CHAPTER IV

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION

The eighteenth century was a very important time in the history of English printing. It was the period of the changes and inventions which led over from the mediævalism of the seventeenth century to the modernism of the nineteenth. Three special changes took place: first, the invention of stereotyping; second, the rise of the modern publisher; and, third, the dawn of modern ideas in types and typography.

The story of the invention of stereotyping is the tale only too common in industry of the inventor who is ahead of his time, the selfish and thoughtless crowd who opposed him, the apparent failure of the enterprise, and final success for the idea when the inventor is no longer alive to enjoy his triumph. About 1720 it occurred to a Scotchman named Ged that it ought not to be difficult to cast type by the page. He hit upon the idea of making a plaster-of-paris mould of the type-set page and from it casting the plates. As usual in such cases, he needed a partner with capital and some technical knowledge. In 1727 he associated himself with an Edinburgh printer, who soon became alarmed at the apparent prospective cost and withdrew from the enterprise. Soon after this Ged got acquainted with a London stationer named William Fenner. Fenner in turn introduced him to Thomas James, the type-founder, and the three associated themselves in partnership for the development of the new process. For some reason James proved treacherous. Apparently the investment which he was making should have served to keep him faithful. Whether he became alarmed by a fancied danger to his business or was frightened or bought off by the printers is not clear. At any rate, his cooperation was only halfhearted. Instead of furnishing Ged with the best of type from which to make his moulds he furnished him with very poor type and his workmen wilfully damaged the forms.

While this was going on Ged was appointed printer to the University of Cambridge, where he met with the same experiences at the hands of the printers. Under great difficulties and discouragements he succeeded in producing two prayer books which were printed from his plates, but the animosity of the printers was so violent that the authorities suppressed the books and destroyed the plates. The reason for this animosity is not far to seek. The journeymen had not yet recovered from the fear and danger caused by the old statutes which had limited the number of shops without limiting the number of journeymen, thus causing extensive lack of employment. It must be remembered also that the old customs were still in force which limited editions and prohibited keeping type standing. It looked to the printers as if the invention of a process which would fix type by pages and make possible indefinite reprints from one setting of type was a most serious threat to the industry. From the point of view of the knowledge and the conditions in the second quarter of the eighteenth century we shall have to admit that their fears were well founded. They could not possibly foresee the enormous increase of printing which was to make the stereotype indispensable.

To complete the tale of his misfortune, Ged’s partners, James and Fenner, now fell out between themselves. The partnership was broken up and Ged, discouraged and bankrupt, went back to Edinburgh. His discouragement was not permanent, however, and he made another attempt, but not a printer could be found in Edinburgh who would set type for him. Ged’s son learned composition and set up a few books, working by night, which were printed at Newcastle. Ged died in 1749, apparently defeated. Later in the century, however, his work was taken up and made practical by Didot in France and his invention developed to great proportions.

The early printers were their own publishers and booksellers. Previous to the invention of typography the maker and seller of the book were not ordinarily the same person. It was only natural that in a short time the stationers, that is to say, the sellers of manuscript books and of writing materials, should sell printed books also. Both the printer and bookseller were interested in an attempt to cut out one profit. If the printer sold to the bookseller and the bookseller sold to the public, both must profit by the transaction. If the printer could sell directly to the public or the bookseller could print his own books, obviously the whole or the greater part of both of these profits might go to one man. In this competition, however, the bookseller had three advantages. One came from the fact that the carrying on of a printing plant was a business enterprise and the additional care of maintaining a selling organization for marketing books with the public was more than most printers were equal to. The second was that the bookseller could buy a whole edition or contract for its publication. In this way while he reduced the printer’s profits he also greatly reduced his risks. The third was that privilege and copyright attached themselves to manuscripts. If the bookseller bought the manuscript it could not be printed except by arrangement with him. When the bookseller became the owner of manuscripts, or became sufficiently confident of his power to market books to employ the printer to produce such books as he could use, he became a publisher in the modern sense of the word. He might either set up a printing establishment of his own or he might have his work done by contract by one or more outside printers.

The business methods of the old printers were very simple. We have seen how Schoeffer did the first piece of commercial printing when he struck off for distribution a list of the books which he had on sale. We have seen how Jenson and Aldus and the other early printers sold their books at their printing offices, advertised them by correspondence, and sent them to the Frankfort Fair and other similar places. The Plantin workshop, which is still maintained as the Plantin Museum in Antwerp, still shows the little salesroom which was part of the original business. Caxton, with his sound business sense and trained business habits, had a way of assuring or forecasting beforehand the sales of his books, thus anticipating to a considerable extent the methods of the modern publishers.

