CHAPTER XIV.

THOMAS COTTRELL, 1757.

Thomas Cottrell, described by Mores as _à primo proximus_ of modern letter-founders, served his apprenticeship in the foundry of the first Caslon. He was employed there as a dresser, and the portrait of him which is to be seen in the _Universal Magazine_ of 1750,[590] among a group of Caslon’s workmen, represents him as engaged in that branch of the business.

It is not improbable that he joined with his friend and fellow apprentice, Joseph Jackson, in clandestinely observing the operation of punch-cutting, secretly practised by his master and his master’s son at Chiswell Street; and being assisted by natural ability, and what Moxon terms a “genuine inclination,” he contrived during his apprenticeship to qualify himself not only in this, but in all the departments of the art.

In 1757 a question as to the price of work having arisen among Mr. Caslon’s workmen, Cottrell and Jackson headed a deputation on the subject to their employer, then a Commissioner of the Peace, residing at Bethnal Green. The worthy justice taking this action in dudgeon, the two ringleaders were dismissed from Chiswell Street, and thus thrown unexpectedly on their own resources.

Cottrell, in partnership for a short time with Jackson, and (according to Rowe Mores), assisted also by a Dutchman, one Baltus de Graff, a former {289} apprentice of Voskens of Amsterdam, established his foundry in Nevil’s Court, Fetter Lane. His first fount was an English Roman, which, though it will compare neither with the performance of his late master, nor with the then new faces of Baskerville, was yet a production of considerable merit for a self-trained hand.

In 1758 an incidental record of Cottrell’s Foundry exists in the history, elsewhere recorded, of Miss Elstob’s Saxon types, the punches and matrices of which, after remaining untouched for several years at Mr. Caslon’s, were brought to Cottrell by Mr. Bowyer, to be “fitted up” ready for use. This task Cottrell performed punctually and apparently to the satisfaction of his employer, returning them with a small fount of the letter cast in his own mould, as a specimen of the improvement made in them.[591]

In 1759 Jackson quitted the business to go to sea, and Cottrell, left to himself, busily proceeded with the completion of his series of Romans, which he carried as low as Brevier, a size “which,” says Rowe Mores, “he thinks low enough to spoil the eyes.”[592]

He also cut a Two-line English Engrossing in imitation of the Law-Hand, and several designs of flowers.

The Engrossing, or as Mores styles it, the Base Secretary, was a character designed to take the place of the lately abolished Court Hand in legal documents, and appears to have been designed for Cottrell by a law printer named Richardson. On the completion of the fount, an impression of which we here give, Richardson issued a specimen of it,[593] claiming the design, and representing its advantages as the proper character for leases, agreements, {290} indentures, etc. The matrices, however, remained with Cottrell, and the inclusion of the fount in his general specimen shows that Richardson ceased to retain any exclusive use of it. It was the only fount of the kind in England when Mores wrote in 1778.

Cottrell’s first specimen was a broadside sheet, undated, but probably issued about the year 1760. It shows the Roman founts, arranged in a form very similar to that of Caslon’s broadside of 1749. The only copy of this specimen known is that in the Sohmian Collection at Stockholm.

It was followed, a few years later, by an 8vo Specimen Book, which, from its obvious resemblance to Caslon’s Book of 1764, we may judge to have seen the light about 1766.[594] This Specimen exhibits the Roman and Italic Founts from Five-line to Brevier, the Engrossing above mentioned, and five pages of Small Pica Flowers elaborately arranged. The general appearance is neat, each page being surrounded by a border. The Romans are cut after the Caslon models, and are fairly good, although a close inspection would suggest that Cottrell’s “genuine inclination” did not extend to the justifying of his matrices with the same success as to the cutting of the punches.

The following note at the foot of the Long Primer on Bourgeois specimen is, perhaps, the most interesting feature of this book:―

“This Foundery was begun in the Year 1757, and will (with God’s leave) be carried on, improved and enlarged, by Thomas Cottrell, Letter Founder, in London.

“_N. B._ Served my apprenticeship to William Caslon, Esq.”

Fournier, in the second part of his _Manuel Typographique_, 1766, mentions Cottrell’s Foundry, but in such a manner as to lead one to suppose he had never seen his specimen, or heard of it except by the vaguest hearsay. He mentions him as “Cottrell à Oxfort,” at the head of his list of English Founders.[595] {291}

A more satisfactory contemporary record is contained in Luckombe’s _History and Art of Printing_, 1770, where pages 169 to 174 are occupied by specimens of the Engrossing and Flowers already exhibited in the specimen book, and a fount of English Domesday.

