CHAPTER XII.

ALEXANDER WILSON, 1742.

In the early years of the 18th century, printing in Scotland was in a condition even more depressed and unsatisfactory than in England. Except in Glasgow and Edinburgh the art was almost wholly neglected; and in those two cities the disadvantages at which printers were placed, owing partly to restrictive patents and monopolies, partly to jealousies among themselves, but chiefly to the absence of any letter-foundry in their own country, were sufficient bar to all prosperity, either as an industry or an art.

A graphic sketch of this lamentable state of affairs is given in James Watson’s _History of Printing_, published in Edinburgh in 1713,[523] a work which, while professing to give a general history of the art, derives its chief interest from the brief account of printing in Scotland given in the preface. That the art was derived in that country from Holland the author entertains no doubt, {258} and that it was indebted for its maintenance and any measure of excellence it might claim to the same foreign source, he boldly asserts. It was the intervention of Dutch workmen that mainly contributed to relieve the deadlock into which the monopolies and patents of the 17th century had brought the trade generally, and it was only by a continuous supply of Dutch workmen, Dutch presses, and Dutch type that printing in Scotland was to be raised from its present low condition. And, as a crowning argument, he exhibits with some pride a selection of indifferent Dutch types and “Bloomers,” with which his own office is provided, as a suggestion of the excellence to which Scotch Typography might yet attain.[524] This avowal of entire dependence on foreign labour and workmanship is significant; and the absence of any suggestion for remedying the evil by the establishment of a foundry in Scotland itself only emphasises the helpless condition into which the art had sunk.

But although such a notion was too wild a dream for James Watson, others of his countrymen were bold enough to entertain it, and we find that in 1725 a Scotch printer clearly represented to William Ged the disadvantage under which the country laboured from having no foundry nearer than London or Holland, and urged him to undertake the business. Of Ged’s career we have spoken elsewhere.[525] He failed, and Scotch typography, despite the rising fame of Caslon, might have remained many years longer in its depressed condition, but for the accident which directed the genius of Alexander Wilson to letter-founding.

Born at St. Andrews in 1714, young Wilson was originally intended for the medical profession, and it was with a view to push his fortunes in that direction that he came up to London in 1737 and took employment as assistant to a surgeon and apothecary in the great city. While thus engaged he obtained an introduction to Dr. Stewart, physician to Lord Isla, afterwards Duke of Argyle, and in this way came under the notice of his lordship. A common interest in scientific pursuits, particularly astronomy, served to interest Lord Isla in the young doctor’s assistant, and during the term of his service in London Wilson devoted much of his leisure to scientific study under the encouragement and favour of his new patron.

Of his first introduction to typography, we quote the following account given by Hansard on the authority of Alexander Wilson’s son and grandson:[526]― {259}

“While he was thus passing his time in a manner which he considered comfortable for one at his first entrance upon the world, a circumstance accidentally occurred which gave a new direction to his genius, and which in the end led to an entire change of his profession. This was a chance visit made one day to a letter-foundry with a friend, who wanted to purchase some printing types. Having seen the implements and common operations of the workmen usually shown to strangers, he was much captivated by the curious contrivances made use of in prosecuting that art. Shortly afterwards, when reflecting upon what had been shown him in the letter-foundry, he was led to imagine that a certain great improvement in the process might be effected; and of a kind too, that, if successfully accomplished, promised to reward the inventor with considerable emolument. He presently imparted his idea on the subject to a friend named Baine, who had also come from St. Andrews, and who possessed a considerable share of ingenuity, constancy and enterprise. The consequence of this was, the resolution of both these young adventurers to relinquish, as soon as it could be done with propriety, all other pursuits, and to unite their exertions in prosecuting the business of Letter Founding, according to the plan which had been contemplated with a view to improvements. After some further deliberation, Mr. Wilson waited upon his patron, Lord Isla, to whom he communicated his views, and the design of embarking in this new scheme; and derived much satisfaction from his Lordship’s entire approbation and best wishes for his success.

