, John Meidenbachius, and others, had established himself in the printing business, and performed it in a house hired for that purpose, and which from that circumstance was called ^Utlt JUnSCH,* he left Strasburg, and went and joined this company at Mentz, in 1444. As they were all connected to- gether some years, it may be proper, in this place, to give some account of the younger Geinsfleiche and Fust,
* This house ever after retained the name of the Printing House.
112 HISTORy OF PRINTING
JOHN GEINSFLEICHE, the Younger, alias GUTTEM- BURG, of SrsASBURG.
It has been observed by those who have written coiiceniing the two Geinsfleiches, that it was not uncommon, in the age in which they lived, to call two brothers by the same chi'istian name ; to which other names were, occasionally, added by way of distinction. Upon this principle the younger Geins- fleiche took the addition of Guttemburg — by which name I shall designate him in the course of this work.
Guttemburg was born at Mentz ; but he lived, several years, at Strasburg. At that place he had several partners, who were employed in various branches of business ; particularly, in attempting to improve the art of Printing. Originally they were lapidaries, looking glass makers, &c.
Guttemburg is supposed to have had a knowl- edge of the art, as it was practised at Haerlem ; which, it is thought, he acquired by visiting his brother, who was in the service of Laurentius ; and, it is probable, that when Geinsfieiche fled from Hol- land to Mentz, he visited Guttemburg at Strasburg, and gave him some farther information respecting the business. At that time, it is believed, they pro- jected the cut metal types ; about which Guttem- burg was, afterward, much employed, without be- ing able to bring them to perfection, before he went to Mentz. He is represented as being more skilful
IN EUROPE. 113
in mechanic arts than his brother, but, it is said, failed in completing the types from the want of a more competent knowledge of the art of Printing.
The autlior of a very curious treatise on engrav- ing, which was published at Leipsic in 1771, men- tions, that Guttemburg fell short of the completion of his design, from his not being able to form his whole collection of types of a uniform height. Whatever was the cause of his failure, he nearly ruined himself and his associates at Strasburg, by his projects. He differed with those partners, whose names were Andrew Drizehen, Andrew Heilmann, and John Riff; and he was involved in three law- suits witli them,* as appears by an authentic judi- cial decree of the senate of Strasburg, in 1439, after the death of Drizehen. That unfortunate man died in 1438 ; and, on his death bed, mentioned to his confessor, that liis connexion with Guttemburg, in an attempt to acquire the art of Printing, had ex- posed him to vast expenses, of which a single obo- lu$ had never been remunerated.
Guttemburg became overwhelmed with debts ; and, being haiTassed with law suits, he was obliged to sell every thing he possessed at Strasburg, and to quit that city.
He had entered into a marriage contract v^ith Anna, " a noble girl of The Iron Gate,''^ but refus- ed to fulfil the contract, until he was compelled, by a judicial decree. They lived unhappily ; — and, when he went to Mentz, he deserted her.
* Orig. Typog. Vol. 1. p. 163, 1 ?
114 HISTORY or PRINTING
JOHN FUST, alias FAUST, alias FAUSTUS, of Msnte.
Wh e n Geinsfleiche arrived at Mentz, about the year 1440, he entered into a connexion with Fust, who was rich, and became the patron of the art of Printing. He supplied the funds upon which Geins- fleiche conducted the business. In 1442, Fust and Geinsfleiche pubUshed the first productions from their press, viz.
Alexa7id7'i Galli Doctrinale, and
Petri Hispani Tractatiis*
These books were much used in schools ; and it was thought they produced a handsome profit for the printers ; as they issued several editions of them from their separate wooden types.
John* Meidenbachius, and others, became part- ners in this concern in 1443 ; and, in 1444, they were joined by Guttemburg. .
This company soon zealously engaged in the attempt to bring forward the invention of cut face metal types ; which was a work of great magnitude, and required so much labor and attention, that it was not brought to any degree of maturity till about
* Many of the earliest printers had this prenomen, as Lau- rentius, Geinsfleiche, Guttemburg, Fust, Meidenbachius, Pe- tershemius, &c. This circumstance led tlie printers at Leip- sic to choose St. John as their tutelar saint ; and to commem- orate the festival of St. John the baptist. Jo. Stovius. Wolfius, Monumen. Typog. Tom. ii.
IN EUROPE. 115
seventeen years after the first discovery of Printing ; and, they were busily employed two years in com- pleting a sufficient quantity to begin an edition of part of the Bible.
During the time the metal types were prepar- ing, they printed several books from wooden blocks, and moveable wooden types, among which were. The Catholicon. Tabula Alphahetica. Donati Grammatica. The Confessionalia.
