chapter ii, shows specimens of Mrs. Caslon’s Roman letter contrasted

with the old models of the Foundry on the one hand, and its more recent developments on the other.

[514] “Chiswell Street, January 19, 1814. Henry Caslon respectfully informs his friends and the printers in general, that the term of his partnership with the executors of the late Mr. Nathaniel Catherwood having expired, he has entered into a new engagement with Mr. John James Catherwood, brother to his late partner, and that the firm is now carried on under the firm of Henry Caslon and J. J. Catherwood. He embraces this opportunity of expressing his grateful sense of the distinguished patronage the Foundry has received, and the kind encouragement he has individually experienced from his friends in the printing business, since the death of his mother and late partner.”

[515] _Typograpia_, p. 353.

[516] See _post_, chap. xvii.

[517] See _post_, chap. xxi, s.v. Bessemer. In the Directory at the end of Johnson’s _Typographia_, 1824 (ii, 652), a Catherwood is mentioned among the Letter Founders, Charles’ Sq., Hoxton.

[518] Cut by William Martin.

[519] This beautiful little fount was cut for Pickering’s _Greek Testament_ 1826, and for clearness and minuteness eclipses both the Sedan Greek, and that of Blean of Amsterdam. It was also used in the _Homer_ of 1831. Dibdin (_Introd. to the Classics_, 1827, i, 166) shows a specimen of the type.

[520] Cut for Dr. C. Wilkins, Oriental Librarian to the East India Company.

[521] _The Diary of Lady Willoughby, as relates to her Domestic History in the Reign of King Charles I._ London, 1844. 4to.

[522] _Particulars of a most valuable property for Investment called the Caslon Letter Foundry; also a most extensive Modern Foundry on which has been expended upwards of £50,000, which will be sold by auction by W. Lewis and Son . . . on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1846, at 11 for 12 precisely (unless previously disposed of by private contract)._ In the list of matrices catalogued, the cutters’ names are added, those of Hughes, Bessemer, and Boileau being among the most frequent.

[523] _The History of the Art of Printing, containing an Account of its Invention and Progress in Europe, with the names of the famous Printers, the places of their birth and the works printed by them, and a Preface by the Publisher to the Printers in Scotland. Edinburgh, printed by James Watson. Sold at his shop opposite the Lucken Booths, and at the shops of David Scot in the Parliament Close, and George Stewart a little above the Cross_, 1713, 12mo. Watson’s preface is stated to have been written by John Spotswood, Advocate. The historical portion is a condensed translation of De la Caille’s _Histoire de l’Imprimerie_, published at Paris in 1689.

[524] _Specimen of Types in the Printing House of James Watson._ 1713. 48 pp., of which 26 are devoted to Dutch “Bloomers” or Initials, and the remainder to Romans and Italics from French Canon to Nonpareil, with a fount of Greek, one of Black, and a few signs, etc.

[525] See _ante_, p. 218.

[526] _Typographia_, p. 362.

[527] Ireland, during a portion of the eighteenth century appears to have been well supplied with type from native sources. Of the fortunes of Wilson’s branch foundry here alluded to, we have no further record, unless we are to connect the following statement with the enterprise of the Scotch typographers:—Boulter Grierson in 1764 petitioned the Lord Lieutenant for a renewal of the Patent granted to his distinguished father George Grierson by George II in 1731, for King’s printer in Ireland. Among other reasons in support of his prayer, he states: “That the art of making types for printing was unknown in Ireland until very lately, when your petitioner’s father encouraged it by laying out about One Thousand pounds in that article alone, in order to establish that art in the said kingdom, and there are now as good types made here as any imported, by which means there is a great saving to the public, and great part of the money that would be otherwise sent to foreign country’s is left in this kingdom.” (We are indebted to the kindness of a lady descendent of George Grierson for this interesting extract.) According to a note of Lemoine which we quote at p. 264_n_, Dublin printers in 1797 were getting their types either from Wilson of Glasgow, or from London. It is therefore probable that, whether George Grierson’s enterprise may have consisted in the encouragement of Wilson’s foundry or in the establishment of another foundry of his own, the art did not long hold its ground in Ireland, and was discontinued in the latter half of the century, only to be once revived, and that for a short period only, by Dr. Wilson’s grandsons in 1840. See p. 265.

[528] For an account of Baine’s subsequent career as a type-founder, see _post_, chap. xix.

[529] These eminent printers, the most elegant typographers of which Scotland can boast, produced in their day some of the finest editions ever printed. Robert was originally a barber, but began as a printer in 1740. In 1743 he was appointed printer to Glasgow University, one of his first productions being an edition of _Demetrius Phalereus_ in that year. In 1744 he brought out his famous “immaculate” edition of _Horace_ in 12mo at Glasgow. Shortly afterwards his brother Andrew, who had been a teacher of French at the University, joined him, and the two together, by great industry and excellent artistic taste, produced a large number of beautifully printed works, some of which will rank with the finest achievements of Bodoni, or Barbou, or even the Elzevirs. Their classics, both Greek and Latin, were as remarkable for their exactness as for their beauty, and it is recorded that the brothers, following the example of some of the old masters, were in the habit of publicly exhibiting their proof sheets and offering a reward for the detection of any error. Andrew Foulis died in 1775, and Robert in the following year. The business was carried on under the old name of R. & A. Foulis for some years by Andrew Foulis, son of Robert. This printer it was who was associated with Tilloch in his patent for stereotype in 1784. He died in 1829 in great poverty.

[530] _Homeri Opera, Græce (ex edit. Sam. Clarke). Glasguæ; in Ædibus Academicis excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, Academii Typographi 1756–8_, 4 vols., fol. This work is one of the most splendid editions of Homer ever printed. Each sheet was corrected six times before being finally worked. Flaxman’s illustrations were designed for the work.

[531] After stating that it was the ambition of the publishers of this work to rival the finest productions of the Stephani of Paris, the preface continues (p. viii):—“Omnes quidem tres regios Stephanorum characteres græcos expresserat jam apud nos, atque imitatione accuratissimâ repræsentaverat _Alexander Wilson_, A.M., egregius ille Typorum artifex, quem et hoc nomine adscripserat sibi Alma Mater. In his autem grandioris formæ characteribus Stephanianis id unum desiderari quodammodo videbatur, scilicet, si res ita ferre posset, ut, salvâ tamen ilia solidæ magnitudinis specie quâ delectantur omnes, existeret una simul elegantiæ quiddam, magis atque venustatis. Rogatus est igitur ille artifex, ut, in hoc assequendo solertiam suam, quâ quidem pollet maximâ, strenue exercet. Quod et lubenter aggresus est, et ad votum usque videtur consecutus vir ad varias ingenuas artes augendas natus.”

[532] _Poems of Mr. Gray. Glasgow, printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis, Printers to the University._ 1768. 4to. This edition was published simultaneously with Dodsley’s first collected edition of _Gray’s Poems_, in London; and far exceeded it in beauty of typography and execution. Writing to Beattie in 1768, Gray says, “I rejoice to be in the hands of Mr. Foulis (the famous printer of Glasgow) who has the laudable ambition of excelling the Etiennes and the Elzevirs as well in literature as in the proper art of his profession.”

[533] “This is the first work in the Roman character which they (A. and R. Foulis) have printed with so large a type, and they are obliged to DOCTOR WILSON for preparing so expeditiously, and with so much attention, characters of so beautiful a form.”

[534] _A View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics._ London, 1775. 12mo. Improved editions in 1778, 1782, and 1790.

[535] Renouard, speaking of the twenty volume edition of _Cicero_ printed by the Foulis in 1749, prefers its type to that of the Elzevirs. _Catalogue de la Bibliothèque d’un Amateur._ Paris, 1819. 4 vols. 8vo. ii, 75.

[536] Hansard states that the Long Primer Greek matrices of the foundry were “from the type cast in which the Elzevirs printed some of their editions”—(_Typographia_, 404).

[537] In a later specimen is shown a “New Small Pica Italic” cut for the King’s printer in Edinburgh, 1807.

[538] Lemoine, _Typographical Antiquities_, 1797, says, “Ireland, by its connection with London and Scotland, produces some very neat printing; Wilson’s types are much approved of at Dublin. Alderman George Faulkner may be considered as the first printer in Ireland in his time; but it must be remembered his letter was all cast in London.” p. 99.

[539] This fount (according to Savage, _Dict. of Printing_, p. 320) was cut after the classical and elegant type of Athias, for Mr. Jno. Wertheimer, of Leman Street, and was used in printing the Rev. D. A. De Sola’s edition of the _Prayers of the Sphardim_.

