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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Original small capital letters have been replaced by
all capitals.
Text originally printed in boldface is rendered as all
capitals in this edition.
The first page of each chapter includes a chapter heading
and an epigraph. Both were originally printed in Gothic
blackletter scripts, perhaps similar to textura script.
Both are rendered as unmarked plain text in this edition.
Images of the blackletter are included in the html and
epub editions. In other places, as for example in the
note on page 133, or in the text body on page 201, text
originally printed in blackletter is enclosed by ‹f›
and ‹/f› tags (example: ‹f›A Collection of Facts and
Opinions‹/f›).
Original page numbers are shown like this: [p023].
Illustrations have been moved from within paragraphs to
nearby places between paragraphs. This results in some
missing page numbers, since illustration pages and even
blank pages were numbered.
THE INVENTION OF PRINTING.
[Illustration: THORWALDSEN’S STATUE OF JOHN GUTENBERG.]
THE INVENTION OF PRINTING.
A Collection of Facts and Opinions
Descriptive of
Early Prints and Playing Cards,
the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century,
the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem,
and the Work of John Gutenberg
and His Associates.
Illustrated
with Fac-Similes of Early Types and Wood-Cuts.
by
THEO. L. DE VINNE.
* * ‹f›Hereby tongues are knowne, knowledge groweth, judgement
encreaseth, books are dispersed, the Scripture is seene, the doctors
be read, stories be opened, times compared, truth discerned, falshood
detected, and with finger pointed, and all, as I said, through the
benefit of Printing.‹/f› _Fox’s Acts and Monuments._
New-York:
Francis Hart & Co. 12 & 14 College Place.
1876.
Entered, According to Act of Congress, in the Year 1876, by
Theodore L. De Vinne,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
TO
DAVID WOLFE BRUCE,
IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF INSTRUCTION ABOUT TYPES, NOT TO BE HAD BY READING,
OF ASSISTANCE IN STUDIES, NOT TO BE FOUND IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES,
OF COMPANIONSHIP MORE PLEASANT THAN BOOKS,
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED
BY HIS FRIEND,
THEO. L. DE VINNE.
CONTENTS.
I THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF PRINTING . . . 17
II ANTIQUE METHODS OF IMPRESSION AND THEIR FAILURE . . . 29
III THE KEY TO THE INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY . . . 49
IV THE IMAGE PRINTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY . . . 69
V PRINTED AND STENCILED PLAYING CARDS . . . 88
VI THE CHINESE METHOD OF PRINTING . . . 109
VII THE EARLY PRINTING OF ITALY . . . 122
VIII THE INTRODUCTION OF PAPER IN EUROPE . . . 133
IX THE BOOK-MAKERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES . . . 146
X THE PREPARATIONS FOR PRINTING . . . 171
XI BLOCK-BOOKS OF IMAGES WITHOUT TEXT . . . 193
XII BLOCK-BOOKS OF IMAGES WITH TEXT . . . 230
XIII THE DONATUS, OR BOY’S LATIN GRAMMAR . . . 254
XIV THE SPECULUM SALUTIS, OR MIRROR OF SALVATION . . . 264
XV THE WORKS AND WORKMANSHIP OF AN UNKNOWN PRINTER . . . 282
XVI THE PERIOD IN WHICH THE SPECULUM WAS PRINTED . . . 308
XVII THE LEGEND OF LOURENS JANSZOON COSTER . . . 326
XVIII THE GROWTH OF THE LEGEND . . . 347
XIX THE DOWNFALL OF THE LEGEND . . . 360
XX JOHN GUTENBERG AT STRASBURG . . . 375
XXI GUTENBERG AND HIS EARLIER WORK AT MENTZ . . . 403
XXII THE LATER WORK OF GUTENBERG . . . 431
XXIII THE WORK OF PETER SCHŒFFER AND JOHN FUST . . . 449
XXIV ALLEGED INVENTORS OF PRINTING . . . 480
XXV THE SPREAD OF PRINTING . . . 492
XXVI THE TOOLS AND USAGES OF THE FIRST PRINTERS . . . 514
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED . . . 543
INDEX . . . 547
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Statue of John Gutenberg . . . Frontispiece.