It soon became the habit of the printers to open shops apart from their printing offices for the sale of their productions. These salesrooms developed into book-shops through carrying in stock the books of other printers. In the old-world cities trades had a habit of congregating in one place. If a man wanted to open a book-shop, instead of trying to find a good location where there were no other book-shops very near at hand, he tried to get a location as near as he could to all the other book-shops. In this way certain streets or quarters of the cities, and particularly of London, were given up to certain industries. The centre of the English book trade of the seventeenth century was the churchyard of the old St. Paul’s Church. This was the smaller church which occupied the site where now stands the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral built by the great architect Sir Christopher Wren after the fire of 1660.

A glimpse of the way in which the business was done may be obtained from the following description of John Day’s book-shop: “He got framed a neat handsome shop. It was but little and low, a flat roof, and leaded [covered with sheets of lead] like a terrace, railed and posted, fit for men to stand upon in any triumph or show.” Evidently thrifty John Day was not above turning an honest penny by renting the roof of his shop to those who desired to see the Lord Mayor’s show or some other glittering procession. All processions of any importance passed St. Paul’s. We are told that this shop cost £40 or £50, which would be equivalent, making allowance for the difference in the purchasing power of money, to from $1200 to $1600 to-day. We are told that £150,000 worth of books were burned at St. Paul’s churchyard and in the crypt of the church in the fire of 1666. This represents no less than $4,000,000 in our present money.

Advertising was done largely by means of the so-called “title post,” a sort of primitive bulletin board. On a post in the shop were put up the titles of new books on sale, with perhaps a brief bit of description. Books were sold either bound, stitched, or in sheets. The bindings in favor were leather-covered boards, perhaps vellum with silk ties to counteract the tendency of vellum to warp, or velvet and other textiles, often ornamented with elaborate embroidery. The books which were sold bound, however, were ordinarily in the plainer styles of binding. The more wealthy and particular book buyers preferred to buy their books in sheets and to have them placed in bindings which were ornamented with their coats of arms or with other devices of a personal nature. The stitched books were at first sewed by being pierced through the sheets with a bodkin and tied with a string. In 1586 a limit was set to the size and thickness of books which might be sold in this form. Those beyond the limit must be sewed on a regular binder’s machine and made ready for the cover to be put on. Sewed books were often covered with cloth or pasteboard to preserve them and keep them clean. This was substantially what is now known as binding in cases.

For a long time the relations between printers, booksellers, and authors were confused and irregular. Up to the end of the seventeenth century there was nothing in the nature of copyright except registration with the Stationers’ Company, but that registration was made by the owner of the manuscript, who was not necessarily the author. Originally these owners were generally the printers because the printers and publishers, as has just been pointed out, were the same. Later, as the ascendency of the booksellers increased, it was they who held the manuscripts. Sometimes due regard was paid to the rights of the author and sometimes not. This appears to have depended entirely upon the arrangements which author and publisher were able to make. In many cases the author got decidedly the worst of the bargain. The protection which the Company undertook to extend was limited to the holder of the copyright. The situation was further complicated by the survival of privileges or monopolies of various sorts.

Toward the end of the seventeenth century, with the passing away of the mediæval conditions which had previously prevailed, the Company’s control of the situation broke down. When the printing acts finally went into disuse in 1594, as has already been described, nobody had any protection. Everything in the way of copyright was entirely abolished. This condition was soon felt to be intolerable and in 1709 an Act of Parliament provided a system of copyright and recognized the author’s right to his work. By this act the owners of old books and unpublished manuscripts, whether they were the authors or not, had proprietary right in them for twenty-one years, beginning April 10, 1710. This part of the act, of course, was a temporary provision for existing conditions. New books were to be controlled by the author for fourteen years. If at the end of that time the author was still living his copyright might be renewed for fourteen years more. Within the limits during which the copyright was valid it could be transferred. Such transference did not act as an extension. The copyright was secured by registration with the Stationers’ Company as before.

This was really a booksellers’ act, as at that time they held nearly all of the copyrights and doubtless expected to be able to secure all the new ones of any value. That was what happened at first. The protection given to the authors by the new act greatly altered the terms upon which the booksellers or publishers could obtain the manuscripts. It was some years before the authors came to a full realization of their rights under the new law. When they did arrive at this knowledge authorship as a profession became possible. For a long time authors sold their manuscripts outright to the publishers. The royalty system, under which the author shares the profits of the work, was a later development.