[540] “In conformity,” says the preface, “with ancient immemorial usage, we have in Part I displayed our Founts in the Roman Garb—the venerable _Quousque tandem_—but lest it should be supposed we had adopted the flowing drapery of Rome for the purpose of shading or concealing defects, we have in Part II shown off our founts in a dress entirely English.” Mr. Figgins was the first to introduce this practice in his Specimens.

[541] The following extract from the preface to the 1834 Specimen, announces the removal: “We had the honour some time ago of announcing the removing of the Glasgow Letter Foundry to London, and we beg leave to inform you that we have now carried our intentions into execution, and are prepared to receive your commands in our establishment in Great New Street, Gough Square, London. The operative department will be conducted by Mr. John Sinclair, whose integrity of conduct and thorough knowledge of his profession we now reward by making him a partner in our business.” London, Aug. 1, 1834. The London Foundry was carried on under the old name of Alex. Wilson & Sons, or occasionally Wilsons and Sinclair; the Edinbro’ branch, and that subsequently started in Dublin, being styled A. & P. Wilson.

[542] See _post_, chap. xxi.

[543] There still exists, in Mr. Timmins’ collection of Baskerville relics, a slate tablet beautifully engraved with the words “Grave Stones cut in any of the Hands by John Baskervill, Writing Master,” in which the admirable models of Roman and Italic for which he afterwards became famous are clearly prefigured.

[544] “His carriage,” says Nichols, “each panel of which was a distinct picture, might be considered the pattern-card of his trade, and was drawn by a beautiful pair of cream-coloured horses” (_Lit. Anec._, iii, 451).

[545] He appears to have continued his original business to the end of his days. Writing in 1760, Mr. Derrick, in a letter to the Earl of Cork, dated July that year, after describing Baskerville’s printing achievements, adds: “This ingenious artist carries on a great trade in the Japan way, in which he showed me several useful articles, such as candlesticks, stands, salvers, waiters, bread-baskets, tea-boards, etc., elegantly designed and highly finished.” The name of Baskerville had previously been associated with typography, as we find in the lists of the Stationers’ Company a Gabriel Baskerville, who took up his freedom in 1622, and a John Baskerville, who took up his freedom in 1639.

[546] Dibdin (_Intr. to Classics_, ii, 555) says £800.

[547] “Towards the end of 1792 died Mr. John Handy, the artist who cut the punches for Baskerville’s types, and for twelve years was employed in a similar way at the Birmingham Typefoundry of Mr. Swinney.” (_Gent. Mag._, 1793, p. 91.)

[548] “John Baskerville proposes, by the advice and assistance of several learned men, to print from the Cambridge Edition, corrected with all possible care, an elegant edition of _Virgil_. The work will be printed in quarto, on a very fine writing Royal paper, and with the above letter. The price of the Volume in sheets will be one guinea, no part of which will be required till the Book is delivered. It will be put to press as soon as the number of subscribers shall amount to five hundred, whose names will be prefixt to the work. All persons who are inclined to encourage the undertaking, are desired to send their names to John Baskerville in Birmingham, who will give specimens of the work to all who are desirous of seeing them. Subscriptions are also taken in, and specimens delivered by Messieurs R. and J. Dodsley, Booksellers in Pall Mall, London.”

[549] Of the two copies in the possession of Mr. S. Timmins, one is printed on very fine banknote paper, and the other, more heavily, on a coarse brown.

[550] _Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Æneis. Birminghamiæ Typis Johannis Baskerville._ 1757. 4to. As Baskerville reprinted this work in 1771 with the old date 1757 on the title-page, it is necessary to note that, in the genuine edition, among other peculiarities, the 10th and 11th Books of the _Æneid_ are headed “Liber Decimus. Æneidos”, and “Liber Undecimus. Æneidos”, whereas in the re-impression they appear, uniform with the other titles, “Æneidos Liber Decimus.” “Æneidos Liber Undecimus.” A _Virgil_ was printed in 8vo, in 1766.

[551] “I have always considered this beautiful production as one of the most finished specimens of typography” (Dibdin, _Introduction to the Classics_, 2nd ed. II, 335).

[552] “My neighbour Baskerville at the close of this month (March 1757) publishes his fine edition of _Virgil_; it will for _type_ and _paper_ be a perfect curiosity” (_Shenstone’s Letters and Works_, 1791, Letter 88).

[553] Other type was used for this work.

[554] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 411.

[555] “Η Καινη Διαθηκη”. _Novum Testamentum juxta exemplar Millianum. Typis Joannis Baskerville. Oxonii e Typographeo Clarendoniano._ 1763. _Sumptibus Academiæ_, 4to and 8vo.

[556] Some of the Punches were exhibited by the University Press at the Caxton Exhibition in 1877. Since then, thanks to the energy of the present Controller, Mr. Horace Hart, to whom we are indebted for the above extracts and specimens, the matrices of the fount have come to light as well as the punches and matrices of the two-line letters and figures belonging to it. These were exhibited at the British Association Meeting at Birmingham in August 1886, being catalogued as follows:―

“PUNCHIONS of the Great Primer Greek—a large proportion of the fount, but not the whole.

“MATRICES of the same.

“PUNCHIONS of the Two-line Great Primer, with Initial Letters. Complete.

“MATRICES of the same, also complete.

“PUNCHIONS of one set of Figures, supplied with the above.

“MATRICES of the same.”

Still more recently, Mr. Horace Hart has been fortunate enough to discover part of the actual type in its original cases. It is interesting to note that these types, which are of rather a soft metal, are cast to the Oxford Learned-Side “height-to-paper.”

[557] _Paradise Lost, etc._, _Paradise Regain’d, etc._ Birmingham, 1758. 2 vols., 4to. The work was also published in the same year in 8vo, and again in 4to in 1759. The 4to edition of 1758 appears to be overlooked by some bibliographers, Hansard, among others, who refers in the extract here given to the reprint of 1759.

[558] _Typographia_, p. 310. It is worthy of note that the very high gloss on the paper which characterised most of Baskerville’s later works, is not always observable either in the _Virgil_ of 1757, or the _Milton_ of 1758.

[559] _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque d’um Amateur_, i, 310. After noticing the folio specimen following, he says: “Un autre essai de Baskerville, sur une plus petite feuille, contient seulment quatre caractères romains et deux en italique . . . Outre cette épreuve de grand essai, j’ai l’un et l’autre réunis à la fin de son _Virgile_ in 4.” The only example we have met with is that bound up with Lord Spencer’s beautiful copy of the _Virgil_ in the Althorp Library.

[560] Writing to Mr. R. Richardson of Durham on Oct. 29, 1758, Dr. Bedford says: “By Baskerville’s specimen of his types, you will perceive how much the elegance of them is owing to his paper, which he makes himself, as well as the types and ink also; and I was informed whenever they came to be used by common pressmen and with common materials they will lose of their beauty considerably. Hence, perhaps, this specimen may become very curious (when he is no more, and the types cannot be set off in the same perfection), and a great piece of _vertû_.” (Nichols, _Illust. Lit._, i, 813).

[561] Amongst which should be particularly singled out the _Horace_ in 12mo printed in 1762, which Dr. Harwood describes as “the most beautiful little book, both in regard to type and paper, I ever beheld.”

[562] _The Press, a poem. Published as a Specimen of Typography by John McCreery._ Liverpool, 1803, 4to. p. 19.

[563] An interesting notice of Lord Orford’s famous private press at Strawberry Hill, with a Catalogue of the—many of them—finely printed works that issued from it, is given in Lemoine’s _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 91.

[564] The original of this important letter, with the specimen attached, is in Mr. Timmins’s possession.

[565] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New, translated out of the Original Tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. By His Majesty’s special command. Appointed to be read in Churches. Cambridge: printed by John Baskerville, Printer to the University._ 1763. _Cum Privilegio._ Fol. The prospectus of this work, with a specimen of the type, appeared in 1760. The folio _Bible_, printed at Birmingham in 1772, is a much inferior performance.

[566] _The Book of Common Prayer, Cambridge_, 1760, roy. 8vo, (with long lines); 1760, roy. 8vo, (in double columns); 1761, roy. 8vo; 1762, roy. 8vo (with long lines): 1762, 12mo.

[567] He appears always to have kept a large number of hot plates of copper always ready, between which, as soon as printed, just as they were discharged from the tympan, the sheets were inserted. The moisture was thus expelled, the ink set, and the smooth, glossy surface put on all simultaneously. However well the method may have answered at the time, the discoloration of his books still preserved in the British Museum and elsewhere, shows that the brilliance thus imparted was most tawdry and ephemeral.