This latter fount, which appears to have been completed subsequent to the issue of the specimen book, Cottrell cut under the inspection of Dr. Morton for the forthcoming issue of Domesday Book, begun in 1773, and “which”, Rowe Mores sarcastically observes, “if the undertakers go on as they have begun, will by domes-day hardly be finished.”

The work was, however, finished and printed, but not in Cottrell’s type, his performance having been eclipsed by that of his old colleague and partner Jackson, who, after returning from sea in 1763, had worked for a short time at the Nevil’s Court Foundry, and then left to start business for himself, taking with him two of Cottrell’s workmen.

Cottrell was at this period a private in the Life Guards; a position considered highly respectable in those days, and not at all incompatible with business pursuits. His military ardour evidently had its effect in the Foundry, for we find that Robinson and Hickson, his two workmen who left with Jackson, were also enlisted in the same service.

He does not appear to have extended his foundry very much as regards its Roman letter. According to Rowe Mores, however, he produced “some uncommon founts of proscription, or posting letter of great bulk and dimensions as high as to the measure of twelve-line Pica.”[596] Of these founts (which were no doubt cast, like Caslon’s, in sand), a specimen is in existence, consisting of two broadside sheets, showing about eleven sizes from two-line Double Pica to twelve-line Pica.

No specimen, however, is to be found of the Russian fount, which Mores, writing in 1778, hopes Cottrell is about to cut “for a gentleman who compiles a Russian Dictionary; the same gentleman who translated into English, _The Grand Instructions of Her Imperial Majesty Catherine II, for a new Code of Laws for the Russian Empire. London, 1768, 4to._, to whom we wish success.”

Cottrell died in 1785. He is described as obliging, good-natured, and friendly, rejecting nothing because it is out of the common way, and expeditious in his performances. Nichols, in recording his death, says “Mr. Cottrell died, I am sorry to add, not in affluent circumstances, though to his profession of a letter-founder were superadded that of a doctor for the toothache, which he cured by {292} burning the ear; and had also the honour of serving in the Troop of His Majesty’s Life Guards.”[597]

The following is the summary of his foundry as gathered from his specimen book, together with the additional founts cut subsequently:―

MR. COTTRELL’S FOUNDRY.

_Roman._― 5-line, 4-line, 2-line Double Pica, 2-line Great Primer, 2-line English, 2-line Small Pica, 2-line Long Primer.

_Roman and Italic._― Canon, 2-line Great Primer, 2-line English, Double Pica, Great Primer, English, Pica 1, Pica 2, Small Pica, Long Primer 1, Long Primer 2, Bourgeois, Brevier.

_Flowers._― Small Pica, 29 varieties.

_Engrossing._― 2-line English.

_Script._― Double Pica.

_Domesday._― English.

_Large letter._― From 4-line up to 12-line.

Of the history of the Foundry during the nine years following Mr. Cottrell’s death, no record remains. In 1794 it became the property of Robert Thorne, a former apprentice of Cottrell’s, who removed the business from Nevil’s Court to No. 1, Barbican, whence he issued in that year his first specimen and a price list announcing his new undertaking.[598]

The specimen book consists entirely of elegantly shaped large letters cast in sand, from five-line up to nineteen-line, a then unprecedented size. The bulk of these, comprising the sizes from five to twelve-line, advancing by one pica em in body, it may be surmised, are from Cottrell’s models; the thirteen, sixteen, and nineteen-line, being added by Thorne. For his specimen of ordinary-sized letter, Thorne probably made use at first of Cottrell’s book as it stood.[599]

But it is evident by the specimen published four years later, in 1798, that if he ever was possessed of the matrices of these founts, he entirely discarded them, in conformity with the passing fashion, in favour of others more closely resembling the beautiful faces of Jackson and Figgins. His specimen of 1798 is indeed one of the most elegant of which that famous decade can boast. For {293} lightness, grace, and uniformity, the series of Romans and Italics which are exhibited excels that of almost all his competitors. The book, which contains not a single fount which had previously appeared in Cottrell’s book, consists of forty-eight leaves, of which thirty are devoted to Roman and Italic, and the remainder to Titlings, Shaded letters, and Flowers, with one fount of Double-Pica Script. A postscript to the specimen states that four more founts were nearly ready, completing the series, the preparation of which had evidently been the labour of many years.[600] It is therefore the more to be regretted, that Thorne, in common with all his contemporaries, was compelled almost immediately, by the sudden change of public taste in favour of the new style of Roman, to abandon the further prosecution of this excellent series, and devote himself to the production of founts according to “modern” fashion.

