Printers' Assistant;

CONTAINING

A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF PRINTING,

AN

ESSAY ON PUNCTUATION,

TYPOGRAPHICAL TABLES,

SELECT SCHEMES OF DIFFICULT IMPOSITIONS,

THE

GREEK & HEBREW ALPHABETS,

AND THE

New Scale of Prices for Compositors and Pressmen ;

TOGETHER WITH

A CORRECT LIST OF PRINTERS,

LETTER FOUNDERS, PRINTERS' SMITHS AND JOINERS, INK MAKERS,
WOOD ENGRAVERS, TYPE CUTTERS, &c. &c.

LONDON:

PRINTED AND SOLD BY W. MASON, 3, spa fields, CLERKENWELL;

J. S. DICKSON, 18, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW;

And at the Hole in the Wall, Fleet Street.

1810.

1

7

A

Sketch

OP

THE HISTORY OF PRINTING.

T

HE Invention of Printing took place in the early part of the 15th century; and it long remained an undetermined point, concerning the place where, and the person by whom, it was first discovered. The principal authorities place the event between the years 1440 and 1450.

The learned Dr. Willis, of Oxford, made a studious inquiry into the origin of this invention, and in the following words delivered his opinion: "About the year 1150 the art of printing was invented and practised in Germany, but whether first at Mentz or Haerlem is not determined; for it appears upon an impartial inquiry, that those who had it in consideration before it was brought to perfection, disagreeing among themselves, separated company, and some of them at Haerlem, and others at Mentz, pursued the practice of their former employ, at one and the same time."

The art of printing is said to have been first attempted at Mentz, between the years 1440 and 1450, by John Fust or Faust, John Meydenbuch, and John Genesteisch, surnamed Guttemberg, It was long a controverted question by many learned antiquarians, whether Guttemberg or Faust was the inventor of the art, till happily the original instrument was found; whereby it appears, that the latter only associated the others with him for the sake of their purses, he not being able to proceed without, on account of the great expense attending the cutting of the blocks of wood, which, after they were once printed from, became entirely useless for any other work. This instrument, which is dated Nov. 6, 1455, is decisive in favor of Guttemberg; the honor of inventing single types, made of metal, is ascribed to Faust, wherein he received great

assistance from his servant and son-in-law Peter Schoeffer, who devised the punches, matrices, and molds, for casting them, on which account he was taken into partnership by his father-in-law, who, in 1455, had a quarrel with, and separated from, Guttemberg. Those who have asserted that Faust was the first inventor of printing, have given for a reason, that they have never seen any book with Guttemberg's name to it; without considering, that their first essays in printing, both by blocks and moveable' types, being sold for manuscripts, were anonymous, the invention being by them intended to be kept secret; nor was it divulged till their disagreement, by which time Faust had made himself master of the art, and Guttemberg was not able to proceed in it alone, owing to his circumstances.

The inhabitants of Hacrlem assert, that Laurens Jansz Koster, of that city, was the inventor of printing, about the year 1430, and that, in the infancy of the invention, he used wooden blocks; but after some time he left off that method and cut letters on steel, which he sunk in commoir matrices, and fitting them into iron molds, he cast single letters of metal in those matrices. They assert also, that his companion and assistant, John Guttemberg, stole away his tools while he was at church, and with them went to Mentz, where he set up and practised the art. They say much of a book entitled De Spiegel, printed at Haerlem, in Dutch and Latin, which is there yet to be seen; and insist on that book to have been the first that ever was printed ;. but yet, as it has no date, there are no positive proofs to ground their assertion on.

The first printed book upon record is the Book of Psalms, by John Faust and Peter Schoeffer, dated August 14, 1457. However, after this first essay, they are supposed to have printed Durand's Rationale Divinorum, in 1459, and the Latin vocabulary, entitled Catholicon, in 1460; but what signalised Faust and his art most, was the first printed Bible, which he began in 1450, and finished in 1460; when Faust, carrying a parcel of printed copies of it to Paris, and offering them to sale as manuscripts, had the misfortune to be imprisoned, under suspicion of dealing with the devil;" because the French could not otherwise conceive how so many books should so exactly agree in every letter and' point; nor could he obtain his liberty till he had discovered the method by which they were done,

Having now given as concise a history of the origin of printing as our limits will permit, we shall now take a view of its introduction into England, which was about the year 1464. It is asserted by our earliest writers, that printing was introduced and first practised in England by William Caxton, at Westminster, under the patronage of the abbot, This tradition prevailed till a book, which had scarcely been noticed before the reformation, gained the attention of the curious. It was dated from Oxford, anno 1468. This was immediately considered as a clear proof of the exercise of printing in that university, several years before the erection of the press by Caxton. This book, which is in the public library of Cambridge, is a small volume of 41 leaves, in quarto, entitled, "Expositio Sancti Jeronimi in Simbolum Apostolorum ad Papam Laurentium." The appearance of this book robbed Caxton of a glory that he had long possessed, and Oxford ever since carried the honor of the first press. This book is supposed to have been printed by one Frederic Corsellis. When printing made some noise in Europe, Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, solicited the king, Henry VI. to use all possible means for procuring a printing mold, as it was then called, to be brought into the kingdom. The king listened to the proposal, and concluded that it could not be accomplished without great secrecy, and a considerable sum of money to enable the person or persons employed to draw off some of the workmen from Haerlem in Holland. The management of the design was committed to Mr. Robert Turnour, then Master of the Robes, who took with him Mr. Caxton, a merchant that traded much with Holland; and Caxton, being well acquainted with that country, and not suspected, soon found means for sending Corsellis, a workman at the Haerlem press, over to this country; but, as it was not judged prudent to set him to work in London, by means of the archbishop (who had been Vice Chancellor and afterwards Chancellor to the University of Oxford), he was sent thither with a guard, to prevent his escape, till he had performed his contract. Caxton is said to have remained in Holland for some time after to improve himself in the art; and this satisfactorily accounts for books of Corsellis' printing bearing an earlier date than those of Caxton's.