Surface Exposed to Impression by Copper-plate method . . . 21
Surface Inked and Exposed to Impression by Typographic method . . . 21
Surface Exposed to Impression by Lithographic method . . . 21
Face of a large Type, showing how the Letter is placed on the body
. . . 24
Side view of Canon body . . . 25
Small Pica, Agate and Diamond body . . . 25
View of body inclined to show the face . . . 25
Stamped Brick from Babylon . . . 30
Fac-simile of Impression on brick . . . 31
Egyptian Stamp for impressing bricks . . . 32
Assyrian Cylinder . . . 34
Old Roman Stamps . . . 37
Roman Stamps . . . 38
Roman Scrinium and rolls of papyrus . . . 43
Types of Irregular Body . . . 52
Punch . . . 55
Matrix . . . 55
Illustrations of Type-bodies . . . 56
Type-Mould, without matrix . . . 57
One-half of the Mould . . . 57
The other half of the Mould . . . 57
Type-casting as practised in 1683 . . . 59
Type-casting as practised in 1564 . . . 62
Print of St. Christopher . . . 70
Print of the Annunciation . . . 72
Print of St. Bridget . . . 74
Flemish Indulgence Print . . . 76
Brussels Print . . . 79
Berlin Print . . . 81
Playing Card of the fifteenth century . . . 93
Print Colorer . . . 94
Engraver on Wood . . . 95
Chinese Playing Cards . . . 99
Early French Playing Cards . . . 103
French and German Playing Cards of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries . . . 105
Fac-simile of part of a Chinese Book . . . 117
Chinese Types made in London . . . 117
Mark of Jacobus Arnoldus, 1345 . . . 123
Mark of Johannes Meynersen, 1435 . . . 123
Mark of Adam de Walsokne, 1349 . . . 125
Mark of Edmund Pepyr, 1483 . . . 125
Mark of an unknown person . . . 125
Japanese Method of Making Paper . . . 135
Paper-Mill of the sixteenth century . . . 140
Scriptorium of the middle ages . . . 149
Penmanship of the ninth century . . . 150
Manuscript of the fifteenth century . . . 152
Medieval Bookbinding . . . 153
Medieval Illuminator . . . 154
Sumptuously Bound Book . . . 156
Medieval Book with covers of oak . . . 157
Book Cover in Ivory, Byzantine style . . . 158
Seal of the University of Paris . . . 161
English Horn-Book . . . 174
English Clog . . . 175
Holbein’s Dance of Death . . . 183
Dance of Death, as shown in the Nuremberg Chronicle . . . 185
Last page of the Bible of the Poor . . . 197
First page of the Bible of the Poor, as made by Walther and Hurning
. . . 209
First page of the Apocalypse . . . 213
First page of the Canticles . . . 217
Story of the Blessed Virgin . . . 221
Exercise on the Lord’s Prayer . . . 223
Illustration from the Book of Kings . . . 225
Letter K of Grotesque Alphabet . . . 227
Page from the Apostles’ Creed . . . 228
Page from the Eight Rogueries . . . 229
Page from the Antichrist . . . 232
Page from the Ars Memorandi . . . 234
Page from the Ars Moriendi . . . 237
Chiromancy of Doctor Hartlieb . . . 240
Calendar of John of Gamundia . . . 242
Page from the Wonders of Rome . . . 243
Pomerium Spirituale . . . 244
Temptations of the Devil . . . 245
Life of St. Meinrat . . . 246
Heidelberg Dance of Death . . . 247
German Donatus, from a block in the National Library at Paris . . . 258
Fragment of an early Donatus . . . 259
Early Dutch Horarium . . . 260
Imprint of Conrad Dinckmut . . . 262
First page of Speculum Salutis . . . 266
Last page of Speculum Salutis . . . 268
Types of Speculum Salutis . . . 277
Types in third edition of Speculum . . . 285
Types of Fables of Lorenzo Valla . . . 286
Types of Peculiarities of Criminal Law . . . 287
Types of Epitaphs of Pope Pius II . . . 288
The Enschedé Abecedarium . . . 290
Experimental Letters drawn on wood . . . 294
Types from Experimental Letters . . . 295
Frisket, Tympan and Bed of an early European Printing Press . . . 307
Paper-marks: seven illustrations . . . 309, 310
Types of Jacob Bellaert . . . 319
Types of John Brito . . . 321
Map of the Netherlands . . . 323
Scriverius’ Portrait of Coster . . . 333
Statue of Coster in Doctors’ Garden . . . 351
Medals in honor of Coster . . . 353, 354
Statue of Coster on the monument . . . 359
Autograph of Laurens Janszoon . . . 361
House of Coster . . . 370
Portrait of Laurens Janszoon Coster . . . 371
Spurious Portrait by Van den Berg . . . 372
Portrait attributed to Van Oudewater . . . 372
The Laurens Janszoon of Meerman . . . 373
Medieval Press . . . 395
Type-mould of Claude Garamond . . . 399
Types of the Donatus attributed to Gutenberg at Strasburg . . . 401
Types of Donatus of 1451 . . . 405
De la Borde’s Illustration of Types . . . 406
Holbein’s Satire on the Indulgences . . . 407
Letter of Indulgence dated 1454 . . . 409
Types of Bible of 36 Lines . . . 413
Abbreviations of Bible of 36 Lines . . . 414
Portrait of John Fust . . . 417
Types of Bible of 42 Lines . . . 423
Portrait of John Gutenberg . . . 429
Types of Letter of Indulgence of 1461 . . . 433
Types of Catholicon of 1460 . . . 435
Types of Celebration of the Mass . . . 437
Types of Mirror of the Clergy . . . 438
Colophon written by Peter Schœffer . . . 450
Types of the Psalter of 1457 . . . 453
Colophon of the Psalter of 1457 . . . 455
Types of the Rationale Durandi . . . 461
Types of the Bible of 1462 . . . 462
Trade-mark of Fust and Schœffer . . . 462
Types of Constitutions of Clement V . . . 463
Portrait of Peter Schœffer . . . 469
Types of the Grammar of 1468 . . . 470
Illustration from the Book of Fables . . . 483
Arms of the Typothetæ . . . 489
Part of Koburger’s Map of Europe . . . 496
The Birth of Eve, Zainer’s . . . 497
Statue of Gutenberg at Strasburg . . . 509
Type of the fifteenth century . . . 520
Printing Office of sixteenth century . . . 523
Hand Press of Jodocus Badius . . . 528
Inking Balls of sixteenth century . . . 530
Large wood-cut of fifteenth century . . . 535
The Fall of Lucifer, Zainer’s . . . 537
A Print of 1475 . . . 539
_PREFACE._
_The Invention of Printing has always been recognized by educated
men as a subject of importance: there is no mechanical art, nor are
there any of the fine arts, about whose early history so many books
have been written. The subject is as mysterious as it is inviting.