The Decretals of Gregory IX. And some Pictures from wooden cuts. In 1450, an edition of part of the Bible appear- ed from the metal types with cut faces.
This was the second great era of the
ART.
A disagreement among the partners produced a dissolution of the company, before the end of the year 1450. How Geinsfleiche was employed after this time, does not appear. He was much advanced in years, and had nearly lost his sight, when he quit- ted this connexion. He died in 1462.
FUST and GUTTEMBURG, of MEnrz.
After the partnership of Fust, Geinsfleiche, &c. was dissolved. Fust and Guttemburg formed a new engagement, and continued together till 1455, when many difficulties arose ; the partnership was dis-
116 HISTORY OF PRINTING
solved, and an action, brought by Fust against Gut- temburg, for monies advanced, terminated in favor of tlie formei'.
Fust, Avhen he separated from Guttemburg, kept possession of the printing materials, by agree- ment, and took, as a partner, the ingenious Peter SchoefFer ; who, as the servant of Fust, had been instructed and employed in printing by Geinsfleiche and Guttemburg.
Guttemburg procured some pecuniary assist- ance from Conrad Humery, syndic of Mentz, and other friends ; by means whereof, he furnished him- self with cut face metal types, and opened another printing house in Mentz ; where, in 1460, he pub- lished, A\'ithout his name, the Qatholiqon of Jacobus de Jamia, which was printed in a very handsome style. He worked with wooden, or cut face metal types, till the year 1462. In 1465, he was admitted inter oulicos, as has been mentioned, with a pension ; and died in February, 1468.
At the death of Guttemburg, Conrad Humery took possession of his printing materials, under an engagement to the archbishop Adolphus, that he never would sell them to any one but a citizen of Mentz ; they were, however, soon after disposed of to Nicholas Bechtermuntze, of Altavilla ; who, in 1469, published Vocahularliim Latino Teutonicumy printed with the same types on Avhich Guttemburg printed the Catholicon.
There was, formerly, in the front of the house ^^'hcre Guttemburg lived at Mentz, the following inscription, which was placed there anno 1507.
IN EUROPE. 117
" Joanni Gutte7nberge7isi Mogu77ti?iOy qua primus omnium literas are Imprimendas iTivenit, hac Arte de orbe toto bene merenti : Yvo Fintigensis hoc Sax- urn pro Monumento posuit."^
FUST and SCHOEFFER, of Mesi'z.
Began business together in 1455 ; and, in 1457, published what was then called a " magnificent edi- tion" of the Psalter. It was in the press four years ; and, for those times, was uncommonly elegant. As it was published in eighteen months after the retreat of Guttemburg, he must be allowed the credit of having had a considerable share in the per- formance. This Psalter is said to ha^^e been print- ed with a new fount of cut face metal types ; and, is the first book known to have a genuine date, and the names of the printers.
Schoeffer turned his attention to an important improvement in the art. — that of casting types with faces. He kept the scheme secret, till he became perfect in the business.
This maybe called the third great era
OF PRINTING.
The first book which was printed with these new invented types was,
Durandi Rationale, in 1459. Afterward, The Bible, in 1462, some say 1460.
* Luckombe. Hist. Print.
118 HISTORY OF PRINTING
Tullifs Offices^ which was several years in the press, and completed in 1465— a second edition was worked off in 1466, according to some, but this is contradicted by Maittaire, in his Annals.*
Afterwards, a second edition of the Psalter, on cut metal types. This edition was not equal to the first. Many other books were printed by Fust and Schoeffer.
The edition of the Bible, just mentioned, was a very expensive work. It was five years in the press ; and, it was calculated that the expense amounted to 4000 florins, before they had printed the twelfth sheet. The work was admirably exe- cuted. It was this edition of the Bible, as some authors say, of which Fust took a number of cop- ies to Paris, where he sold them, first for six, then for five hundred crowns each, which were the prices commonly given to the scribes for very ele- gant copies of the Scriptures. He afterwards, by degrees, reduced the price to thirty crowns. It is said, that the purchasers were ignorant that these copies were printed ; and, that it was the policy of Fust to make them believe they were written. They were an exact imitation of the best manu- scripts.. As he lowered his price, his sales increas- ed ; and, people were astonished by his producing copies as fast as they were called for. When he lessened his price to thirty crowns, all Paris was perplexed and agitated, both on account of the
* Mait. Annal. Typog. 1719, Vol. i. p. 60 ; but Meerman observes that, on examination, it was found there were two editions.