[568] “Les caractères sont gravés avec beaucoup de hardiesse, les italiques sont les meilleures qu’il y ait dans toutes les Fonderies d’Angleterre, mais les romains sont un peu trop larges.” . . And of his editions he adds, “Quoiqu’elles fatiguent un peu la vue, on ne peut disconvenir que ce ne soit la plus belle chose qu’on ait encore vue en ce genre.” (_Man. Typ._, ii, xxxix.)

[569] “Mr. Baskerville . . . made some attempts at letter-cutting, but desisted, with good reason. The Greek cut by him or his for the University of Oxford is execrable. Indeed, he can hardly claim a place amongst letter-cutters. His typographical excellence lay more in trim, glossy paper to dim the sight.” (_Dissert._, p. 86.)

[570] _The Life of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself, etc._ (Bigelow’s edition). Philadelphia, 1875, i, 413. Nichols, in error, gives the date of this letter as 1764.

[571] The apparatus was first offered, it is said, to the French Ambassador in London for £8,000. Subsequently Baskerville wrote, on Sept. 7, 1767: “Suppose we reduce the price to £6,000. . . . Let the reason of my parting with it be the death of my son and intended successor, and having acquired a moderate fortune, I wish to consult my ease in the afternoon of life.”

[572] The following works were printed by Martin between 1766 and 1769, viz., _Christians’ Useful Companion_, 1766, 8vo; _Somerville’s Chace_, 1767, 8vo; _Shakespeare_, 9 vols., 1768, 12mo; _Bible with cuts_, 1769, 4to; and editions of the _Lady’s Preceptor_.

[573] Letter dated 21 Sept. 1773. “You speak of enlarging your Foundery” (_Works_, viii, 88).

[574] The remaining copies of Baskerville’s impressions, were, after his death purchased for £1,100 by W. Smart, bookseller, of Worcester, and publisher of the _Worcester Guide_.

[575] Hutton, _History of Birmingham_, 1835, p. 197.

[576] _Biographical History of England_, ii, 362.

[577]

“Stranger, beneath this cone, in _unconsecrated_ ground, a friend to the liberties of mankind directed his body to be inurn’d. May the example contribute to emancipate thy mind from the idle fears of _Superstition_, and the wicked arts of Priesthood.”

Touching this epitaph Archdeacon Nares has the following note:—“I heard John Wilkes, after praising Baskerville, add, “But he was a terrible infidel; he used to shock me!”

[578] “On Friday last, Mr. Baskerville, of this town, was married to Mrs. Eaves, widow of the late Richard Eaves, Esq., deceased” (_Birmingham Register_, June 7, 1765). Mrs. Baskerville d. 1788. Two works exist, printed at Birmingham, with the imprint, Sarah Baskerville.

[579] In 1776, Chapman used Baskerville’s type for Dr. W. Sherlock’s _Discourses concerning Death._ 8vo.

[580] This preference was so marked, that about this time the proprietors of Fry and Pine’s foundry, who had begun with an avowed imitation of the Baskerville models, were constrained to admit their mistake, and discard that fashion for new founts cut on the model of Caslon.

[581] As early as 1775, Dr. Harwood, in the preface to his _View of the Editions of the Classics_, had pleaded urgently for the purchase of Baskerville’s types, and Wilson’s famous Greek, as the nucleus of a Royal Typography in England.

[582] _Lit. Anec._, iii, 460.

[583] _Proposals for Printing by Subscription a Complete Edition of the Works of Voltaire, printed with the Types of Baskerville for the Literary and Typographical Society_, 1782, 12 pp. 8vo, with 2 pp. specimens of the type. The French proposal appears to have been put forward in 1780.

[584] _Beaumarchais and His Times. Translated by H. S. Edwards._ London, 1856. 4 vols. 8vo (iii, chap. 24).

[585] _Œuvres Complètes de Voltaire. De l’Imprimerie de la Société litteraire et typographique_, (Kehl) 1784–1789. 70 vols. in 8vo; and 92 vols. in 12mo.

[586] Renouard mentions having seen at Paris a broadside specimen of all the Baskerville types transported to Beaumarchais’ establishment: “Ce sont les mêmes types,” he adds, “mais quelle différence dans leur emploi!” (_Catalogue_, i, 310).

[587]

_La Virtu Sconosciuta Dialogo_, 1786, 8vo. _Del Principe e delle Lettere_, 1795, 8vo. _L’Etruria Vendicata Poema_, 1800, 8vo. _Della Tirannide_, 1809, 8vo.

[588] _The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle. Attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, reprinted from the Book of St. Albans. London; printed with the types of John Baskerville for William Pickering._ (Thos. White, imp.) 1827. 8vo.

[589] A statement that they were acquired at the beginning of the century for the printing offices of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, appears, after careful inquiry, to rest on no further foundation than rumour.

[590] See frontispiece. Cottrell is the figure marked 4.

[591] See _ante_, p. 158.

[592] _Dissertation_, p. 82.

[593] _A Specimen of a New Printing Type, in Imitation of the Law-Hand. Designed by William Richardson, of Castle Yard, Holborn._ London, n. d. Broadside.

[594] The Double Pica Script sheet occasionally bound in with this specimen, is evidently an interpolation of a later date, as it neither has the border round, nor does it conform to the measure or gauge of theother sheets. It was not finished in 1778 when Mores wrote. See _Dissert._, p. 83.

[595] _Manuel Typographique_, ii, xxxviii. This whole notice is so exceedingly incorrect as to call for mention here. “L’Angleterre a peu de Fonderies, mais elles sont bien fournies en toutes sortes de caractères: les principales sont celles de Thomas Cottrell à Oxfort; de Jacques Watson à Edimbourg, de Guillaume Caslon & Fils à Londres, et de Jean Baskerville à Birmingham”! It would almost appear as if, having before him the names of Cottrell, Oxford, James, Wilson of Glasgow, Caslon of London, and Baskerville of Birmingham, the then existing foundries in this kingdom, Fournier had taxed his ingenuity to make four foundries out of six and had succeeded, altering Wilson’s name to that of his long defunct fellow citizen, Queen Anne’s printer, in the process. This feat has, however, been eclipsed in his notice of the Voskens’ foundry at Amsterdam, which, after the death of Dirk Voskens, passed to his widow and sons. “Cette Fonderie” Fournier informs us, “a passée à sa veuve et au Sieur Zonen”!

[596] Mores (_Dissert._, p. 83), says he was the first to produce letters of this size.

[597] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 358.

[598] “R. Thorne, Letter-Founder, takes the Liberty of informing the Trade in general that he has begun business upon his own account, and intends serving them at the following old-established prices: [here follows price list]. He respectfully informs those gentlemen that choose to favour him with their orders, that they may depend upon the best workmanship and materials. Barbican, July 1, 1794.”

[599] It appears to have been no uncommon practice in the trade to make use of a predecessor’s book, corrected on the title-page in pen and ink. Our copy of Cottrell’s specimen is thus altered to the name of a broker; and the specimens of the Type Street Foundry are many of them similarly corrected to adapt them for the frequently changing style of that firm.

[600] In a note, he says, “R. T. informs those gentlemen to whom he is at present unknown, that the Types of the Barbican Foundry are cast to the usual Height and Body; and that great care has been taken to have the Counterpart deeply cut, by which means they will wear much longer than any hitherto in use.”

[601] Pica, which in 1798 had been 1_s._ per lb., is raised to 1_s._ 2 1/2_d._, and Nonpareil is advanced from 5_s._ to 5_s._ 6_d._ The other sizes are in similar proportion.

[602] “Sir,—Having published a Specimen of Improved Printing Types, I have taken the liberty of sending you a Copy, which I hope you will approve of; and be assured that every possible exertion shall be used in completing those orders you may favor me with.

“Barbican, 1803.

“I remain, your obedient Servant, ROBERT THORNE.”

[603] See _ante_, p. 117.

[604] See _post_, chap. xxi.

[605] In the Directory at the end of _Stower’s Printers’ Grammar_, 1808, Thorne’s name is given without address.

[606] _Particulars of the Lease and Valuable Plant of the Type Foundry of Mr. Robert Thorne, deceased, situate in Fann’s Street, Aldersgate Street,.........which will be Sold by Auction by Mr. W. Davies, at Garraway’s Coffee House, on Wednesday, the 21st of June, 1820, at Twelve o’clock, in One Lot._ Besides the lease, plant, and fixtures, the Catalogue comprised 316 lots of matrices and about 340 moulds. The matrices were as follows:―

_Roman and Italic._― 5-line (3), 4-line (3), Canon (4), 2-line Double Pica (3), 2-line Great Primer (4), 2-line English (4), 2-line Pica (1), Double Pica (4), Great Primer (4), English (5), Pica (6), Small Pica (3), Long Primer (6), Bourgeois (3), Brevier (5), Minion (1), Nonpareil Roman (2), Pearl (1)

_Black (plain or open)._― 5-line (5), 4-line (2), Canon (2), 2-line Great Primer (5), 2-line English (2), Double Pica (2), Great Primer (2), English (1), Pica (1), Small Pica (1), Long Primer (2), Bourgeois (1).