From this time on new work was controlled by the authors and the use of their manuscripts could be obtained only by some sort of bargain. All old work not covered by copyrights existing in 1709, and after 1731 all work upon which copyrights had expired, might be freely printed by any one. From that time on the publication of such works became, as it is now, purely a manufacturing proposition. Whether or not such books shall be published and whether or not the publication is a commercial success depend entirely upon the soundness of the publisher’s judgment and the accuracy with which he gauges the popular demand for standard literature at a given price.

The publication of new work depends upon a variety of circumstances. The publisher pays either in cash or in royalty, or both, according to the prospects of sale. In case of authors of reputation this prospect can be reasonably well gauged. In case of unknown authors the publisher must take a risk if he buys a manuscript. In many cases the publisher will require a guarantee against loss on an edition of a certain size. He may require this guarantee because he has doubts about the success of the work or because it is a book of such limited circulation, although it may be of the most important character, that the publication will not be commercially profitable. Of course, if an author is determined to see himself in print and no publisher will take his work on any terms, he can hire a printer to make up an edition, can get it copyrighted, and can dispose of it in such way as he may find possible or desirable.

From this legislation really dates the differentiation of the trade. This was a matter of economic growth rather than of legislation. The author might print and publish and sell his work, the printer might publish and sell, the bookseller might print and publish, but in either case there was an added risk combined with a possibility of greater profit. Most persons are content with smaller profits, providing they can be released from risk. Under the system which now developed the publisher assumed the risk. In that way he became the patron of both author and printer.

The first of the modern type of publishers was Jacob Tonson, the elder, who began business in 1678. A consideration of the development of the publishing industry would take us too far afield and it will be touched upon only as it directly concerns the development of printing.

About 1720 a forward step was taken in the development of English printing by the entrance of William Caslon into the field of type-founding. Born in 1692, we know little of his early life. In 1706 we find him, then twenty-four years old, carrying on a little business in London as an engraver of gun locks and a maker of binders’ tools. Through this last he came in contact with printers, particularly John Walter and William Bowyer, the younger, two of the well-known London printers of that day. His connection with the printing trade, his artistic skill, and his training as an engraver led him to undertake the designing and cutting of type, in which he was encouraged by his printer friends. His type was immediately successful not only in England but on the continent, which had hitherto never looked to England for type. His type was very legible and had a certain air of distinction which made it much superior to any English type made at that time. His roman was regular, graceful, and well proportioned, a worthy successor of the types of Jenson and Aldus. His italic was almost as good as his roman. The influence of Caslon upon English and afterwards upon American type-cutting has been very great. Many of the types in most common use are either Caslon’s letter or some modification of it. This book is printed in one of the Caslon types. For many years no English type-founder could compete with him successfully.

The principal types of distinction which were then in the field were three, that of Giambattista Bodoni, that produced by the Didot family, and that made in Holland. Bodoni type was characterized by long ascenders and descenders, over-long serifs, and protracted hair lines. This general style of letter was very common in Italy for a long time both in typography and in manuscript. In the last century the so-called Italian hand, a handwriting showing these characteristics, was for a long time very fashionable, especially among ladies. The Didot type was characterized by sharp contrasts, the thick lines being very thick and the thin lines being razor-edged in their thinness. The Dutch type was rounded and regular with very little contrast between the thick and the thin lines. Caslon’s type was a rather successful effort to retain the good qualities and avoid the defects of all three. Avoiding the exaggeration of Bodoni, it retained, though in modified form, the contrasts of Didot and preserved the regularity of the Dutch without its monotony and lack of contrast. Toward the end of the century poor paper, poor presswork, and poor ink led to an attempt to get clearness and legibility by thickening the type lines. The result was the introduction, about 1800, of a very ugly, fat-faced type which had wide use. Mrs. Caslon, a widow, who was then in charge of the Caslon foundry, attempted to meet these demands by thickening the lines of the Caslon type, producing a modified form which had considerable success for some time. The old Caslon was revived by Whittingham about 1845. The better paper, ink, and presswork of those days revealed anew the excellence of the Caslon type and since that time it has never lost favor.

An interesting figure of this period is Samuel Richardson (1689–1761). Richardson was a very good printer and did a considerable business, but was tempted into authorship and became one of the first of the modern English novelists. He wrote, printed, and published three novels which yet survive, “Pamela,” “Clarissa Harlowe,” and “Sir Charles Grandison.” The new vein which these novels struck in English literature was immediately successful. The novels, though very long and written in a style which to modern readers seems anything but lively, were not only widely successful themselves, but were immediately imitated, and the good old printer’s modest efforts were the beginning of the flood of novels which is now poured out from the press. Because Richardson was a pioneer his novels are remembered and students of literature are set to read them, at least in part. It is doubtful, however, if anybody reads them to-day unless he has to. It is said that through the treachery of one of Richardson’s journeymen a Dublin printer got out a pirated edition of “Sir Charles Grandison” and sold it in Dublin before Richardson got it bound and published in London. This was possible because the English copyright law did not then apply to Ireland.