There is an unusual degree of obscurity about the origin of the first
printed books and the lives and works of the early printers. There are
records and traditions which cannot be reconciled of at least three
distinct inventions of printing. Its early history is entangled with a
controversy about rival inventors which has lasted for more than three
centuries, and is not yet fully determined._
_In the management of this controversy, a subject intrinsically
attractive has been made repulsive. The history of the invention of
printing has been written to please national pride. German authors
assert the claims of Gutenberg, and discredit traditions about Coster.
Dutch authors insist on the priority of Coster, and charge Gutenberg
with stealing the invention. Partisans on each side say that their
opponents have perverted the records and suppressed the truth. The
quarrel has spread. English and French authors, who had no national
prejudices to gratify, and who should have considered the question
without passion, have wrangled over the subject with all the bitterness
of Germans or Hollanders. In this, as in other quarrels, there are
amusing features, but to the general reader the controversy seems
unfortunate and is certainly wearisome._
_It is a greater misfortune that all the early chronicles of printing
were written in a dead language. Wolf’s collection [p010] of_
Typographic Monuments, _which includes nearly every paper of
value written before 1740, is in Latin; the valuable books of Meerman,
Maittaire, and Schoepflin are also in Latin. To the general reader
these are sealed books: to the student, who seeks exact knowledge of
the methods of the first printers, they are tiresome books. Written
for the information of librarians rather than of printers, it is but
proper that these books should devote the largest space to a review
of the controversy or to a description of early editions; but it is
strange that they should so imperfectly describe the construction and
appearance of early types and the usages of the early printers. The
mechanical features of typography were, apparently, neglected as of
little importance, and beneath the dignity of history._
_A failure to present accurate illustrations of early printing is not
the fault of modern authorities. Many of them are full of fac-similes
bearing the marks of minute and conscientious care; but they are
in foreign languages, and are seldom found in our largest American
libraries. There are, it is true, a few books in English on early
printing which have accurate fac-similes; but high prices and limited
editions put them out of the reach of the ordinary book-buyer. They
were written by and for librarians only._
_Valuable as all these books are, they disappoint the printer. Some of
them, though presenting fac-similes in profusion, are not accompanied
with proper explanations in the text: others are devoted to one branch
only of early printing, such as block-books, or the printed work of one
nation only. Two of them are untrustworthy as authorities. Neither from
one book, nor from all the books, can a printer get a clear description
of the mechanical development of typography. This incompleteness was
frankly acknowledged by Dr. Dibdin, when he said that there was no
work in the English language which deserved to be considered as a
complete general history of printing. This was an old complaint. Nearly
a hundred years before, Prosper Marchand had said that the history of
printing, voluminous as it then seemed, was but history in fragments._
[p011]
_The first attempt to supply this great deficiency was made by
August Bernard, in the disquisition published at Paris, in the year
1853, under the title,_ De l’origine et des debuts de l’imprimerie
en Europe. _His was the first book in which the printed work
attributed to Coster and Gutenberg was critically examined from a
typographic point of view. To readers who were not content with the
vague descriptions of popular books of typography, the explanations
of Bernard were of peculiar value. I had reason to think that a
translation of the history of this eminent printer would be received by
American printers with some measure of the favor which the original had
met with in Europe. Impressed with this belief I began the work._
_I found it necessary to consult many of Bernard’s authorities. My
admiration of the superior method and forcible style of Bernard, an
admiration still unabated, was increased by the reading of the new
books; but the esteem in which I hold his valuable work does not
prevent the regret that, in his entire neglect of the block-books, he
should have overlooked the most significant feature of early printing.
The fac-similes of early prints, subsequently shown in_ The Infancy
of Book Printing _of Weigel and in_ The Typographic Monuments _of
Holtrop, convinced me that the earliest practice of typography had its
beginning in a still earlier practice of printing from blocks, and
that a description of block-books should precede a description of the
invention of types._
_Since these books were written, all the old theories about the origin
of typography have been examined with increased interest, and discussed
with superior critical ability, by many eminent European scholars.