“Mr. Wilson and Mr. Baine then became partners in the project, and having taken convenient apartments, applied with great assiduity to the different preparatory steps of the business. At an early stage they had proofs of difficulties to an extent which had not been anticipated, and which, had their magnitude been foreseen, would probably have altogether deterred them from their attempt. But although they found their task grow more and more arduous as their experience improved, it may yet be mentioned, as a fact which bespeaks singular probity of mind, that they never once attempted to gain any insight whatever through the means of workmen employed in any of the London foundries, some of whom they understood could have proved of considerable service to them.”

Of the precise nature of the improved system of founding by which the two young Scotchmen proposed to prosecute their undertaking, the narrative given by Mr. Hansard affords no information. It has been suggested by some that it was no other than that of stereotyping by a method similar to, or better than, that attempted a few years earlier by Ged. But whatever it may have been, further experiment failed to justify the scheme as one of practical utility, and the two partners, who had by this time quitted the metropolis and returned to {260} St. Andrews, determined to abandon it and to fall back on the ordinary method of manufacturing type. “In their attempt to prosecute this speculation,” continues Mr. Hansard, still quoting the narrative furnished him by Dr. Wilson’s successors, “they found themselves in a more sure, though still in a difficult track, and in which they had no guide whatever but their own talent of invention and mechanical ability; and it was by the aid of these that they carried things forward until, at length, they were enabled to cast a few founts of Roman and Italic characters: after which they hired some workmen, whom they instructed in the necessary operations, and at last opened their infant letter-foundry at St. Andrews in the year 1742.”

The Scotch printers were not slow in showing their appreciation of the convenience afforded them by the establishment of a foundry in their midst, and from the first Messrs. Wilson and Baine appear to have received liberal encouragement in their new venture. They added steadily to the variety of their founts, and finding the demand for their type on the increase, not only in Scotland, but in Ireland and North America, they decided in 1744 to remove from St. Andrews to a more convenient centre at Camlachie, a small village a mile eastward of Glasgow.

In 1747 the claims of their Irish business necessitated the residence of one of the partners in Dublin.[527] Mr. Baine was selected by lot for the duty, and accordingly departed for Ireland, leaving Mr. Wilson at Camlachie. Two years later the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Baine quitted the business to make an independent venture in type founding.[528] {261}

Left to himself, Mr. Wilson actively prosecuted his business, and although no specimen of the foundry is known to exist, either during the partnership between Wilson and Baine, or, indeed, during the entire period of its location at Camlachie, its productions very shortly attained some considerable celebrity.

“During his residence at Camlachie,” says Mr. Hansard, “Mr. Wilson had contracted habits of intimacy and friendship with some of the most respectable inhabitants and eminent characters in that quarter, among whom may be particularly reckoned the professors of the University of Glasgow and Messrs. Robert and Andrew Foulis, the University printers.[529] The growing reputation of the University Press, conducted by these latter gentlemen, afforded more and more scope to Mr. Wilson to exercise his abilities in supplying their types; and being now left entirely to his own judgment and taste, his talents as an artist in the line to which he had become devoted became every year more conspicuous.”

“When the design was formed by the gentlemen of the University, together with the Messrs. Foulis, to print splendid editions of the Greek classics, Mr. Wilson with great alacrity undertook to execute new types, after a model highly approved. This he accomplished, at an expense of time and labour which could not be recompensed by any profits arising from the sale of the types themselves. Such disinterested zeal for the honour of the University Press was, however, upon this occasion, so well understood as to induce the University, in the preface to their folio _Homer_,[530] to mention Mr. Wilson in terms as honourable to him as they had been justly merited.”

Of this magnificent work—one of the finest monuments of Greek typography {262} which our nation possesses—it is sufficient to say that if the reputation of Alexander Wilson depended on no other performance, it alone would give him a lasting title to the distinction accorded to him in the preface, of “egregius ille typorum artifex.”[531]

In 1760 Mr. Wilson was honoured with the appointment of the Practical Astronomy Professorship in the University of Glasgow, about two years after which the foundry was removed to the more immediate vicinity of the college. After this appointment the further enlargement and improvement of the foundry {263} devolved upon his two eldest sons; and he lived to witness its rise under their management to the highest reputation.