An interesting glimpse of the trade at this period may be obtained through the pages of Woodfall’s ledger from 1734 to 1747, which has been published. The student of these matters can find therein very interesting material for a study of comparative prices and the like. One entry shows that he charged for the printing of Pope’s translation of the Iliad, demy paper, long primer and brevier, 2000 copies, 6 volumes, 68½ sheets, £143 and 17 shillings, equal to about $1700 in American money.

Perhaps the most interesting and important printer in the eighteenth century in England was John Baskerville (1706–1775). Baskerville was of unknown and humble origin. At seventeen we find him a servant in the house of a clergyman at Birmingham. He was a good penman, however, and his employer soon set him to teach penmanship to the poor boys of the parish and afterwards got him a position as a teacher of penmanship and bookkeeping in a school. Baskerville was not only interested in penmanship but also in the cutting of letters in stone. Unlike Caslon, this interest did not lead him directly to take up type-founding or printing as his life work. In 1736 a man by the name of John Taylor set himself up in business at Birmingham as a manufacturer of japanned ware. Baskerville became interested in Taylor’s work and learned Taylor’s trade secrets by following him about and whenever he went into a shop and made a purchase going in himself and buying the same things in the same quantities. In this way he learned the composition of the japanning mixture and shortly set up a business for himself. This was his main business and source of revenue throughout his life and was very prosperous. Baskerville did not imitate Taylor and was hardly his rival, but won success in making other and better things than those made by Taylor. Curiously enough, although Baskerville remained in this business for many years and was very successful, not a single piece of work survives which is known to be his. Meanwhile he did not lose his early interest in the correct formation of letters and he became actively interested in type-founding about 1750. By this time, however, his ideas had spread beyond the mere designing and founding of type.

He conceived the idea of better books than had yet been made in England. He considered the matter in its broadest possible aspects. He realized the fact that a book is the result of many operations. He believed that the making of the best books, such as he had in mind, meant the best possible paper, type, ink, machines, and workmanship. Beginning with the type; he employed a skilful type-cutter to work from his designs and is said to have spent £600 or £800 ($3000 or $4000) before getting a font to suit him. He never attempted to cut many types. His roman differs from Caslon’s, but is equal to it in legibility. It is beautifully clear, regular, and well proportioned. Perhaps a certain lack of character and a too mechanical perfection would be the general criticism which could be brought against it. His italic was the best which had as yet been seen in England.

Baskerville also cut a font of Greek type. This experiment has been regarded as unsuccessful and his Greek type has been somewhat criticised. It was unsuccessful, but not through the fault of the type itself. His type was excellent, but it differed considerably from that to which the scholars were then accustomed and the learned world did not care to adopt it. Minor changes in the formation of English letters are not important, providing the general form of the letter is retained. In languages using a different character, however, even slight modifications are liable to be confusing and scholarly conservatism naturally shrinks from changes of this sort. It is probable, moreover, that the universities and the few persons doing printing in Greek did not encourage the new character as it would have involved a considerable expenditure for new type. With the comparatively small use for Greek type one font would last for a very long time.

Excellent as Baskerville’s types were, they were not generally adopted. The printers stuck to the work of Caslon and Jackson, partly from the fact shortly to be noted that Baskerville did not get on very well with the printers and publishers and partly because of the expense. They preferred sticking to the standard fonts and buying sorts which could be easily procured when necessary to undergoing the expense of buying new fonts from the new founder. Although the admirers of Baskerville consider his type better than Caslon’s, it was not enough better to drive it out of the market. Baskerville’s type, moreover, was much criticised on its own account. It was claimed that owing to its proportions and owing to its sharp contrasts it was hard on the eyes. This criticism, however, was probably very largely the result of prejudice and dislike.

Benjamin Franklin was a friend of Baskerville and tells an amusing story about this kind of criticism. He says that some printers were at his lodging in London and complained vigorously of the objectionable character of Baskerville’s type and of the eye strain and headache which it caused to its users. Franklin thereupon stepped into another room and came back in a moment with a sheet of Caslon’s specimens from which he had removed the heading. He handed this sheet to the critics who had been berating Baskerville and praising Caslon and said that he could not help thinking that they were influenced somewhat by their prejudice and he wished that they would examine this sheet and see if they actually did experience the unpleasant results of which they had complained. Supposing the sheet to be Baskerville’s type, they studied it with some care and unanimously declared that they found the same difficulties and experienced the same discomforts which they had always met with in reading Baskerville’s type. Franklin refrained from pointing out the trap into which he had betrayed them, but satisfied himself that their criticisms really were the result of prejudice.