Discoveries of great importance have been made; old facts have been set
forth in new lights; traditions accepted as truthful history for three
hundred years have been demolished. Of the many able men who have been
engaged in this task of separating truth from fiction, no one has done
more efficient service than Dr. A. Van der Linde of The Hague, whose
papers on the traditions of typography are masterpieces of acute and
scholarly criticism. His researches [p012] and reasoning convinced
me that it would be unwise to offer a translation of any previously
published book as a fair exponent of modern knowledge about early
typography. The newly discovered facts were opposed to early teachings;
there could be no sewing of the new cloth on the old garment. I was led
away from my first purpose of translation, and, almost unconsciously,
began to collect the materials for the present volume._
_Until recently, the invention of printing has been regarded as a
subject belonging almost entirely to bibliographers. The opinions
of type-founders and printers who had examined old books have been
set aside as of no value, whenever they were opposed to favorite
theories or legends. This partial treatment of the subject is no
longer approved: a new school of criticism invites experts to examine
the books, and pays respect to their conclusions. It claims that
the internal evidences of old books are of higher authority than
legends, and that these evidences are conclusive, not to be ignored
nor accommodated to the statements of the early chroniclers. European
critics do not hesitate to say that the confusing and contradictory
descriptions of the origin of printing are largely due to the improper
deference heretofore paid to the statements of men who tried to
describe processes which they did not understand. They say, also, that
too little attention has been paid to the types and mechanics of early
printing. Criticisms of this character led me to indulge the hope that
I might find gleanings of value in the old field, and that it would be
practicable to present them, with the newly discovered facts, in a form
which would be acceptable to the printer and the general reader. In
this belief, and for this purpose, this book was written._
_I would not have begun this work, if I had not felt assured that a
thorough revision of the subject was needed. The books and papers
on typography which are most popular, and are still accepted as
authoritative by the ordinary reader, repeat legends which have
recently been proved untrue; they narrate, as established facts
of history, methods of printing which are not only incorrect but
impossible. It is time that the results of [p013] the more recent
researches should be published in the English language. But I offer
them only as the compiler of accredited facts: I have no original
discoveries to announce, no speculative theories to uphold. Nor
shall I invade the proper field of librarians and bibliographers. I
propose to describe old types, prints and books as they are seen by a
printer, and with reference to the needs of printers and the general
reader, avoiding, as far as I can, all controversies about matters
which are of interest to book-collectors only. The historical part of
the record will be devoted chiefly to the printed work of the first
half of the fifteenth century. It will begin with descriptions of the
earliest forms of printing, as shown in image prints, playing cards
and block-books; it will end with the establishment of typography in
Germany._
_Believing that a verbal description of old books and prints, without
pictorial illustrations, would be unsatisfactory, I have provided many
fac-similes of early printing. No part of this work will more fully
repay examination than its illustrations, which have been carefully
selected from approved authorities, or from originals. Reproduced
by the new process of photo-engraving, they are accurate copies of
the originals, even when of reduced size. As they are printed with
the descriptive text by the same method of typographic presswork, it
is believed that they will more clearly illustrate the subject than
lithographed fac-similes on straggling leaves._
_In trying to make plain whatever may be obscure about the mechanics
of printing, I have thought proper to begin the explanation with a
description of its different methods. An introduction of this nature is
not an unwarrantable digression. It is important that the reader should
have an understanding of the radical differences between typography and
xylography on the one side, and lithographic and copper-plate printing
on the other, as well as some knowledge of the construction and uses of
the more common tools of type-founders._
_I do not propose to give any extended quotations in foreign languages.
Wherever an approved translation in English has [p014] been found, it
has been substituted for the original text; where translations have
not been approved, they have been made anew. Writing for the general
reader, I have assumed that he would prefer, as I do, in every book to
be read and not studied, a version in English rather than the original
text. Believing that the frequent citation of authorities, especially
in instances where the facts are undisputed, or where the books are
inaccessible, is an annoyance, I have refrained from the presentation
of foot-notes which refer to books only. I have, in a few cases,
deviated from this course where the matters stated were of a character
which seemed to require the specification of authority._
_One of the greatest impediments I encountered when about to begin
the compilation of this work was the difficulty of access to books of
authority. I do not mention this in disparagement of the management
of our public libraries, for I know that old books are liable to
injury in the hands of the merely curious, and that librarians have
little encouragement to collect scarce books on typography. To prove
that there is small inquiry for treatises of this character, it is
enough to say that I have had to cut open the leaves of valuable books
after their rest for many years on the shelves of one of the largest
libraries of this city. But if these books were ever so abundant, the
proper restrictions placed on their use were a hindrance to one whose
chief opportunity for consulting them is at night._
_Here I am pleased to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. David
Wolfe Bruce. He has not only accompanied and aided me in repeated
examinations of his very valuable collection of fifteenth century
books, but has lent me all the books I desired, and has freely given me
unlimited time for their study. This collection—replete with all the
books of authority I needed, with specimens of types, wood-cuts, and
curiosities of type-founding, which illustrate the growth of printing
from its infancy—was more admirably adapted to my needs than that
of any library on this Continent. Deprived of Mr. Bruce’s generous
assistance, my work would have been greatly restricted in its scope,
and shorn of its best features of illustration._ [p015]
_I began this work intending to describe only the mechanical
development of early printing, but I could not keep the matter strictly
within this limit. Hedged in this narrow space, the story would be
but half told. The true origin of typography is not in types, nor in
block-books nor image prints. These were consequences, not causes. The
condition of society at the close of the middle ages; the growth of
commerce and manufactures; the enlarged sense of personal liberty; the
brawls of ecclesiastics in high station, and their unworthy behavior;
the revolt of the people against the authority of church and state;
the neglect of duty by the self-elected teachers of the people in
their monopoly of books and knowledge; the barrenness of the education
then given in the schools; the eagerness of all people for the mental
diversion offered in the new game of playing cards; the unsatisfied
religious appetite which hungered for image prints and devotional
books; the facilities for self-education afforded by the introduction
of paper,—these were among the influences which produced the invention
of printing. They are causes which cannot be overlooked. My inability
to describe them with the fullness which they deserve would not
justify their total neglect. I have devoted more space to them than is
customary in treatises on early printing, but I have to admit, with
regret, that they have been too curtly treated. I have done but little
more than record a few of the more noticeable facts—enough, perhaps,
to show that the state of education and society, in its relation to
the invention of printing, deserves a more extended description than
it has hitherto received. If I can succeed in awakening the attention
of printers, and those who look on a knowledge of printing as a proper
accomplishment of the scholar, to the nature and extent of these
influences, to the curiosities of literature hidden in apparently
dry books of bibliography, and to the value of the lesson of patient
industry and fixed purpose taught by the life of John Gutenberg, the
object of this book will have been accomplished._
[p017]
I
The Different Methods of Printing.
