1700-1750
Having to some extent shaken itself free from the cramping influences of
monopolies and State interference, the output of the English printing
press at the commencement of the eighteenth century had almost doubled
that of thirty or forty years before, and presses were now at work in
various parts of the kingdom. But the long period of thraldom had
resulted in completely destroying all originality amongst the printers,
and almost in the destruction of the art of letter-founding. In fact, so
far as printing with English types was concerned, the first twenty years
of the eighteenth century was the worst period in the history of
printing in this country. With the exception of the University of
Oxford, which, owing to the generous bequests of Bishop Fell and others,
was well supplied with good founts, the printers of this country were
compelled to obtain their type from Holland, and all the best and most
important books published in Queen Anne's days were printed with Dutch
letter, as it was called. Jacob Tonson is said to have spent some £300
in obtaining this foreign letter, and one important English foundry,
that of Thomas James, was almost wholly stocked with these foreign
founts. Yet this Dutch letter was by no means easy to get, and the
experience of James, who in 1710 went to Holland for the purpose, bore
out what Moxon had said in his _Mechanick Exercises_, that the art of
letter-cutting was jealously guarded by those who practised it. Some of
the Dutch typefounders refused to sell him types on any terms, and it
was only by getting hold of a man who was more fond of his liquor than
his trade, that James was able to get matrices, for even this individual
refused to sell his punches. Nor was the vendor in any hurry to part
with the matrices, and it cost James much money, time, and patience
before he was able to secure them. Writing from Rotterdam on the 27th
July in that year, he says:--
'The beauty of letters, like that of faces, is as people opine, ...
All the Romans excel what we have in England, in my opinion, and I
hope, being well wrought, I mean cast, will gain the approbation of
very handsome letters. The Italic I do not look upon to be
unhandsome, though the Dutch are never very extraordinary in them.'
James returned to England with 3500 matrices of various founts of Roman
and Italics, as well as sets of Greek and some black letter. He set up
his foundry in a part of the buildings belonging to the Priory of St.
Bartholomew, in Smithfield, and it continued to be the most important in
London until the days of Caslon. The proportion of Dutch to English
types in the printing offices at that time is well illustrated by the
valuable list of the types possessed by John Baskett, the Royal printer
at Oxford, in the year 1718. The Royal printing-house was perhaps the
largest and most lucrative office in the kingdom. For upwards of a
century it had been owned by the descendants of Christopher Barker, the
last of whom, Robert Barker, had died in 1645, after assigning his
business to Messrs. Newcomb, Hill, Mearne, and others. From these the
patent was bought in 1709 by John Baskett, of whose antecedents nothing
whatever is known. In addition to the business at Blackfriars, Baskett,
in conjunction with John Williams and Samuel Ashurst, obtained a lease
from the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of Oxford University of their
privilege of printing for twenty-one years. From an indenture in the
possession of Mr. J. H. Round, the substance of which he communicated to
the _Athenæum_ of September 5th, 1885, it appears that on the 24th
December 1718 Baskett gave a bond to James Brooks, stationer of London,
for a loan of £4000, and for security mortgaged his stock, which was
set out in a schedule as follows:--
'An Account of the Letter, Presses, and other Stock and Implements
of and in the Printing house at Oxford, belonging to John Baskett,
citizen and stationer of London.'
1. A large ffount of Perle letter cast by Mr Andrews.
2. A large ffount of Nonpl Letter new cast by ditto.
3. Another ffount of Nonpl Letter, old, the which standing and
sett up in a Com'on prayer in 24mo compleat.
4. A large ffount of Minn Letter new cast by Mr Andrews.
5. Another large ffount of Minn Letter, new cast in Holland.
6. The whole Testament standing in Brevr and Minn Letter,
old.
7. A large ffount of Brevr Letter, new cast in Holland.
8. A very large ffount of Lo: Primer Letter, new cast by Mr
Andrew.
9. A large ffount of pica Letter very good, cast by ditto.
10. Another large ffount of ditto, never used, cast in Holland.
11. A small quantity of English, new cast by Mr Andrews.
12. A small quantity of Great Primr new cast by ditto.
13. A very large ffount of Double Pica, new, the largest in
England.
14. A quantity of two-line English letters.
15. A quantity of French Cannon, two-line letters of all sorts, and
a set of silver initial letters. Cases, stands, etc. Five printing
presses very good.
John Baskett is chiefly remembered for the magnificent edition of the
Bible which he printed in 1716-1717, in two volumes imperial folio, and
which from an error in the headline of the 20th chapter of St. Luke,
where the parable of the Vineyard was rendered as the 'parable of the
Vinegar,' has ever since been known as the 'Vinegar Bible.' This slip
was only one of many faults in the edition, which earned for it the
title of 'A Baskett-full of printer's errors.' But apart from these
errors, the book was a very splendid specimen of the printer's art, and
has been described as the most magnificent of the Oxford Bibles. The
type, double pica Roman and Italic, was beautifully cut, and was that
which is described in the above list as the 'largest in England.' It was
clearly not one of the founts belonging to the University, for, had it
been, Baskett would have had no power to mortgage it. It is also
noticeable that it was not described as 'cast in Holland,' as many of
the others were, so we may infer that it was cast in England, and an
interesting question arises, by whom? Clearly it was not cast by Mr.
Andrews, or Baskett would have said so.