_Shaded._― 5-line to Brevier (21).

_Flowers._― All bodies (15).

_Ornamented._― Canon to 2-line Bourgeois (6).

_Egyptian._― 2-line Great Primerto Brevier (6).

_Script._― 2-line Pica, Double Pica, Great Primer.

_Engrossing._― 2-line English.

_German._― English.

_Two-line Letters, Signs_, etc., etc.

_Sanspareil Founts._― 14-line to 4-line (24).

[607] He had a brother (?) a printer, in Wood Street, Cheapside.

[608] It is curious to note that the matter of not a few of Thorowgood’s early specimens has reference to the lucky numbers “always found in great variety in the Grand State Lotteries.” Such gratuitous advertisements are no doubt so many grateful acknowledgments of his own obligations to a time-honoured institution.

[609] The address to the printers, prefixed to this specimen, is as follows: “I cannot omit the opportunity offered in presenting my first specimen to your notice, to return my most sincere thanks to the profession for that portion of their patronage which I have received since my succession to Mr. Thorne. Although some difficulties presented themselves in redeeming the pledge I made of renovating my small founts and casting them of metal more durable than those in common use, yet I flatter myself that those friends who relied on my professions will bear ample testimony that they have not been disappointed, and that the superior facilities of manufacturing types possessed by myself in common with the other founders of the metropolis has been used to their advantage,” etc.

[610] This famous foundry, which still exists, was established by Bernard Christopher Breitkopf in 1719. His son, Johann Gottlieb Immanuel Breitkopf, was the inventor (simultaneously with Haas of Basle) of the art of map printing with movable types, and is claimed also as the inventor of movable music types about 1748. Many eminent punch cutters were employed on the founts of this foundry, which was in 1800 one of the largest in Germany. The first specimen appeared in 1739.

[611] Hugh Owen. _Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol_, 1873, 8vo.

[612] Of these books we have one before us—_A Collection of Hymns adapted for Public Worship_. Bristol, (1769), 12mo, in the Long Primer of the foundry, showing, besides, several varieties of title-letters and flowers.

[613] _Catalogue_, i, 310, “Grande feuille collée sur une toile ou batiste fine.”

[614] Rowe Mores, after quoting the above, adds drily: “Their letter is neat. We _do_ ‘set aside the influence of custom,’ and call it the law of fools, but we must recommend to the consideration of the proprietors the difference between scalping and counterpunching.” (_Dissertation_, p. 84.)

[615] “The Inventors, sensible of the great utility of their Discovery, have mentioned it to several of the Trade, who have made very considerable offers to encourage the laying open the Secret: But as their desire is, that every Printer in the Kingdom might be benefited by it they propose to make the Discovery as universal as possible, by making an honourable and generous present of it to the whole trade: To many of whom they are under some Obligations for the kind encouragement of their new Foundery. And as that is an object they desire here to recommend, they would further propose, (as they have nearly compleated all their founts, and can serve the Trade on as good Terms as any in the Kingdom, and with Types they will warrant to wear as long) that every Printer who shall give them an order for Ten Pounds worth of Type or more (Five Pounds of which to be paid on ordering and the Remainder on the Delivery) shall be made acquainted with the above improvements. So that the whole Advantage proposed is the selling some Founts of Letter which every Printer does or will want. And as they expect that the Trade in general will approve of their Plan, they beg that the Encouragers of it would send their orders with all convenient Speed to the above Foundery; (as they intend as soon as they have got a sufficient Number to lay open the whole) which they hope will not be less universal than the desire of being made Partakers of so interesting a Discovery: for it merits nothing less than the most cordial Encouragement of every Printer in Europe, though here so freely offered. And it will appear when laid open to be of such Service as nothing like it has been discovered in Printing for some Centuries. . . . The whole expence of altering the present presses to the above Improvement will be but about forty shillings.” A notice of this invention, as well as of a patent type-case designed by the same partners, is found in the _Abridgments of Specifications for Printing, 1617–1857_, London, 1859. 8vo, p. 88.

[616] _History and Art of Printing_, p. 244.

[617] After commending Caslon and Jackson, he says: “As to the productions of other Founderies we shall be silent, and leave them to sound forth their own good qualifications, which by an examiner are not found to exist” (p. 230).

[618] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testament, with Notes Explanatory, Critical and Practical, selected from the Works of several Eminent Divines. London, I. Moore and Co., Letter Founders and Printers in Queen Street, near Upper Moorfields._ 1774. Folio.

_The Same_, in 5 vols., 8vo:—_Vols._ 1, 2, 3, 1774; _Vol._ 4, 1776; _Vol._ 5 (_Apocrypha_) 1775.

[619] _A Commentary on the Holy Bible, containing the Whole Sacred Text of the Old and New Testaments, with Notes, etc. Bristol, Printed and Sold by William Pine._ 1774, 12mo.

[620] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testament, with Notes Explanatory, Critical and Practical, selected from the Works of several Eminent Authors. London. Printed and Sold by J. Fry and Co., Letter Founders and Printers in Queen Street, near Upper Moorfields._ 1777. Folio.

_The Same_, 4 vols., 1777. 8vo.

[621] Amongst other works printed by him there is preserved a tract, entitled _An Answer to a Narrative of Facts . . . lately published by Mr. Henry Burgum as far as relates to the Character of Wm. Pine. Bristol. Printed in the year 1775._ 8vo. This is a letter of rejoinder addressed by Pine to Burgum, repelling charges relating to the publication of an offensive pamphlet. Pine also printed several works for the Wesleys.

[622] See p. 226 _et seq._

[623] The pedigree of the matrices is indicated, as far as can be ascertained, by the initials (see our note 2 at p. 227); but in several cases, particularly in the case of the Blacks, the origin is considerably more remote than the foundry named. The error of inferring anything as to their origin from the names of famous old printers appearing on the drawers in which they were stored at James’s foundry has already been pointed out—see _ante_, p. 230. Several of these founts Dr. Fry appears to have received in a defective state, necessitating in some cases a complete re-justifying of the matrices, and in others the cutting of a considerable number of punches, and casting on bodies which did not always agree with those named in the sale Catalogue. This circumstance will account for many of the apparent discrepancies between the original founts and the renovated founts as they appear in the Type Street specimens.

[624] “It affords them”—the proprietors—“great Satisfaction to observe that the original Shape of their Roman and Italic Letters continues to meet the Approbation of the Curious, both in and out of the Printing Trade: nevertheless, to remove an Objection which the difference in Shape, from the letters commonly used here, raised in some, whereby their Introduction into several Capital Offices have been prevented; they have cut entire new sets of Punches, both Roman and Italic; and they flatter themselves they have executed the Founts, as far as they are done, in an elegant and masterly Manner, which in this Specimen are distinguished by the title NEW, and which will mix with and be totally unknown from the most approved Founts made by the late ingenious Artist, William Caslon.” For Caslon’s acknowledgment of this compliment, see _ante_, p. 249.

[625] “However desirous the proprietor of another Foundery may be to persuade the public into an idea of a superiority in his own favour, owing to _Rapid_ improvements for upwards of _Sixty_ years, a little time may, perhaps, suffice to convince impartial and unbiassed Judges that the very elegant Types of the WORSHIP STREET MANUFACTORY, though they cannot indeed boast of their existence longer than about _Twenty_ years ! will yet rank as high in Beauty, Symmetry, and intrinsic Merit as any other whatever, and ensure equal approbation from the Literati not only in this Country but in every quarter of the Globe.”

[626] For a short time following Mr. Fry’s death his widow is said to have been associated with her sons in the conduct of the letter-foundry. Mrs. Fry lived at Great Marlow, and afterwards in Charterhouse Square, London, where she died, Oct. 22, 1803, aged 83.

[627] _The Printer’s Grammar. London, printed by L. Wayland._ 1787. 8vo.

[628] We have the following volume very beautifully printed:—_C. Plinii Cæcilii Secundi Epistolarum Libri x. Sumptibus editoris excudebant M. Ritchie et J. Samuells. Londini_, 1790. 8vo. At end:—_Typis Edmundi Fry_.