Impression is used in many Arts . . . Printing implies the use of
Ink and Paper . . . Four Methods of Printing . . . Steel-plate or
Copper-plate, the artistic method . . . Lithography, the scientific
method . . . Typography, the useful method . . . Xylography, the
primitive method . . . Illustrations of Copper-plate and Lithographic
Printing Surfaces . . . Process of Copper-plate Printing . . . Its
Merits and its Defects . . . Process of Lithographic Printing . . .
Its Advantages and Limitations . . . Theory of Typography, with
Illustrations of the Face and Body of Types . . . Superiority of
Movable Types over Engraved Letters . . . Stereotype . . . Superiority
of the Typographic Method in its Presses and its Process of Inking
. . . Xylography . . . Period when each Method was Introduced . . . A
Meaning in their almost Simultaneous Introduction.
* * * * *
Printing, the act, art, or practice of impressing letters, characters,
or figures on paper, cloth, or other material; the business of a
printer; typography.
Typography, the art of printing, or the operation of impressing
letters and words on forms of types.
_Webster._
Printing, the business of a printer; the art or process of impressing
letters or words; typography; the process of staining linen with
figures.
Typography, the art of printing.
_Worcester._
Print, to press, mark, stamp or infix letters, characters, forms, or
figures.
_Richardson._
* * * * *
These definitions of printing are based on its derivation from the
Latin, _premo_, to press, and on the supposition that its most
characteristic feature is impression. From a technical point of view,
the definitions are incomplete; for printing and typography are made
synonymous, while many leading, but totally different, methods of
impressing letters, characters and figures, are not even noticed.
Impression is employed in the manufacture of calico, paper-hangings,
oilcloth, figured crockery, and in many other arts which have no
connection with each other. Under right conditions, the [p018] action
or the impress of light makes a photograph. Under different conditions,
the pressure of the breath makes hollow glassware. Moulding, coining,
stamping and embossing are other methods of impression; but the
men who practise these methods are not known as printers. The word
printing has acquired a conventional meaning not entirely warranted
by its derivation. It means much more than impression. It is commonly
understood as a process in which paper and ink are employed in
conjunction with impression.
Printing and typography are not strictly synonymous, as may be inferred
from the definitions. Typography, although the most useful, is not
the only form of printing. Printing on paper with ink is done by four
methods. Each method is, practically, a separate art, distinct from its
rivals in its theory, its process, and its application. These methods
are:
_Steel-plate or Copper-plate printing_, in which the subject is printed
from an etching or engraving below the surface of a plate of steel or
of copper.
_Lithography_, in which the subject is printed from a transferred
engraving on the surface of a prepared stone.
_Typography_, in which the subject is printed from a combination of
movable metal types cast in high relief.
_Xylography_, in which the subject is printed from a design engraved on
a block of wood in high relief.
The distinct nature of the substances in use for printing surfaces by
the four methods should be enough to teach us that the methods are
entirely different. But the manner in which the letters, designs or
figures of each method are put on the respective printing surfaces will
show the differences more noticeably. In typographic and xylographic
work, the matter to be printed is cast or cut in high relief, or
_above_ the surface; in lithographic work, it is put _on_ the smooth
surface of the stone, in relief so slight that it is almost level with
the surface; in steel and copper-plate, it is cut _below_ the surface
which receives the impression. The illustration on the next page shows,
but in an exaggerated form, the appearance of a [p019] single line,
cut across, or in a vertical direction, when it has been prepared for
printing by each of the different methods. It will be seen that the
line prepared for printing by the typographic or xylographic method can
be inked with facility, and that, when compared with a similar line in
lithographic or copper-plate work, it presents but a small surface and
a slighter resistance to impression.