In 1801 a revised price list was issued announcing a rise in the price of type owing to the advanced cost of raw material and journeymen’s wages[601]; and in 1803 appeared the specimen of the new Roman series, representing the product of five years’ incessant toil and sacrifice. It cannot be said that this specimen of “Improved Types”[602]—one of the first completed in the trade—bears any comparison with the artistic elegance of its predecessor.

It exhibits the new Roman and Italic in ten, seven, and five-line Pica, Canon, two-line Great Primer (two faces), two-line English (two faces), Double Pica (two faces), Great Primer (two faces), English, Pica, Long Primer (two faces), Bourgeois, Brevier, and Minion. Ornamenteds—two-line Pica (two faces), two-line Small Pica (two faces). Shadeds—two-line Small Pica (two faces), two-line Nonpareil (three faces). Script—Double Pica.

Thorne, indeed, having once abandoned the old style for the new, appears in the van of the innovating fashion. Not sharing in the regret expressed by his brethren in the art at the new departure, he still further advanced upon it by the production of some exceedingly thick and fat (and we may add unsightly) jobbing letters, which, though subsequently followed and even exceeded by others, were at the time unique for boldness and deformity. {294}

In Oriental and “learned” letters he appears to have achieved nothing; as not a single fount, not even Cottrell’s Domesday, appears in this specimen, or in the subsequent inventory of the Foundry.

A curious document entitled _Rules and Regulations of the Letter-Foundry of Robert Thorne, London, Jan. 1806_, exists, and gives an interesting glimpse into the order and customs of the Barbican Foundry. To the general scope of these rules we have referred in another place[603]; but as being personal to Thorne in his relations with his men, we may mention here that he constituted himself Treasurer of the fines for “Footale,” imposed by the men on all new workmen, with an obligation to account for and distribute the sum every Christmas Eve, and also made himself liable, equally with his men, to a fine of a shilling if he left his light burning when quitting the Foundry for the night.

For some time (though the exact dates cannot be fixed), Mr. Thorne had a partner in Mr. Hugh Hughes, an able engraver and designer of music and other characters, who afterwards commenced a foundry in Dean Street, Fetter Lane.[604] This association does not appear to have lasted long, or to have involved any alteration in the style of the firm.

About the year 1810 Mr. Thorne removed from Barbican to Fann Street, Aldersgate,[605] where, in premises formerly occupied by a brewery, he continued his business under the name, which it still bears, of the Fann Street Foundry.

Considerable additions were made to the faces of the Foundry during the next ten years. Two new Scripts were cut, the “Sanspareil” matrices were adopted for the large letters, and a few new book founts appeared with light faces, which contrasted agreeably with the fat style generally predominating in Thorne’s specimens.

In 1817, declining health induced Mr. Thorne to attempt to dispose of his business to his fellow-founders; but his offer being declined, he resumed his labours and continued actively at work until the time of his death, which occurred in 1820, at the age of sixty-six. He was buried in Holloway Churchyard, where a tablet is erected to his memory.

No complete specimen of his type remains later than that of 1803; although the numerous loose sheets which appeared after that date, and the fact that as many as 132 pages of composed specimens were left in type at the time of his death, show that one, if not several books had been issued during the interval. {295}

On June 21st, 1820, the Foundry was put up to auction,[606] and purchased entire by Mr. William Thorowgood.

This gentleman was previously unconnected with the typographical profession,[607] having been engaged as London manager and agent to a Patent Roller Pump business at Stone, in Staffordshire, of which concern he was one of the principal proprietors.

With the proceeds, it is said, of a fortunate draw in one of the State Lotteries,[608] he became possessor of the Fann Street Foundry, and proceeded at once to throw himself into the new business with great energy and no small success.