IN EUROPE. 119
number of books produced, and the uniformity of them. It was beUeved, that he had made a league with the devil ; and, he was accused of be- ing a magician. His lodgings were searched, by the officers of police ; — several Bibles were found — and the red ink with which the illuminators had made the great capitals at the beginning of each chapter, was pronounced to be his blood. Fust fled, and escaped the death which awaited such hapless victims of superstition as, in those days, were suspected of being necromancers. From this event, originated the story of " The Devil and Dr. Faustus."
At the commencement of their business. Fust and Schoeffer printed, chiefly, on parchment ; but, a multiplicity of copies occasioned a scarcity of that article, and they printed afterward on paper, with the exception of a few copies, which were printed on vellum for the purpose of being elegantly illu- minated.
Fust had the surname of i^Uttttdn, or Good- man, given to him ; on account of his beneficence, and the good he did, by employing so many people;* but, notwithstanding his eminence, and the fame he acquired, no one has handed down to us an account of the period at which he died. It is believed he did not live longer than the year 1470. He is called Fust, Faust and Faustus, by different writers.
* Vide the Chronicle of Jo. Carion.
120 HISTORY OF PRINTING
PETER SCHOEFFER, of Mentz.
Completion of the Invention of Printing.
The consummation of the art, is, of course, dat- ed from the time when Schoeffer finished his inven- tion of metal types with cast faces ; the credit of which belongs exclusively to him, although they were used during the time of his copartnership with Fust. This was, as I observed before, a new era in the art of Printing ; and, it is from this period tliat many of the Europeans date the invention of the art in Europe.
It is said, that Laurentius, Geinsfleiche and Guttemburg, who used blocks and wooden types, w^ere classed, by the Germans, among the Q6t00f* tn^tCtj^) so called, who painted playing cards on paper, and pictures on both paper and parchment. But, after the discovery of the method of impress- ing tlie languages on those substances, by means of SchoefFer's cast metal type^, the Dutch made use of the verb IPtlHtCn, to express the mamier in which that kind of impressions were made, or taken, and hence was derived the term Printing, [c]
Cutting the types in wood or metal, was a tedious and expensive process, and retarded the progress of^thc art ; but, the invention of Schoeffer
IN EUROPE. 121
relieved it from those difficulties which confined it to Haerlem, Mentz or Strasburg ; and, in a short period, it was carried to almost, all the capital cities of Europe. It has since been spread into Africa, America — and even to the " thrilling regions of thick ribb'd ice," in the northern parts of Europe—- not excepting Iceland.
While Fust was in partnership with Geins- fleiche and Guttemburg, Peter SchoefTer of Gerns- heim, who was his servant, learned from them the art of Printing. Schoeffer, on account of his inge- nuity and industry, became the paitner of his mas- ter, and had the management of the business, after Geinsfleiche and Guttemburg separated from Fust. Several of the performances of Fust and Schoeffer, have already been mentioned.
From the superior genius, and inventive facul- ties, of Schoeffer, he soon excelled both Geinsfleiche and Guttemburg in the printing business. Not long after his connexion with Fust, he, by repeated trials, arrived at the object his active mind had con- ceived— an object which established his fortune— and will hand his fame down from age to age, as long as the art shall endure.
When Schoeffer had finished a few of his metal types, cast with faces, he shewed them to Fust, who was so overjoyed by the discovery, that he promis- ed Schoeffer his only daughter Christiana, or, as others say, S)pn0n, [Dinah] in marriage— which promise he soon fulfilled.
At first, many difficulties attended these types, as well as those which were cut. To cast them all exactly of a height ; to make the faces range in a
1 <i
122 HISTORY OF PRINTING
line, and to compound the metal so as to be fusible and make the cast cleai-, yet of such firmness, when cast, as to stand the necessary pressure, &c. were objects not accomplished in a moment, but which it was indispensably necessary to attain, before the types could be useful. These difficulties, and all others, Avere overcome by the perseverance and in- genuity of Schoeffer.
The art of manufacturing these types was con- cealed, by administering an oath of secresy to all with whom they entrusted the discovery, and em^ ployed in their foundery and printing house, till the year 1462 ; when, through the sacking of Mentz, by Adolphus, the workmen were driven into other countries ; and, as they practised the art as a mean of subsistence, the secret soon became known in all the places to which they fled.
A clear account of the means used by Schoeffer in making his types, is given by Trithemius,* who had it from Schoeffer himself, in 1484 ; to which may be added the testimonies published by Jo. Frid. Faustus of Aschaffeiiburg, a descendant of Fust, from papers which had been preserved in the family ; and, the evidence of Jolin Schoeffer, the son of Peter Schoeffer. f
Schoeffer is said to have been one of the first engravers on copi>er ; he was so, as respects en-
* Aimales Hirsaugiens. Tom. II. ad ann. 1450. p. 421.
t In a cololihon to an edition of Breviarimn Trithemi. John Schoeffer succeeded his father as a printer. Meerman Orig. Typog. vol. ii. p. 144. Wolfius Mon. Typog. vol. l.p. 468.