Among the later performances of Dr. Wilson, the most important was the beautiful fount of Double Pica cut in 1768 for the 4to edition of _Gray’s Poems_[532] published by the Brothers Foulis, who in their preface made public acknowledgment of the excellence of the letter and the expedition with which it had been provided.[533]

Another high compliment was paid to Dr. Wilson’s talents in 1775, when Dr. Harwood, in the preface to his _View of the Greek and Roman Classics_,[534] singled out, along with Baskerville’s types, the “Glasgow Greek types which have not been used since the superb edition of _Homer_ in 1757, and which are the most beautiful that modern times have produced,” as fit to form the nucleus of a Royal typography for England, dedicated to the improvement of the “noblest art which human genius ever invented.”[535]

The first known specimen of the Glasgow Letter Foundry, as it was now called, was published in 1772. It is at least remarkable that no specimen of its types should have been issued during the first thirty years of its successful career. But although Rowe Mores mentions with approval a sheet by Baine, he had apparently seen none bearing the name of Wilson.

The specimen of 1772, which dated from the College of Glasgow, consisted of twenty-four 8vo leaves, and showed Roman and Italic only, in sizes from 5-line to Pearl, there being several faces to most of the bodies. Certain of these, it is stated, are “conformable to the London types”; and the enterprising proprietors undertake “to cast to any body and range, on receiving a few pattern types.”

In 1783, another specimen was issued in a broadside form, in four columns, and is usually to be met with in copies of Ephraim Chambers’ _Cyclopædia_, enlarged by Rees, where it is inserted to illustrate the article “Printing.” {264} It shows Roman and Italic from 6-line to Pearl, with five sizes of Black, six of Hebrew, and five of Greek, including the famous “Glasgow Homer” Double Pica.[536] The general appearance of the sheet is good, and the founts compare favourably in shape and finish with those of any other foundry of the day. A note to the specimen intimates that the founts shown form a portion only of the contents of the Foundry. A full specimen appeared in 1786, and again in 1789, the latter being a small 4to volume of 50 pages, showing very considerable advance on its predecessors.[537] A further specimen appeared in 1815, showing the modern cut letters of the Foundry.

With almost a monopoly of the Scotch and Irish[538] trade, the Glasgow Foundry became in course of time a formidable rival to the London houses, whose productions it contrived to undersell even in the English market. Its success, however, raised up competitors with itself in Scotland, foremost among which was the foundry of Mr. Miller, a former manager in the Glasgow Foundry.

In 1825 the proprietors of the Foundry were Messrs. Andrew and Alexander Wilson, son and grandson to the originator. Hansard summarises their foreign and learned founts at this date as follows:

_Greek._― Double Pica (_Glasgow Homer_), Great Primer, English, Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer (“Elzevir”), Brevier, Nonpareil.

_Hebrew._― 2-line English, Double Pica, Great Primer, English,[539] Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil.

_Saxon._― English, Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Brevier.

_Black._― 2-line Great Primer, Double Pica, Great Primer, English, Pica, Long Primer, Brevier, Nonpareil.

In 1828 another complete specimen appeared, showing the new series of Romans from Double Pica to Diamond, Greek, and fifteen pages of flowers.

Mr. Andrew Wilson dying in 1830, the management of the business devolved on his sons Alexander and Patrick, by whom it was decided, in 1832, to establish a branch house in Edinburgh. {265}

A handsome 4to specimen of the Roman letter of the Foundry was published in 1833. This volume is interesting as being one of the first to show the letter not only in the venerable “Quousque tandem” paragraph, but also in an English garb.[540] It includes also five pages of Greek, in which the Double Pica “Homer” is still prominent, and two pages of Hebrew, but no other orientals.

In 1834 the important step was taken of transferring the Glasgow Foundry to London, where, in premises at New Street, Gough Square, the business was carried on.[541]

Briefly to trace the later vicissitudes of the Foundry we may add that, about 1834, a further development of the business was completed by the establishment of a Foundry at Two-Waters in Hertfordshire, where it was expected the cost of production would be considerably reduced by the cheaper labour attainable in the country. A strike occurring in 1837 among the London workmen, the Gough Square House was closed. In 1840 another branch was established at Dublin. Despite the activity of Mr. Alex. Wilson and the continued excellence of his types, the business declined. The latter years of his management were spent in fruitless endeavours to supersede the old method of handcasting by machinery. The various experiments made, however, (one of which was by the present Sir Henry Bessemer, whose father[542] had been a type-founder) failed, and tended further to diminish Mr. Wilson’s resources, until in 1845 be became bankrupt.