[Illustration: Typography or Xylography.
A. Elevated line; the only part of a typographic or of a xylographic
surface which receives the ink and impression.
B. The shoulder of the type, or the field of the block; it receives
neither ink nor impression.]
[Illustration: Lithography.
C. Transferred surface line; the only part of the surface which
receives ink and repels moisture.
D. The surface of the stone, that imbibes moisture and repels greasy
ink; it receives the full force of impression in every part.]
[Illustration: Copper-plate or Steel-plate.
E. The line printed, which is engraved below the surface of the plate,
and is filled with ink.
F. The smooth face of the plate, which makes no mark on the paper, but
which receives the full force of impression.]
The process of copper-plate printing begins with heating the plate,
and rolling it with ink, until the incised lines have been filled. The
face of the plate is then wiped clean, care being taken that the ink in
the incised lines is not removed. A moistened sheet of paper is then
laid on the plate, and an impression is taken by forcing it under the
cylinder of a rolling press. Under this pressure, the paper is forced
in the sunken lines filled with ink, and the ink sticks to the paper.
Copper-plate printing is, in all points, the reverse of typographic
printing. The engraved lines, cut below the surface, are filled with
ink in a compact body, and not in a thin film, liable to spread
under pressure, as it may on a type or on a wood-cut; the ink from a
copper-plate is pressed in such a way that it re-appears on the paper
in a low relief—it is not squeezed on and flatted out, but stands up
with sharper line and shows a greater depth of color. The slenderness
of the incised lines, the fineness and hardness of the metal, and the
peculiar method by which the ink is laid on the plate and fixed to the
paper, give to prints from engravings on steel or [p020] on copper
a sharpness of line, a brilliancy of color, a delicacy of tone, and
a receding in perspective, which have always won for this branch of
printing the preference of artists. Yet it is a slow and expensive
process. A steel-plate engraver may be engaged for many months upon a
large plate, from which but forty perfect impressions can be taken in a
day. On ordinary work on a large plate, three hundred impressions per
day is the average performance of a copper-plate press.
Steel and copper-plate printing is largely used for bank-notes,
portraits, fine book illustrations, revenue and postage stamps, and
sometimes for commercial formularies, but it is in every way unfitted
for the printing of books. It has not been much improved since its
invention. Steel plates may be duplicated by means of electrotyping, or
by the process of transfer to soft steel, but these duplicates cannot
be made so cheaply as typographic stereotype plates, nor so promptly as
transfers by lithography. The inking and cleansing of the plate, always
dirty and disagreeable work, has hitherto been done only by hand. All
the manipulations of copper-plate work are slow and difficult: they
present many obstacles to the use of labor-saving machinery.
In lithography the design to be printed, which may be engraved on stone
or copper, or written with pen on paper, is transferred by a greasy ink
upon the smooth surface of a stone of peculiar fineness and firmness.
This stone, which is found in its best state only in Bavaria, where the
art was invented, is a variety of slate, which faithfully responds in
printing to the slightest touch of a graver or a crayon, and permits
the use of fine shades and tints which cannot be produced on wood or
on copper. The transferred lines of the design cling to and dry upon
the surface of the stone, which is then subjected to the action of a
weak acid, which hardens the ink in the transferred lines, while it
slightly etches and lowers the surface where it is unprotected. The
process of printing begins by dampening the stone with a moist sponge,
the water in which is absorbed by the [p022] unprotected face of
the stone, while it is repelled by the hard greasy matter in the
transferred lines. The inking roller is then applied to the stone with
a contrary result; the moistened surface repels the greasy ink, but the
transferred lines attract and retain it. When an impression on paper
is taken, the only part of the paper which receives ink is that part
which touches the transferred lines. The theory of lithography is based
upon the repulsion between grease and water. Lithographic printing is
chemical printing.
[Illustration: Surface Exposed to Impression by the Copper-plate Method.
The entire surface of the plate is covered with ink until the white
lines are filled. The surface around the figures is wiped clean before
the impression is taken.]
[Illustration: Surface Inked and Exposed to Impression by the
Typographic Method.]
[Illustration: Surface Exposed to Impression by the Lithographic Method.
This surface is rolled twice: once with water, which is absorbed only
by the surface here shown in dull black tint; once with ink, which is
retained only on the figures.]
Lithography is the most scientific and the most flexible of all
methods of printing. It can imitate fairly, and it often reproduces
with accuracy, a line engraving on steel, a drawing in crayon, the
manuscript of a penman, or the painting in oil of an artist. By the
aid of photography, it can repeat, in an enlarged or diminished size,
any kind of printed work. It has many advantages over copper-plate and
xylography. For some kinds of work, like autograph letters and rude
diagrams, engraving is unnecessary; the design may be written with
oily ink on paper, and can then be transferred direct from the written
copy to a stone without the aid of a graver. The transferring process
is another peculiarity of this art which allows the lithographer to
duplicate small designs with greater facility and economy than a
similar duplication could be effected by the stereotyper of types.