IN EUROPE. 123
graving the moulds for casting types ;* but the art of engraving on that metal ^vas known and practised long before his time.
In 1468, SchoefTer printed an edition of Justin- ian's Institutes, to which was added the following, with other lines in praise of printing, and of those who, in Mentz, had made improvements in that art.
*' Natio quccque suum poterit reperire charagma Secum ; nempe stylo prasminet omnigeno."
The same versifier WTites thus, respecting the invention of cast metal types.
" Hos dedit eximios sculpendi in arte magistros,
Cui placet in mactos arte sagire viros, Quos genuit ambos urbs Moguntina Johannes,f
Librorum insignes protochai'agmaticos. Cum quibus optatum Petrus venit ad Polyandrum,
Cursor posterior, introeundo prior ; Quippe quibus praestat sculpendi lege, sagitus
A solo dante lumen et ingenium."|
In 1471, after the death of Fust, Vv^e find Schoef- fer in partnership with Conrad HenlifF, a kinsman
* Jo. Frid. Faustus, says, that Schoeffer, " by the good providence of God, found out the method of cutting incidendiy the faces of the chai'acters in a matrix, that the letters might be singly cast ;" and, that " he privately cut matrices for the whole alphabet."
t By ambos Joannes, Meerman is of opinion that the poet refers to the two Johns, Geinsfleiche and Guttemburg ; the first inventors of metal types with cast ft\pes.
I A translation of the above, which appears to be a mixture of several languages, rendered more difficult by technical
124 HISTORY OF PRINTING
of Fust ; but, how long this connexion lasted, has not been ascertained. Schoeffer continued the print- ing business till 1490, and published many books. The last book known to be printed by him was an edition of the Psalter. He printed forty eight books, in various sizes, as mentioned by Schwart- zius.* Meerman has increased the number ; but, probably, he included the works of the society of Fust and Schoeffer.
Peter Schoeffer was succeeded in the printing business by his son John, to whom the exclusive pri-\^ilege of printing Livy, was granted by the em- peror Maximilian.
temis, is not attempted ; but the following lines, presented by a friend, may, perhaps, pass for an imitation.
The nation which all others would excel, Like him must learn the art of printing well.
Whoever would in arts resplendent shine,
Let him pursue the sculptor's art divine ;
Following the two — of science the bright morn—
The JOHNS renown'd, who in fam'd Mentz were born.
Or He, II the husband of the gi'aphic arts —
Old Gcrnshiem's pride — ^the man of various parts.
Great was his fame ! — his well earn'd honor more
Than that of all the men who rose before !
He holy writ fulfils — for though the last,
His fame transcends all those of ages past !
The typographic art he made secure.
By laws, and skill, and light, which shall endure
From age to age, till types shall be no more.
II Schoeffer. * Schwartziusj Primar. Docum. de Orig. Typogr. par. ii. p. 4,
IN EUROPE. 125
Having traced the art of Printing in Europe, from its commencement by Laurentius, in Haer- lem, to the consummation of the discovery, by Schoeffer, at Mentz ; and, having briefly stated the claims and pretensions of Haerlem, Strasburg and Mentz, to the honor of the original invention — by which it appears that, as nearly as can be determin- ed by the most diligent and minute investigation, the art was first discovered at Haerlem, about 1429, or 1430, carried to Mentz in 1440, and at- tempted at Strasburg about the same period ; but, that after Guttemburg removed from Strasburg, it was confined to Haerlem and Mentz, till the yeai' 1462 ; — I will now give a concise account of what is called " its dispersion" into other parts of Europe.
Upon the taking and sacking of Mentz, the workmen of Schoeffer were scattered abroad ; and, thus the art of Printing was spread to the distant cities where they fixed their abode. Chiefly by their means the art became known at Strasburg, Boulogne, Tours, and Paris ; — where it was prac- tised, as well as in several other cities, before it was introduced into England.
ENGLAND.
IN regard to England, a voluminous controversy has existed whether the first press was set up in Westminster, or at Oxford ; which question never has been, and perhaps never will be fully and satis^ factorily settled.