[629] This excellent artist was a Scotchman, and printed in Bartholomew Close in 1785. He was one of the first who started in emulation of Baskerville as a fine printer; his series of Mr. Homer’s Classics (_Sallust_, 1789; _Pliny_, 1790; _Tacitus_, 1790; _Q. Curtius_; _Cæsar_, 1790; _Livy_, 1794) established his reputation. His quarto _Bible_ and the _Memoirs of the Count de Grammont_ are also celebrated. He printed on Whatman’s paper with admirable ink and most careful press-work, and is stated to have produced most of his books by his own personal and manual labour.

[630] From this press the following elegantly printed volume was issued in 1788:—_The Beauties of the Poets, being a Collection of Moral and Sacred Poetry, etc., compiled by the late Rev. Thomas Janes of Bristol. London, printed at the Cicero Press by and for Henry Fry, No. 5 Worship Street, Upper Moorfields._ 1788. 8vo. At one time Henry Fry appears to have had a partner named Couchman.

[631] _A New Guide to the English Tongue in five parts by Thomas Dilworth . . . Schoolmaster in Wapping. Stereotype Edition. London. Andrew Wilson, Camden Town._ 8vo. Contains portraits, tail piece and 12 fable cuts.

[632] _Pantographia; containing accurate copies of all the known Alphabets in the World, together with an English explanation of the peculiar Force or Power of each Letter; to which are added specimens of all well authenticated Oral Languages; forming a comprehensive Digest of Phonology. By Edmund Fry, Letter Founder, Type Street, London, 1799._ Roy. 8vo. A few copies were printed on vellum, one of which is in the Cambridge University Library.

[633] _The Printer’s Grammar or Introduction to the Art of Printing: containing a concise History of the Art, etc., by C. Stower, Printer. London. Printed by the Editor._ 1808, 8vo. The same work also shows extracts and specimens from _Pantographia_.

[634] Hazard was also the designer of a pair of cases, a plan of which is shown by Stower, p. 463.

[635] The Rev. Samuel Lee, B.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, was a constant visitor at Type Street, and personally directed the cutting of many of the founts.

[636] Dr. Fry’s system was virtually that first introduced by Mr. Alston, of Glasgow, to which reference is made _ante_, p. 78, where details are also given as to the other principal systems of type for the Blind. A “lower-case” was subsequently added to Dr. Fry’s fount by his successors, and in this form the type was largely used by the various Type Schools following Mr. Alston’s method. Full particulars of this award, with specimens, maybe seen in Vol. I of the _Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts_.

[637] Hansard mentions a Two-line English Engrossing, two sizes of Music, and the matrices of Dr. Wilkins’ _Philosophical Character_; none of which, however, formed part of this Foundry.

[638] Of the supposed antiquity of this interesting fount an account has already been given at pages 200–5, _ante_. By a curious confusion of names and dates, Dr. Fry, in his specimens stated that “this character was cut by _Wynkyn de Worde_, in exact imitation of the _Codex Alexandrinus_ in the British Museum” ! This absurd anachronism—the more extraordinary as emanating from an antiquary of Dr. Fry’s standing—appears to have arisen from the fact that at the sale of James’ Foundry the matrices lay in a drawer which bore the name, “De Worde.” This circumstance misled Paterson, the auctioneer, into advertising the fount as the genuine handiwork of De Worde, a printer who lived a century before the Codex was brought into this country. The further coincidence that Dr. Woide of the British Museum was, at the time of the sale, engaged in producing an edition of the _Codex_, with facsimile types prepared by Jackson the founder, doubtless added—by the similarity of the names De Worde and Dr. Woide—to the confusion. After its purchase, the fount first appeared in Joseph Fry and Sons’ Specimen of 1786, without note. But, in the subsequent specimens of the Foundry, bearing his own name, Dr. Fry introduced the fiction, which remained unchallenged for a quarter of a century.

[639] In addition to which Dr. Fry possessed, in an imperfect condition (many of the characters having been recut), the Great Primer Arabic of Walton’s _Polyglot_. According to Hansard he also had a set of matrices, English body, from the first punches cut by William Caslon; but this seems to be an error.

[640] Used in Bagster’s _Polyglot_. The same fount was cast on Long Primer with movable points. Hansard is in error in stating that Dr. Fry cut a Nonpareil Syriac.

[641] An error still less explicable than that of the Alexandrian Greek, but which not only Dr. Fry’s successors, but Hansard himself has copied. The following seems to be the “good authority” on which the assertion is based. In 1819, Mr. Bulmer, the eminent printer, printed for the Roxburghe Club, Mr. Hibbert’s transcript of the MS. fragment of the translation of _Ovid’s Metamorphoses_, made by Caxton about 1480, and preserved in the library of Pepys at Magdalen College, Cambridge. The body of the work was set in the English Black bought by Dr. Fry at James’ Sale—but in two places a smaller size of type was required to print passages omitted in Caxton’s translation, but supplied by the Editor in the original French of Colard Mansion’s edition. For these passages the Pica Black was selected, and as the French text contained several accents and contractions, these had to be specially cut. This task Dr. Fry performed, and understanding that the letter was to be used for printing a work of Caxton’s, he appears, without further enquiry, to have assumed that the work in question was a fac-simile reprint, and that his old matrices had been discovered to bear the impress of the veritable character used by that famous man. Had he seen the book in question he would have discovered that not only was it a transcript from a MS. of which no printed copy had ever been known to exist, but that the very passages in which the boasted type was used, were passages which did not even appear in a work of Caxton at all. The matrices are very old. They were in Andrews’ foundry about 1700, and in all probability came there from Holland, as they closely resemble the other old Dutch Blacks in James’ Foundry.

[642] In the Small Pica, No. 2, was printed _The Two First Books of the Pentateuch, or Books of Moses, as a preparation for learners to read the Holy Scriptures. The types cut by Mr. Edmund Fry, Letter Founder to His Majesty, from Original Irish Manuscripts, under the care and direction of T. Connellan (2nd Edit.) Printed at the Apollo Press, London, J. Johnson, Brook Street, Holborn, 1819._ 12mo.

[643] Whatever singularity M. Didot may have indulged in in the first strikes from his famous punches for his own use, the matrices now in the possession of Dr. Fry’s successors are of most unmistakeable copper throughout. And it does not appear that more than one set of the strikes was needed to meet all the demands made upon this complicated letter by the printers of the day.

[644] _Gentleman’s Magazine_, May, 1836.

[645] Nichols’ _Lit. Anec._, ii, 358–9; and _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1792, p. 93.

[646] _Dissert._, p. 83.

[647] Probably as a rubber, in which occupation he is represented as engaged in the View of the Caslon Foundry given in the _Universal Magazine_ for June 1750 (see frontispiece).

[648] _Dissertation_, p. 83.

[649] Mr. Halhed thus refers to this circumstance in the introduction to his _Bengal Grammar_ (see post): “That the Bengal letter is very difficult to be imitated in steel will readily be allowed by every person who shall examine the intricacies of the strokes, the unequal length and size of the characters, and the variety of their positions and combinations. It was no easy task to procure a writer accurate enough to prepare an alphabet of a similar and proportionate body throughout, with that symmetrical exactness which is necessary to the regularity and neatness of a fount. Mr. Bolts (who is supposed to be well versed in this language) attempted to fabricate a set of types for it with the assistance of the ablest artists in London. But, as he has egregiously failed in executing even the easiest part, or primary alphabet, of which he has published a specimen, there is no reason to suppose that his project when completed would have advanced beyond the usual state of imperfection to which new inventions are constantly exposed.”