His first specimen book, issued in January 1821, a few months after the purchase, may be taken as representing the contents of the Foundry pretty much as Thorne left it; although even in this short space of time some additions are apparent, which formed no part of his predecessor’s stock.[609] {296}

In the following year Mr. Thorowgood was sworn Letter-Founder to His Majesty, and put forth a specimen of a Greek fount of good cut, which, at the time, was the sole representative of the “learned” languages in his Foundry. Further progress was, however, made in this direction during the next few years; as Hansard, writing in 1825, mentions three sizes of German, two of Greek, one of Hebrew, and four of Russian, as forming part of his stock. The Germans, and the Pica and Bourgeois Russian, were procured from the Foundry of Breitkopf and Härtel of Leipzig.[610]

A new specimen book was issued in 1828. In the same year, the retirement of Dr. Fry presented Mr. Thorowgood with the opportunity of making a most important addition to his business by the acquisition of the Type Street Foundry. This purchase transferred to the Fann Street Foundry not only the whole of Dr. Fry’s interesting collection of oriental and “learned” founts, which included many relics of the old foundries, but augmented his stock of book founts, Blacks, Titlings, and Flowers, to almost double their former extent.

The transfer was completed in 1829, and early in the following year a specimen of additions to the Foundry contained an announcement that “a new edition of the Greeks, Hebrews, and foreign characters of the Polyglot Foundry, late the property of Dr. Fry, is in preparation.”

This promised specimen duly appeared in 1830, the sheets still bearing Dr. Fry’s imprint; and after this date frequent supplementary specimens marked the development of the business of this now extensive foundry.

As the scope of this history does not extend beyond the period now reached, it will suffice to state that about 1838, Mr. Thorowgood admitted into partnership Mr. Robert Besley, who, since the year 1826, had been in the service of the Foundry as traveller and in other capacities. The firm then became known as Thorowgood and Co., or more commonly Thorowgood and Besley. This partnership ceasing by the withdrawal of Mr. Thorowgood in 1849, Mr. Benjamin Fox, a practical punch cutter of much talent, joined Mr. Besley as Robert Besley and Co. On the retirement of Alderman Besley in 1861, Mr. (afterwards, Sir) Charles Reed, a printer, entered the business, which took the style of Reed and Fox. Mr. Fox died in 1877, when the firm became Sir {297} Charles Reed and Sons. Sir Charles Reed died in 1881, and the business is now in the hands of his two sons.

LIST OF SPECIMENS, 1760–1830.

No date. A specimen by Thomas Cottrell. (1760?) Broadside. . . . . (Sohmian Coll. Stockholm.)

No date. A specimen of Printing Types by Thomas Cottrell, Letter Founder, in Nevil’s Court, Fetter Lane, London. (1766?) 8vo. . . . . (T.B.R.)

1770. A specimen of Cottrell’s Engrossing, Flowers, and Domesday Letters. 8vo. . . . . (Luckombe’s _History of Printing_, pp. 169–174.)

No date. A specimen of Large Letters by Thomas Cottrell, in Nevil’s Court, Fetter Lane, London. (1785?) 2 sheets, Broadside. . . . . (Sohmian Coll. Stockholm.)

1794. Specimen of Printing Types by R. Thorne, Letter Founder, No. 11, Barbican, London. Printed by W. Glindon, 1794. Sm. 4to. . . . . (T.B.R.)

1798. Specimen of Printing Types by R. Thorne, Letter Founder, Barbican, London, Printed in the year 1798. Sm. 4to. . . . . (Ox. Univ. Pr.)

1803. Thorne’s Specimen of Printing Types, 1803. 8vo. . . . . (W.B.)

1821. Thorowgood’s New Specimen of Printing Types, late R. Thorne’s, No. 2, Fann Street, Aldersgate Street, London. 8vo. . . . . (T.B.R.)

1822. A specimen sheet of Greek Type, W. Thorowgood, June, 1822. 8vo. . . . . (T.B.R.)

1828. Thorowgood’s, late Thorne’s, Specimen of Printing Types, 1828. 8vo. . . . . (T.B.R.)

1830. Additions to the Specimen of the Fann Street Letter Foundry, W. Thorowgood, Letter Founder to His Majesty, London, 1830. 8vo. . . . . (Caxt. Cel. 4418.)

1830. Fann Street Letter Foundry, London. Thorowgood’s Specimens of Greeks, Hebrews, and Foreign Characters, late the property of Dr. Edmund Fry. 1830. 8vo. . . . . (Caxt. Cel. 4413.)

{298}