These advantages are counterbalanced by one great defect: lithography
is not a quick method of printing. The usual performance of the
lithographic hand press when applied to ordinary work, is about four
hundred impressions per day; on the steam press, the performance is
about five thousand impressions per day.
The arts of lithography and copper-plate are useful and beautiful
methods of printing, but they do not make books and newspapers.[1] The
necessity which compels them to [p023] make a new engraving for every
new subject restricts them almost exclusively to the field of art and
ornament. If no other method of printing were known, encyclopedias and
newspapers would be impossibilities. “The art preservative of all arts”
is not the art of lithography nor of copper-plate.
This distinction rightfully belongs to Typography only. The theory
upon which this method is based is that of the independence of each
character, and of the mutual dependence of all its characters. Every
character is a separate and movable type, so made that it can be
arranged with others in an endless variety of combinations. The types
used for this page are used for other pages in this book; they can be
re-arranged for use in the printing of many other books or pamphlets;
they cease to serve only when they are worn out. All other methods of
printing require, at the outset, the engraving on one piece of wood
or metal of all the letters or parts of a design, which, when once
combined, cannot be separated; they can be applied only to the object
for which they were first made.
Typography is most successful when it is applied to the letters of
the alphabet. It fails totally when applied to maps, or to any kind
of printed work requiring irregularly varying lines. It is only
partially successful in the representation of combined ornaments and
the characters of music. Its true field is in the representation of
words and thoughts, and here it is supreme. There is no other method of
printing which can do this work so perfectly.
Typography has a great advantage over other branches of printing in the
cheapness of its materials. Type-metal is cheaper by weight than copper
or steel, or the finer quality of lithographic stone: by measurement,
it is cheaper than the box-wood used by engravers. Types are cheaper
than engraved letters. A pound of the types by which this page is
printed contains about 320 pieces of metal, the cost of which is but
48 cents. Types are made of many forms or faces, but they are always
of uniform height, and are always [p024] truly square as to body,
so that they can be fitted to each other with precision, and can be
interchanged with facility.
The expense of combining types in words is trivial, as compared with
the cost of engraving for lithographic or for copper-plate printing.
An employing printer’s price for the composition of a page like this
would be, at the high rates of New-York city, $1.10. The engraving of
such a page, by any method, would cost at least three times as much
as the types and their composition. If never so carefully done, the
engraved letters would not be so uniform, nor so satisfactory to the
general reader, as the types. The engraved letters would cost more,
but they could be used only for the work for which they were made. In
typographic printing, there is no such restriction as to use, and no
such loss of labor. It is only the labor of composition which need be
lost; the types remain, but little more worn, or little less perfect,
than when they were first put in use.
[Illustration:
Letter H, from a Em, or full square Face of the letter as it
type of Canon body. of Canon body. appears on the body.
The Face of a Large Type, showing the manner in which the Letter is
placed on the Body.[2]]
The labor of composition is not always lost. A page of movable types
can be used for a mould, from which can be made a stereotype plate of
immovable letters. Stereotyping is a cheap process. A plate of this
page of type can be had for about one-half the cost of the composition.
The stereotype plate has all the advantages pertaining to an engraving
on a lithographic stone, and it is more durable and portable. [p025]
Typography has a marked advantage in the greater ease with which
printing types are inked. In the copper-plate process, the plate must
be first blackened over the entire surface, and then cleansed with even
greater care, before an impression can be taken. This labor cannot
be intrusted to machinery, but must be done by a practised workman.
The inking of a lithographic stone is as difficult: the stone must
be moistened before the inking roller can be applied. This double
operation of inking and cleansing, or of inking and moistening, is
required for every impression. The inking of types is done by a much
simpler method; one passage, to and fro, of a gang of rollers over the
surface is sufficient to coat them with ink. The types need no previous
nor after application.
[Illustration:
Side view of Small-pica Agate Diamond View of body
Canon body. body. body. body. inclined to
show the face.
Bodies of Types.]
The impression by which typographic surfaces are printed is
comparatively slight. The sunken lines of a copper plate or the
transferred lines of a lithographic stone can be reproduced on paper
only by means of violent impression, which is obtained by forcing the
plate or the stone under an iron cylinder or scraper. Only a part of
the surface is printed, but the entire surface must receive impression,
which is, of necessity, gradually applied. A direct vertical pressure,
at the same instant, over every part of the surface, would crush the
stone or flatten the plate. In printing types of ordinary form, the
area of impression surface is exactly the reverse of that of the
lithographic stone or the copper plate. It is only the part which is
printed that receives the ink and the [p026] impression. This printed
part is the raised surface, which is rarely ever more than one-sixth of
the area occupied by the types, and is often less than one-twelfth. The
resistance to impression of types as compared with stones or plates is,
at least, in the proportion of one to six.
As relief plates or types are more quickly coated with ink, and
need less impression than lithographic stones or copper plates, the
typographic process is, consequently, better fitted to receive the help
of labor-saving machinery. The daily performance of the typographic
hand press on plain work has been, almost from its earliest employment,
about fifteen hundred impressions, which is about four times greater
than that of the hand lithographic press. By the use of steam and of
improved machinery, this inequality is put almost beyond comparison.