The London and Two-Waters Foundries being offered for sale by auction, the principal part of the matrices were purchased by the proprietors of the Caslon Foundry in 1850, Mr. Wilson remaining for some time with Mr. Caslon as joint manager.

The Edinburgh branch of the business, started in 1832, had continued for {266} some time with Mr. Duncan Sinclair as managing partner. But on the latter withdrawing from the concern and establishing himself as an independent founder at Whiteford House, Edinburgh, about 1839, the management was entrusted to Mr. John Gallie.

On the breaking up of the business, the plant of the Edinburgh and Dublin branches was acquired by Dr. James Marr, who, in association with Mr. Gallie, carried on the business under the firm of Marr, Gallie, and Co. In 1853 it was James Marr and Co., with branches in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Dr. James Marr died in 1866, from which time till 1874, the business was carried on by his widow, with Mr. John Blair as manager. In 1874 it was converted into a Limited Company under the title of the Marr Typefounding Company, Limited, who removed the business from the old premises in New Street, Edinburgh, to Whiteford House, where it is still carried on.

Mr. Duncan Sinclair, between whose specimens and those of the Wilson Foundry there was an obvious similarity, continued for some years at Whiteford House, where his son, formerly manager at the Two-Waters branch of the Glasgow Foundry, subsequently joined him. They published specimens in 1840, 1842, and 1846 (which latter included a fount of “Gem”). In 1861 the Whiteford House Foundry was in the hands of John Milne and Co., who published a quarto specimen. In 1870 the contents of this foundry were dispersed at public auction, and the premises, as already stated, were shortly afterwards taken by the Marr Typefounding Company.

SPECIMEN BOOKS, 1783–1834.

1772. A Specimen of some of the Printing Types cast in the Foundery of Dr. A. Wilson and Sons, College of Glasgow (Glasgow,) 1772. 8vo, 24 leaves. . . . . (B.M., B. 722, 8.)

1783. A Specimen of Printing Types . . The above are some of the sizes cast in the Letter Foundery of Dr. Alex. Wilson and Sons, Glasgow. 1783. Broadside. . . . . (Chambers’ _Cyclopædia_, 1784–6.)

1786. A Specimen of Printing Types cast in the Letter Foundry of Alex. Wilson and Sons, Glasgow, 1786. 8vo. . . . . (Ox. Univ. Pr.)

1789. A Specimen of Printing Types cast in the Letter Foundry of Alex. Wilson and Sons, Glasgow, 1789. Small 4to. . . . . (Caslon.)

1812. A Specimen of Modern Cut Printing Types by Alex. Wilson and Sons, Letter Founders, Glasgow, 1812. 4to. . . . . (Caslon.)

1815. A Specimen of Modern Cut Printing Types by Alex. Wilson and Sons, Letter Founders, Glasgow, 1815. 4to. . . . . (Caslon.)

1823. A Specimen of Modern Printing Types by Alex. Wilson and Sons, Glasgow, 1823. 4to. . . . . (Caxt. Cel. 4402.) {267}

1828. A Specimen of Modern Printing Types by Alex. Wilson and Sons, Letter Founders, Glasgow, 1828. 4to. . . . . (Ox. Univ. Pr.)

1833. A Specimen of Modern Printing Types cast at the Letter Foundry of Alex. Wilson and Sons, Glasgow, 1833. 4to. . . . . (T. B. R.)

1833. A Specimen of Modern Printing Types cast at the Letter Foundry of Wilsons and Sinclair, New Street, Edinburgh, 1833. 4to. . . . . (Ox. Univ. Pr.)

1834. A Selection from the Specimen Book of Alex. Wilson and Sons, Glasgow Letter Foundry, Great New Street, Gough Square, London, 1834. 4to. . . . . (Caslon.)

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