[650] This distinguished scholar and self-made typographer was born in the year 1751. He entered the East India Company’s Civil Service, where he devoted himself not only to the study of the Oriental languages, but to the actual production of the types necessary to extend the study of those languages among his fellow-countrymen, with extraordinary skill and perseverance. He succeeded in cutting the punches and casting the types for Halhed’s _Grammar of the Bengal Language_, published at Hoogly in Bengal in 1778, 4to. In his preface to that work, Mr. Halhed, after referring to Mr. Bolts’ failure, in the passage quoted in the preceding note, thus describes the undertaking:—“The advice and even solicitation of the Governor-General prevailed upon Mr. Wilkins, a gentleman who has been some years in the India Company’s Civil Service in Bengal, to undertake a set of Bengal Types. He did, and his success has exceeded every expectation. In a country so remote from all connection with European artists, he has been obliged to charge himself with all the various occupations of the Metallurgist, the Engraver, the Founder, and the Printer. To the merit of invention he was compelled to add the application of personal labour. With a rapidity unknown in Europe, he surmounted all the obstacles which necessarily clog the first rudiments of a difficult art, as well as the disadvantages of solitary experiment; and has thus singly, on the first effort, exhibited his work in a state of perfection which in every part of the world has appeared to require the united improvements of different projectors and the gradual polish of successive ages.” Mr. Wilkins persevered in his noble undertaking of rendering the Oriental languages available to the English scholar through the medium of typography. With this view he compiled from the most celebrated native Grammars and Commentaries a work entirely new to England on the Structure of the Sanskrita tongue. Of the difficulties and discouragements attendant on the execution of this self-imposed task he thus speaks in his Preface:—“At the commencement of the year in 1795, residing in the country and having much leisure, I began to arrange my materials and prepare them for publication. I cut letters in steel, made matrices and moulds, and cast from them a fount of types of the Deva Nagari character, all with my own hands; and, with the assistance of such mechanics as a country village could afford, I very speedily prepared all the other implements of printing in my own dwelling-house; for by the second of May of the same year I had taken proofs of 16 pages, differing but little from those now exhibited in the first two sheets. Till two o’clock on that day everything had succeeded to my expectations; when alas! the premises were discovered to be in flames, which, spreading too rapidly to be extinguished, the whole building was presently burned to the ground. In the midst of this misfortune, I happily saved all my books and manuscripts, and the greatest part of the punches and matrices; but the types themselves having been thrown out and scattered on the lawn, were either lost or rendered useless.” About ten years afterwards the Directors of the East India Company encouraged Dr. Wilkins, then Librarian to the Company, to resume his labours and cast new types, as the study of the Sanskrita had become an important object in their new College at Hertford. Dr. Wilkins complied, and the _Grammar of the Sanskrita Language_, London, 1808, 4to, duly appeared from Bulmer’s Press, and was allowed to be a monument at once of beautiful typography and erudite industry. Dr., subsequently Sir Charles, Wilkins died May 13th, 1836, at the advanced age of 85. Specimens of his Bengali and Sanskrit may be seen in Johnson’s _Typographia_, ii, 389–94.

[651] _A Vocabulary, Persian, Arabic, and English, containing such words as have been adopted from the two former of these languages, and incorporated into the Hindvi; together with some hundreds of compound verbs formed from Persian or Arabic nouns and in universal use. Being the seventh part of the new Hindvi Grammar and Dictionary._ London, 1785. 4to.

[652] The Domesday letter of Cottrell and Jackson may be seen in juxtaposition in Fry’s _Pantographia_, 1799, pp. 50 and 314; also in Stower’s _Printer’s Grammar_, 1808, p. 253. Jackson’s also appears in Johnson’s _Typographia_ (ii, p. 248), from which work our account is chiefly taken.

[653] _Domesday Book seu Liber Censualis Willelmi primi Regis Angliæ inter Archivos Regni in Domo capitulari Westmonasterii asservatus. Jubente Rege Augustissimo Georgio Tertio prelo mandatus. Londini. Typis J. Nichols._ 2 vols. Folio. 1783.

[654] _Domesday Book Illustrated._ London. 1788. 8vo.

[655] Dr. Woide was appointed Assistant Librarian at the British Museum in 1782.

[656] See _ante_, p. 200–5.

[657] A specimen of this letter may be seen in Dr. Fry’s specimens, also in his _Pantagraphia_, p. 126.

[658] Gough, writing in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, vol. lvi, p. 497, says:—“It was reserved, therefore, for the industry and application of Dr. Woide . . . to rescue this valuable MS. from the fate which befel a MS. of the Septuagint in the Cottonian Library of equal antiquity, type, and, value, of which a very few fragments escaped the fire in 1733, by adopting the facsimile mode of reproduction, which, from the great expense attending it, has unfortunately been adopted in so few instances.” The facsimile of the Laudian Codex, comprising the _Acts of the Apostles_, published by Hearne at Oxford in 1715, had been the only previous successful attempt of this kind in England. Hearne’s facsimile, however, was engraved, and not from type. A list of the most important subsequent facsimile reproductions from Codices of the Holy Text is given in Horne’s _Introduction_ (edit. 1872), iv, pp. 682–3.

[659] _Novum Testamentum Græcum è Codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliothecâ Musei Britannici asservatur, descriptum a Carolo Godofredo Woide . . . Musei Britannici Bibliothecaria Londini. Ex prelo Jeannis Nichols. Typis Jacksonianis, 1786._ Folio.

[660] _Psalterium Græcum è Codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliothecâ Musei Britannici asservatur Typis ad similitudinem ipsius Codicis Scripturæ fideliter descriptum. Curâ et labore H. H. Baber. Londini, 1812._ Folio.

[661] _Vetus Testamentum Græcum è Codice MS. Alexandrino qui Londini in Bibliothecâ Musei Britannici asservatur, Typis ad similitudinem ipsius Codicis Scripturæ fideliter descriptum. Curâ et labore H. H. Baber, Londini, 1816–21._ 4 vols., Folio. Mr. Baber, the better to preserve the identity of the original in his fac-similes, introduced a considerable number of fresh types as well as numerous woodcuts.

[662] _Codex Theodori Bezæ Cantabrigiensis, Evangelia et Acta Apostolorum complectens, quadratis literis, Græco-Latinus. Academia auspicante summâ qua fide potuit, adumbravit, expressit, edidit, codicis historiam præfixit, notasque adjecit T. Kipling. Cantabrigiæ è prelo Academico, impensis Academiæ, 1793._ 2 vols., Folio.

[663] _Gent. Mag._, 1793, p. 733.

[664] Mores’ _Dissert._, Appendix, p. 98.

[665] _Prosodia Rationalis, an Essay towards establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech by Symbols._ London, 1779. 4to.

[666] _An Essay towards Establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech, to be expressed and perpetuated by peculiar Symbols._ London, 1775. 4to.

[667] _The Holy Bible, embellished with Engravings from Pictures and Designs by the most eminent Artists. London: printed for Thomas Macklin by Thomas Bensley, 1800. 7 vols._ Folio.

[668] See p. 336, _post_. Jackson’s fount is used to the end of _Numbers_.

[669] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 360.

[670] _The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution in 1688. By David Hume. London: printed by T. Bensley, for Robert Bowyer, 1806._ 10 vols. Folio.

[671] _Gent. Mag._, 1792, p. 166.

[672] John William Pasham, originally of Bury St. Edmund’s, where he published the _Bury Flying Weekly Journal_. He removed to Blackfriars in London, where, in 1776, he published a beautiful pocket edition of the _Bible_ in 24mo, which obtained the title of the _Immaculate Bible_, on account of the rarity of its errors. It had foot-notes, which could be cut off in the binding if required. Of this _Bible_, Lemoine says “it is spoiled by being dried in a kiln, which has entirely changed the colour of the paper; besides, the colour of the print is uneven, one side being darker than the other.” This _Bible_ is said to have been printed in a house on Finchley Common. Mr. Pasham died Dec. 1783.

[673] See _ante_, p. 250.

[674] The prefatory note to this specimen runs as follows:—“Sir, Having completed my new Specimen, I take the opportunity of sending you a copy, and flatter myself it will meet with your approbation. I shall be happy to receive your future orders, and you may be assured of every possible attention being paid to the execution of those you may favour me with. I remain, your obedient humble servant, William Caslon. Salisbury Square, Jan. 1, 1798.”

[675] He made an offer in 1817 to travel on commission for the founders generally, but his services in this direction were not made use of.

[676] The Circular announcing this improvement is dated Salisbury Square, Jan. 1, 1810. The new types are offered at 1_s._ 10_d._ per lb., and, as an encouragement to buyers, 1_s._ per lb. is offered for old metal.

[677] See _ante_, p. 120. This appears to have been intended as an improvement on the invention of Nicholson, who was the first (in 1790) to suggest the casting of types wedge-shaped, for fixing on cylinders. (p. 119.)

[678] Considerable prominence is naturally given to the large letters “cast in moulds and matrices” by the new “Sanspareil” method.

[679] See _ante_, p. 281.

[680] George Nicol was born in 1741, and was for many years bookseller to King George III. He married a niece of the first Alderman Boydell in 1787. The idea of the Boydell _Shakespeare_ originated with him. He was a prominent member of the literary clubs of his day, and a personal friend of the Duke of Roxburghe. He died in 1829, aged 88.

[681] A history of this celebrated Press would almost involve a history of fine printing in the first quarter of the present century. Dibdin, in the second volume of his _Bibliographical Decameron_, has given a list of its most famous impressions. Bulmer was a personal friend of Thomas Bewick, the engraver, many of whose blocks were cut for his books. He spared no pains to render the typography of his press the most correct and beautiful England had hitherto known. He retired in 1819, leaving Mr. Wm. Nicol, only son of his friend George Nicol, to carry on the business. Mr. Bulmer died Sept. 9, 1830, in his 74th year, greatly honoured and respected.