The typographic single-cylinder type-printing machine can print fifteen
hundred impressions in an hour, and the new newspaper perfecting press
can print fifteen thousand perfect sheets in an hour.
The feature which gives to typography its precedence in usefulness
over all other branches of the graphic arts is not so much its
superior adaptation to impression as its superior facility for
combining letters. Its merit is in the mobility of its types and their
construction for combination. Printing is Typography. The printing
which disseminates knowledge is not the art that makes prints or
pictures; it is, as Bernard has defined it, “the art that makes books.”
The definition is not scientifically exact, but it gives a clear
idea of the great breadth of the art. In its perfect adaptation to
this great object, the broad generalization of the definition in the
dictionaries may be justified. The method of printing which is most
useful may rightfully claim the generic name.
Xylography is the scientific word for the art of making engravings on
a single block of wood, in high relief, for use on the typographic
printing press. A xylographic block may be an engraving of letters
only, of pictures only, or of both letters and pictures, but in all
cases the engraving is fixed on [p027] the block. The fixedness of the
design on the block is the great feature which separates xylography[3]
from typography. The printing surfaces of the two methods are alike.
Types and xylographic engravings are printed together, by the same
process, and on the same press.
Printing with ink, not as an experiment, but as a practical business,
is comparatively a modern art. Lithography, the most recent method,
was discovered by Alois Senefelder, an actor of Munich, in 1798.
Unlike other methods of printing, it was, in every detail, an entirely
original invention.
The introduction of copper-plate printing is attributed to Maso
Finiguerra, a goldsmith of Florence, who is supposed to have made his
first print about the year 1452. It cannot be proved that Finiguerra
was the inventor, for prints by this method were made in Germany as
early as 1446.
The period of the invention of typography may be placed between the
years 1438 and 1450. There have been many claimants for the honor of
the invention. Each of the following fifteen cities or towns—Augsburg,
Basle, Bologna, Dordrecht, Feltre, Florence, Haarlem, Lubeck, Mentz,
Nuremberg, Rome, Russemburg, Strasburg, Schelestadt and Venice—has
been specified by as many different authors as the true birthplace
of typography. The names of the alleged inventors are, Castaldi,
Coster, Fust, Gensfleisch, Gresmund, Gutenberg, Hahn, Mentel, Jenson,
Regiomontanus, Schœffer, Pannartz and Sweinheym, and Louis de
Vaelbaeske. The evidences in favor of each claimant have been fully
examined, and the more foolish pretensions have been so completely
suppressed that it is unnecessary to review them. The limits of the
controversy have been greatly contracted: but four of the alleged
inventors of types, Castaldi, Coster, Gutenberg and Schœffer, have
living defenders. The legend of an invention of types [p028] by
Castaldi, of Feltre, has never been accepted beyond Italy, and barely
deserves respectful consideration. The evidences in favor of Schœffer
are more plausible, but they are not admitted by the writers who have
carefully investigated the documents upon which this pretension is
based. The real controversy is between Lourens Coster of Haarlem and
John Gutenberg of Mentz.
There is no record, nor even any tradition, concerning an invention of
xylography. It is admitted by all authorities, that xylographic prints
were made during the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and that
xylographic books were in use before typography was introduced.
Three of the four methods of printing here named were invented or
developed within a period of fifty years. If the statements of some
historians could be accepted, this period should be contracted to
thirty years. There is no disagreement, however, as to the order of
their introduction. Xylography, the rudest method, was the first in
use; typography, a more useful method, soon followed; copper-plate
printing, the artistic method, was the proper culmination. The order of
invention was that of progressive development from an imperfect to a
perfect method.
The introduction of three distinct methods of printing, by different
persons and in different places, but during the same period, shows
that a general need of books or of printed matter had given a strong
impulse to the inventive spirit of the fifteenth century. It may also
be inferred that the inventors of printing had been benefited, in some
way, by recent improvements or developments in the mechanical processes
of which printing is composed.
[p029]
II
Antique Methods of Impression and their Failure.
Transfer of Form by Impression one of the Oldest Arts . . . The
Stamped Bricks of Assyria and Egypt . . . Assyrian Cylinders of Clay
. . . Greek Maps . . . Roman Theories about Combinations of Letters
. . . Roman Stamps . . . The Brands and Stamps of the Middle Ages
. . . English Brands . . . Stamping is not Printing . . . Ink then
used was Unsuitable for Printing . . . Printing Waited for Discovery
of Ink and Paper . . . Romans did not Need Printing . . . Printing
Depends on a multitude of Readers . . . Readers were few in the
Dark Ages . . . Invention of Printing was Not purely Mechanical
. . . Printing needs many Supports . . . Telegraph . . . Schools
. . . Libraries . . . Expresses . . . Post-Offices . . . A Premature
Invention would have been Fruitless.
* * * * *
The stamps of the ancients, and the impressions from the seals of
metal, found in deeds and conveyances of the lower ages, prove nothing
more than that mankind walked for many centuries upon the borders
of the two great inventions of typography and chalcography, without
having the luck to discover either of them, and appear neither to have
had any influence on the origin of these arts, nor to merit any place
in their history.
_Lanzi._
* * * * *