126 HISTORY OF PRINTING
The celebrated William Caxton had, for nearljr* two hundred years, the credit of being the first who transplanted the ait into Greatbritain. He was a mercer, and citizen of London, but went to the con- tinent on his own business, and was employed in it, as well as in public affaii's, for several years, in Hol- land, Flanders, Germany, he. While abroad, he was commissioned, jointly with Richard Whitehill, esq. to negotiate and conclude a treaty of com- merce between his sovereign king Edward IV, and the brother in law of that monarch, the Duke of Burgundy, who, at that period, held the sovereignty of Flanders. When Caxton was in Germany, the knowledge of Printing had pervaded a considerable pait of Europe. He acquired a proper understand- ing of the business ; furnished himself with a print- ing apparatus ; and, for three years, practised the art at Cologne, where he was patronised by the duke and dutchess of Burgundy.
About the year 1473, he returned to England, and set up a press in Westminster Abbey ;* and, there he continued to print till he died. He receiv- ed the patronage of the nobility, the royal family, and paiticular encouragement from the abbot of
* Newcourt, in his Rc/iertoi-iu?n, torn. 1. p. 721, differs, though not materially, from this account. He says, « St. Anne's, an old chapel, over against which the lady Margaret, mother to king Henry VI, erected an almshouse for poor Avomen. The place whereon tins chapel and almshouse stood, was called the eleemosynary or almonry, as the alms of the abbey were there distributed to the poor ; in which the abbot of Westminster erected the first printing press put up in Eng- land for William Caxton, citizen and mercer,"
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IN EUROPJE. 127
Westminster. The fact, that he was the first who introduced the art into England, is justified and confirmed by many public and private records ; and, by chronologers and almanack makers, who mentioned him as the first printer, from time to time, and from year to year, without contradiction, till about 1660.
A dispute arose, in 1642, between some per- sons who printed by virtue of a patent from the crown, and the company of stationers, respecting the patents. A petition was presented to parliament for a law to enforce a better regulation of the art of Prmting; and to recal several patents. A com- mittee was appointed, who heard counsel for and against the petitioners ;— and, in the course of the pleadings, Caxton was acknowledged as indisputti- bly the first printer in England. No other printer was mentioned ; or, perhaps, ever thought of, at that time, as having a primogenial claim.
But at length a book was taken notice of by some curious antiquarians, bearing the date of its impression at Oxford in 1468. This book was first discovered in the public library at Cambridge ; and afterwards found in other ancient libraries. It was a small volume of forty one quarto leaves, with this title, Exposicio Sancti Jeronimi in Simholum Apostolorum ad Papain Laurencium y* and, at the end, Explicit exposition &c. Impressa Oxonie et
* The types with which this book was printed, it is said, were made after the manner of those used by Laurentius • that is, on wood, sejiarately and moveable. Sec the specimens* suinexed, No. I, and II.
128 HISTORY OF PRINTING
Jinita Anno Domini M. CCCC .Ixviij . xvij — die De^ cemhris. As the date of this book was fair, and bore no appearance of fraud, it, at once, lobbed Caxton of tlie fame which had so long been attach- ed to his memory, and created a strong doubt of his being justly considered as the father of printing in England. His partizans, however, soon raised ob- jections, one of wliich was, that this exposition was antedated, either by accident or carelessness, by the omission of an X ; which, added, would make it 1478, the period which had ever been assigned to the establishment of the first press at Oxford. As there are many proofs that mistakes like this had occurred, the fame of Caxton began to revive ; but in 1664, Richard Atkyns, esq. who claimed some exclusive privilege in printing, under the royal pa- tents, and who had then, as appears, a law suit with the company of stationers, respecting a book, to the copy of which he had a patent right ;-*-publish- ed a pamphlet, intitled, " The Original and Growth of Printing, collected out of History, and the Rec- ordes of the Kingdome, wherein it is demonstrated that Printing appertaineth to the Prerogative Royal, and is a Flower of the Crown of England." The design of this pamphlet was to give the right and title of Printing to the crown ; and, by that mean, to ascertain the validity of the patents granted by the crown. To support this argument, it was stated that an ancient manuscript record was discovered at Lambeth House, in the registry of the see of Canterbury-, the purport of which is as follows, viz. — That, " as soon as the art of Printing made some noise in Europe, Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of
OF EUROPfi. 129
Canterbury, moved king Henry VI, to use all pos- sible means for procuring a " Printi?7g Mould,''' for so it was then called, to be brought to England. The king taking advice how to effect his design, concluded it could not be brought about, without great secresy, and a considerable sum of money given to some person who should draw off some of the workmen from Haerlem, in Holland, where it was invented. The king furnished Robert Tur- nour, then master of the robes, with a thousand marks, and Turnour took to his assistance William Caxton, a citizen of good abilities, who traded much to