[682] _The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare. Revised by G. Steevens._ London: 1792–1802. 18 parts in 9 vols. Atlas folio. With 100 engravings.

[683] _Bibl. Decam._, ii, 384.

[684] _The Poetical Works of John Milton, with a life of the Author by William Hayley._ London: 1794–7. 3 vols. Folio.

[685] See _ante_, p. 251.

[686] _Bibl. Decam._, ii, 384.

[687] _Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell._ London: 1795. 4to. This work was illustrated with woodcuts by Bewick. It is said that George III ordered his bookseller to procure the blocks of the engravings for his inspection, that he might convince himself they were wood and not copper.

[688] _Typographia_, p. 311.

[689] Nichols, _Illust. Lit._, viii, 485.

[690] _Musæus. The Loves of Hero and Leander. (Greek and English.) London. Printed by W. Bulmer & Co. Typis Gulielmi Martin._ 1797. 4to. This work was privately printed by Mr. Bulmer for Mr. Grosvenor Bedford, the translator.

[691] _The Press: a Poem. Published as a Specimen of Typography by John M^cCreery. Liverpool: printed by J. M^cCreery._ Houghton Street, 1803. 4to.

[692] _Typographical Antiquities, &c., greatly enlarged, with copious notes, by T. F. Dibdin_, London: 1810–12–16–19. 4 vols. 4to. The work was not completed. The first volume was not printed at the Shakespeare Press.

[693] _Bibliotheca Spenceriana; or, a Descriptive Catalogue of Books printed in the XV Century, and of many valuable First Editions in the Library of George John, Earl Spencer._ London: 1814–15. 4 vols. 8vo.

[694] _The Bibliographical Decameron; or, Ten Days’ Pleasant Discourse upon Illuminated Manuscripts, and Subjects connected with early Engraving, Typography and Bibliography._ London, 1817. 3 vols, 8vo.

[695] Amongst which were the early publications of the Roxburghe Club, instituted by Earl Spencer, in 1812, for the republication of rare books or unpublished MSS. M. Renouard censures Bulmer for the use of worn type in the Edition of _Ben Jonson’s Works_, 1816. 9 vols. 8vo. “L’habile M. Bulmer aurait dû jeter à la fonte les caractères usés dont il a fait usage pour cette volumineuse édition, et les libraires entrepreneurs n’auroient pas dû lui en permettre l’emploi.”

[696] _Illust. Lit._, viii, 485.

[697] An early specimen of Thorowgood’s shows a Black, the matrices of which, it is stated, “were purchased by Messrs. Fry & Steele at the breaking up of the Cleveland Row Foundry.” As, however, Messrs. Fry & Steele’s partnership terminated about 1808, we consider the whole statement doubtful.

[698] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 361.

[699] Hansard. _Typographia_, 359.

[700] See _ante_, p. 323.

[701] _The Seasons. By James Thomson. Illustrated with Engravings by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., and P. W. Tomkins, Historical Engraver to their Majesties, from original pictures painted for the work by W. Hamilton, R.A. London: Printed for P. W. Tomkins, New Bond Street. The letter press by T. Bensley. The Types by V. Figgins._ 1799. Folio.

[702] _Typographia_, p. 360.

[703] _Paradise Lost, by John Milton, with Notes and Life of the Author. . . . By Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Engravings by Heath, &c. London: Printed for J. Parsons, 1796._ 2 vols. 8vo.

[704] Sir William Ouseley was born in 1771, and accompanied his brother Sir Gore Ouseley, the ambassador to Persia, to that country as secretary. He published _Persian Miscellanies_ in 1795, and _Oriental Collections_ in 1797–1800. In the advertisement at the close of the 1st volume of the latter work, he states, “I have employed a few leisure hours in superintending the execution of a new Persian Type, which will, I trust, exhibit as faithful a representation of the true Taleek character as can be effected by any imitative powers of the Typographick Art.” Of this new fount he shows a single line as specimen, which, however, if cut by Mr. Figgins, is not the Paragon Persian which subsequently appeared in his specimen books. Nor did it appear, as promised, in the _Oriental Collections_ of 1798, the quotations in which continued to be printed in Arabic characters.

[705] _The Persian Moonshee, by Francis Gladwin, Esquire. Calcutta. London, reprinted 1801._ 4to.

[706] This important enquiry was the result of an address of the House of Commons to the King, in 1800, setting forth the necessity of a better provision for the arrangement, preservation and use of the various Public Records scattered among the numerous offices of the kingdom. The Commission thereupon appointed were empowered to take all necessary measures to “methodize, regulate and digest the records, etc.”, preserved in all Public Offices and repositories, and “to superintend the printing of such calendars and indexes and original records and papers” as it should be deemed desirable to print. With this large task before them, the Commissioners went actively to work, and in 1800 and 1806 published their first Reports. The following important publication, issued under the Direction of the Commission, was commenced in 1800:—_Reports from the Commissioners appointed to execute the measures recommended by a Select Committee of the House of Commons respecting the Public Records of the Kingdom, etc._, London, 1800–19, 2 vols., folio. The appendix forming the second volume contains facsimiles of all the Charters (including Magna Charta) and Inrollments from Stephen to William and Mary, with the Seals inserted in the several works printed under the Commission. The list of the subsequent publications of the Commission is very extensive, and includes verbatim copies, with all abbreviations and contractions, of the most important documents in the kingdom.

[707] The first important work in connection with the Scotch Record Commission was _Inquisitionum ad Capellam Domini Regis retornatarum quæ in publicis Archivis Scotiæ adhuc servantur Abbrevatio cum Indicibus_, Edinburgh, 1811–16, 3 vols., folio, and a Supplement.

[708] These types perished in the fire of Mr. Nichols’ printing office in 1808, see _ante_, p. 321.

[709] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 361.

[710] _Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, Textus Archetypos, Versionesque præcipuas ab Ecclesiâ Antiquitùs receptas complectentia._ London: 1817–28. 5 parts, 4to, 4 vols., 8vo. This Bible comprises the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament, the Vulgate Latin and the Authorised English version of the entire Bible, the original Greek of the New Testament, and the venerable Peschito or Syriac version of it. This _Polyglot_ was republished with the addition of Spanish, French, Italian, and German versions in 1831, with learned prolegomena by Dr. Samuel Lee.

[711] See _ante_, p. 308.

[712] _Novum Testamentum Syriace denuo recognitum atque ad fidem Codicum MSS. emendatum. Impressit R. Watts._ London 1816, 4to. Dr. Buchanan was born in 1766 and went to India in 1796, where his researches led to the discovery, among other things, of some interesting Hebrew Manuscripts of portions of the Bible, on goat skins and tablets of brass. He died in the year 1815. The Syriac _Testament_ was corrected by him as far as the _Acts_, and completed by Dr. Lee, Arabic Professor at Cambridge. See _ante_, p. 68.

[713] _Typographia_, p. 360.

[714] The matrices of the Long Primer and Brevier cut for the Scotch Record Commission were given up to the Government.

[715] Hansard omits the Double Pica Greek cut for Oxford University, the matrices of which were retained by Mr. Figgins. A specimen appears in the book of 1823.

[716] The fount for Bagster’s _Polyglot_.

[717] The punches, matrices and moulds of this fount were deposited in the East India Company’s Library.

[718] It would be an omission not to mention here Mr. Vincent Figgins II’s interesting reprint of the 2nd Edition of Caxton’s _Game of the Chesse_, London, 1855, sm. folio. Mr. Figgins cut a fount of type after the original, “which” he remarks, “is a mixture of black-letter and the character called secretary,” the black predominating. The “Caxton Black” so produced has been the only attempt made to approach a facsimile of Caxton’s letter by means of type. In his remarks, Mr. Figgins gives his reasons for concluding, from the variety in the form of the letters, that they were not cast from a matrix but cut separately by hand. This theory Mr. Blades, in his “_Life of Caxton_,” disproves, pointing out that the Type No. 2* used in the second edition of Caxton’s work is really an old fount originally cast from matrices, and, when worn, trimmed up by hand to form the punches for a new fount—a circumstance amply sufficient to account for the irregularities observed. These irregularities are, of course, sufficient to prevent the absolute possibility of anything like an exact facsimile by means of type. It is, however, interesting to note that John Whittaker’s famous restorations of Caxtonian and other early printed works, were to a certain extent accomplished by means of typography. Mr. Dibdin, in his _Bibliographical Decameron_ (ii, 415), describes the operation as follows:—“He has caused to be engraved or cut four founts of Caxton’s letter. These are cut in the manner of binders’ tools for lettering, and each letter is separately charged with ink, and separately impressed on the paper. Some of Caxton’s types are so riotous and unruly that Mr. Whittaker found it impossible to carry on his design without having at least twenty of such irregular letters engraved. The process of executing the text with such tools shall be related in Mr. Whittaker’s own words:—‘A tracing being taken with the greatest precision from the original leaf, on white tracing paper, it is then laid on the leaf (first prepared to match the book it is intended for) with a piece of blacked paper between the two. Then by a point passing round the sides of each letter, a true impression is given from the black paper on the leaf beneath. The types are next stamped on singly, being charged with old printing ink prepared in colour exactly to match each distinct book. The type being then set on the marks made by tracing, in all the rude manner and at the same unequal distances observable in the original, they will bear the strictest scrutiny and comparison with their prototype; it being impossible to make a facsimile of Caxton’s printing in any other way, as his letters are generally set up irregularly and at unequal distances, leaning various ways,’ ” etc.