Type-founding, however, was only a part of Baskerville’s scheme. As has been said, he had conceived the idea of the perfect book, or at least a book nearer perfection than England had yet seen. It is one of the most interesting things about Baskerville that he did not arrive at his conceptions by a process of experimentation and production of mediocre work. He conceived his idea and elaborated it in his mind first and then undertook to realize it in a product. He was the artist who conceives rather than the craftsman who slowly elaborates. The designing and cutting of new fonts of type was only one step in that direction. He determined that he would attempt to produce the whole book himself and he therefore set up a printing office of his own. He selected the paper for his editions with the greatest care. It is not certain that he did not even go so far as to make the paper for some of them, but whether or not this is true he gave it great attention. He took equal care with his ink, using every precaution to secure the production of a bright, clear ink which should work well and be permanent. He also had a special press built. This did not involve any innovations in design, but was built with the greatest care so as to secure the best possible impression. In order to give smoothness and shine to his pages and prevent the type from pressing into the damp paper and making an impression on the reverse side of the sheet he devised what is known as the hot press method of finishing. As soon as the damp sheets came from the press they were placed between plates of hot metal and subjected to pressure. This gave the paper a perfectly smooth, shiny surface. This was another of the points of criticism of Baskerville’s work. Those who were familiar with the coarse paper and rough impressions in common use declared that the shine of the smooth paper hurt their eyes. Baskerville also gave great attention to the typographical design of his books. He used ample margins and developed a style of dignified simplicity, free from extraneous ornamentation and extremely reserved in the use of all forms of ornament.

As a result of this care Baskerville produced the best books which had yet been made in England. They were very expensive. No cost was spared in their production and there was no catering to the popular taste which would enable him to reduce unit costs by publishing large editions. Baskerville frankly printed for the few. He believed that there were lovers of good books and good literature who were ready to pay what might be necessary to obtain their favorite authors in a fitting dress. In this he was somewhat disappointed. The number of such persons was less numerous than he had supposed and it is probable that on the whole Baskerville lost rather than made money by his printing and type-founding enterprises. He printed about sixty-seven books, all of which were reprints of the classics or standard authors. Not a single new book came from his press, although these were the flourishing days of Samuel Johnson, Goldsmith, Pope, Gray, Burke, Chesterfield, Young, Akenside, and other famous writers. The booksellers would not support him. He was not willing to cheapen his work or to lower his prices to meet their wishes, nor would he consent to being, like so many printers, a mere servant of the publisher. He felt that he had his artistic message to give to the world and he insisted upon giving it in his own way, making himself his own publisher as well as printer. Very likely his editions would have made a larger sale if he had had the support of the booksellers in putting them on the market, but this was denied him.

Disheartened and disgusted by the lack of appreciation and support, Baskerville tried to sell out his type-foundry, but was unsuccessful. He negotiated with several of the leading printers of the continent and with Franklin, but was not able to effect a sale. Twenty years after his death, however, his type was used in the famous Boydell Shakspeare. His type obtained partial recognition. His work has been called too artistic for his time. It is said that Baskerville was an artist, but the England of the eighteenth century was not artistic. Perhaps it might better be said that Baskerville’s standard of perfection was higher than his time could appreciate and that he failed because there was not yet a sufficiently large public ready to spend considerable money for de luxe book making. Baskerville unquestionably possessed great taste and a very high degree of mechanical skill. One does not find in his work, however, the artist’s spirit which manifests itself in the work of the old masters or their late nineteenth century followers. Baskerville’s work, nevertheless, was not in vain. No man can ever do anything better than it has yet been done without contributing to the progress of true art, even though his productions are appreciated by but few people. Unquestionably Baskerville’s work influenced the Whittinghams, who are the great figures in the world of printing in the early nineteenth century.

It is interesting to note, before passing to the consideration of the work of the Whittinghams, that several of the great English printing houses whose names are familiar to all readers of books run back far into the eighteenth century. The Rivington house was established in 1711, Eyre and Spottiswoode not much later, Longmans in 1724, John Murray in 1768, William Blackwood & Son in 1804, A. C. Black in 1815, to mention only a few of the more familiar. In many cases these firm names have been several times changed, but the firms have maintained continuous existence.