[719] See _ante_, p. 241.

[720] _Printers’ Grammar_, p. 31.

[721] See _ante_, p. 212, _n._

[722] Mr. Ilive the elder is named in Samuel Negus’s list of Printers, published by Bowyer in 1724, as one of those “said to be high flyers”. He was a benefactor to Zion College, and printed the classical catalogue of their library from the letter P.

[723] _Marius de Calasio. Concordantiæ Bibliorum Hebr. et Lat. edente Guil. Romaine_, 4 vols., Lond. 1747, folio.

[724] _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 130.

[725] “Emboldened by his first adventure, he determined to become the public teacher of infidelity. For this purpose he hired the use of Carpenters’ Hall, where for some time he delivered his Orations, which consisted chiefly of scraps from Tindal and other similar writers” (Chalmers’ _Biog. Dict._, xix, 228).

[726] _The Book of Jasher. With Testimonies and Notes explanatory of the Text. To which is prefixed various Readings. Translated into English from the Hebrew, by Alcuin of Britain, who went a Pilgrimage into the Holy Land, etc. Printed in the year 1751._ 4to. The fraud was immediately detected and exposed. The work was reprinted, without acknowledgment and with some variations, at Bristol in 1829, by a Rev. C. R. Bond. Both editions are now rare.

[727] _Dissert._, p. 65.

[728] These are enumerated in Gough’s _British Topography_, i, 637.

[729] _British Topography_, i, 597.

[730] See _ante_, p. 260.

[731] _A Specimen of the Printing Types and Flowers belonging to John Reid, Printer, Bailie Fyfe’s Close, Edinburgh, etc._ Edinburgh, 1768. 8vo. All the other founts shown are either Wilson’s or Caslon’s.

[732] _History of Printing in America. 2nd Edit. Albany_, 1874. i, 31.

[733] The first attempt to introduce type-founding in America had been made by Mitchelson, a Scotchman, in 1768, and failed. In 1769, Abel Buel, of Connecticut, succeeded in casting several founts of Long Primer. Christopher Sower, in 1772, brought over a foundry from Germany to Germantown in Pennsylvania. John Bay also founded in the same town about 1774. Benj. Franklin and his grandson Bache brought over a foundry from France in 1775 to Philadelphia, which, however, had ceased its operations when Baine and his grandson, some ten years later, established their foundry in the same city.

[734] See _Abridgments of Specifications relating to Printing_, p. 87. See also _ante_, p. 78.

[735] _Typog. Antiq._, p. 81. This appears to be the person whom Gough, in his list of departed worthies of the eighteenth century, includes among the letter founders, as “Jurisson, d. 1791”. (_Gent. Magaz._, lxxiii, part i, p. 161.)

[736] See _ante_, p. 269.

[737] “British Foundry. S. & C. Stephenson respectfully submit the present edition of their Specimen to the public with the hope that they shall continue to experience the flattering encouragement hitherto received, and for which they beg to return their most sincere thanks.

“To those of the Trade who have not hitherto used the Types of the British Foundry, it may be necessary to observe, that they are composed of the very best Metal, and that they are justified to paper and body agreeable to the usual standard.

“As the Establishment of this Foundry comprises eminent engravers on wood and brass, orders in either of these branches will be executed in the best stile of the Art. _February_, 1797.”

A first part of the specimen appears to have been issued in 1796, and the whole book in 1797.

[738] _Bibliography of Printing_, ii, 42.

[739] _Typog._, p. 366.

[740] _Ibid._, p. 361.

[741] A specimen of this type “the smallest ever manufactured in this country,” was exhibited, and contains the whole of Gray’s _Elegy_ in 32 verses, in 2 columns, measuring 3 3/4 inches each in depth.

[742] _Dictionary for the Pocket; French and English; English and French, &c., by John Bellows, Gloucester, from type cast specially for the work by Miller and Richard, Type founders to the Queen, Edinburgh._ 1873. 24mo.

[743] Sheffield, 3rd edit., 1841, 12mo. A similar proposal, only with Nonpareil as the standard, was made about 1824 by James Fergusson, whose scheme is quoted _in extenso_ by Hansard in his _Typographia_, p. 388.

[744] _The Printer’s Assistant, containing a Sketch of the History of Printing, etc. London, 1810._ 12mo.

[745] _Typog._, p. 382.

[746] See _ante_, p. 253–4; also Johnson’s _Typographia_, ii, 652.

[747] Mr. Branston was an engraver, and resided at Beaufort Buildings, Strand, in 1824. He attempted a new system of printing music, by striking the punches deeper than usual in the plate, so that when a stereo cast was taken from it, the notes appeared sufficiently in relief to be printed at a type press.

[748] See _ante_, p. 121. M. Didot’s invention had been previously tried by Henry Caslon, but unsuccessfully.

[749] This appears to be an anachronism. There was no association of Type Founders between 1820 and 1830.

[750] Hansard, _Typog._, p. 361.

[751] Johnson, in 1824, gives a list of nine founders (including Pouchée), at that time trading in London. (_Typog._, ii, 652.)

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Original spelling and grammar have generally been retained, with some exceptions noted below. Original printed page numbers are shown like this: {52}. Original small caps are now uppercase. Italics look _like this_. The transcriber produced the cover image and hereby assigns it to the public domain. Original page images are available from archive.org — search for “historyofoldengl00reed”. Single superscripted letters are shown like this: “M^cCreery”. Superscripted groups of letters (e.g. “er”) are shown like this: “I^{er}”.

Footnotes have been renumbered 1–751 and converted to ENDNOTES. Anchors and labels for endnotes are shown as numbers within square brackets, e.g. “[751]”. However, there are two exceptions: on page 256, “[11]” and “[2]” do not reference footnotes or endnotes, but are shown as originally printed.

Ditto marks have generally been eliminated, using text replication when necessary. Large curly brackets “{ }” used as graphic devices to combine information over two or more lines have been removed from the text everywhere. Example: in the table on page 35, first column, 9th and 10th rows, there was a two-row bracket “{” suggesting that “9.” applies to both rows. Herein, “9.” was simply duplicated to indicate that fact. The row headed by “17. Pearl” contains in the second column, in the original printed book, two rows containing “Parisienne or Sedan.” and “Perle.”, enclosed in two-row brackets “{ }”. Herein, table-cell borders have been drawn to suggest this combination.

Page xi, CONTENTS. Chapter 3 page reference was changed to 83, from 13.

Page 32n. “fromer” to “former”.

Page 35. “Grobe” to “Große”, in two places in the table.

Page 38. “Geeek” to “Greek”.

Page 49. The left double quotation mark in ‘observed in 1825, “have left’ has no closing mark. Several other puzzling usages of quotation marks elsewhere have also been retained.

Page 51n. The proofreading code “[*pro]” is used herein to represent a symbol originally printed as a latin small p with a hook, used as an abbreviation for _pro_.

Page 52. The proofreading code “[*Q]” on this page represents the stylized Q originally printed.

Page 138. The proofreading code “[*Q]” on this page represents two glyphs, a Gothic Q, and the same glyph turned about 90° clockwise.

Page 156. The illustration has been changed from number 41 to 31, to agree with the List of Illustrations.

Page 159. The proofreading code “[*AT]” on this page represents a glyph that appears to be a ligature of T and A.

Page 190n. The phrase _or here (Mason’s_ was changed to _or here” (Mason’s_, by inserting the missing right double quotation mark.

Page 205n. The phrase “P. VergiliI Maronis Codex” is retained as printed.

Page 274n. A matching right double quotation mark was inserted after ‘Η Καινη Διαθηκη’.

Page 320. Changed “emploeyd” to “employed”.

Page 369 INDEX. The use of punctuation, particularly semicolons, colons, and the 3-em dashes that function as ditto marks, seems often inconsistent or strange. It is generally retained herein as printed. The organization and structure of the original index is retained as well.