During a great part of his life, Baskett was engaged in litigation over
his monopoly of Bible printing, and in spite of the large profits
attached to it, he became bankrupt in 1732. Further trouble fell upon
him in 1738 by the destruction of his office by fire. He died on June
22nd, 1742. At one period he had been in danger of losing his patent
altogether, for Queen Anne was induced by Lord Bolingbroke and others to
constitute Benjamin Tooke and John Barber to be Royal printers in
reversion, in anticipation of the ending of Baskett's lease in 1739; but
Baskett purchased this reversion from Barber, and afterwards obtained a
renewal of his patent for sixty years, the last thirty of which were
subsequently acquired by Charles Eyre for £10,000.
John Barber, who for a time held the reversion of Baskett's patent, was
the only printer who has ever held the high office of Lord Mayor of
London, and for this reason among others he deserves a brief notice. He
was born of poor parents in 1675, and according to one account was
greatly helped in early life by Nathaniel Settle, the city poet.
He was apprenticed to Mrs. Clark, a printer in Thames Street, and
proving himself a steady and good workman, was able to set up for
himself in 1700. His first printing-house was in Queen's Head Alley,
whence he soon afterwards moved to Lambeth Hill, near Old Fish Street.
Accounts differ as to his first work. Curll, in his _Impartial History
of the Life, Character, etc., of Mr. John Barber_ (London, 1741), says
that the alderman himself admitted that the first fifty pounds he could
call his own were earned by printing a pamphlet written by Charles
D'Avenant; while in the _Life and Character_, another pamphlet printed
in the same year for T. Cooper, it is said that it was Defoe's _Diet of
Poland_ which brought him the first money he laid up. It is also said
that he was greatly indebted to Dean Swift for his rapid advancement.
By whatever means it was accomplished, Barber was introduced to Henry
St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, and was engaged as printer to the
Ministry, his printing-house becoming the meeting-place of the
statesmen, poets, and wits of the day. Barber was himself a genial
companion and hard drinker, who spent his money freely, and in this way
made many friends. He printed for Dean Swift, for Pope, Matthew Prior,
and Dr. King, and was also the printer of nearly all the writings of the
versatile and unhappy Mrs. Manley. The story of her connection with
Barber is sufficiently well known.
At the time of the South Sea scheme Barber took large shares, and, it is
said, amassed a considerable fortune before the bubble burst. But he was
indebted mainly to the patronage of Lord Bolingbroke for his success as
a printer. Through that statesman he obtained the contract for printing
the votes of the House of Commons, and by the same influence he became
printer of the _London Gazette_, _The Examiner_, and _Mercator_, printer
to the City of London, and finally received from the Queen the reversion
of the office of Royal Printer, which he soon after relinquished to
Baskett for £1500.
Elected as alderman of Baynard Castle ward, Barber filled the office of
Sheriff, and in 1733 became Lord Mayor of the City of London. As Lord
Mayor, he gained great popularity from his opposition to the Excise
Bill, and by permitting persons tried and acquitted at the Old Bailey to
be discharged without any fees. He died on the 22nd January 1740.
Much amusement, not altogether unmixed with uneasiness, was caused in
the printing trade between 1727 and 1740 by a futile attempt to
introduce stereotyping. A Scotch printer having complained to a
goldsmith in Edinburgh of the vexatious delays and inconvenience of
having to send to London or Holland for type, it occurred to William
Ged, the goldsmith in question, that, to use the words of Timperley (p.
584), the transition from founding single letters to founding whole
pages, 'should be no difficult matter.' He made several experiments, and
at length satisfied himself that his scheme was practicable.
Accordingly, in 1727, he entered into a contract with an Edinburgh
printer to carry out the invention, but after two years his partner
withdrew, being alarmed at the probable cost. Ged then entered into
partnership with William Fenner, a stationer in London, by whom he was
introduced to Thomas James, the founder, and a company was formed to
work the scheme. But James, perhaps influenced by the representations of
his 'compositors,' whom the new invention threatened with the loss of
work, instead of helping, did his utmost to ruin the undertaking and its
inventor. Instead of supplying the best and newest type from which the
matrices might be made, he furnished the worst, whilst his workmen
damaged the formes. Much the same happened at Cambridge, where Ged was
for a time installed as printer to the University. He struggled against
the opposition so far as to produce two Prayer Books, but such was the
animosity shown to the new invention, that the books were suppressed by
authority, and the plates broken up. To add further to his troubles,
dissension broke out between James and Fenner, neither of whom had any
cause to be proud of their action towards Ged, who, disheartened and
ruined, returned to Edinburgh. There another attempt was made by the
friends of the inventor to produce a book, but no compositor could be
found to set up the type, and it was only by Ged's son working at night
that the edition of _Sallust_, and a few theological books, were
finished and printed at Newcastle. Ged died in 1749, and his sons
subsequently emigrated to the West Indies.
Next to the King's printing-house, the press of which we have the most
accurate knowledge at this time was that of William Bowyer, the elder
and the younger. The seven volumes of Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_
give a complete record of the work of this printing-house, and from them
the following brief account has been taken. William Bowyer, the elder,
had been apprentice to Miles Flesher, and was admitted to the freedom
of the Company of Stationers on October 4th, 1686. He started business
on his own account in Little Britain in 1699, with a pamphlet of
ninety-six pages on the _Eikon Basilike_ controversy. He afterwards
moved into White Friars, where, on the night of January 29th, 1712, his
printing office was burnt to the ground; among the works that perished
in the flames being almost the whole impression of Atkyn's _History of
Gloucestershire_, Sir Roger L'Estrange's _Josephus_, 'printed with a
fine Elzevir letter never used before'; the fifteenth volume of Rymer's
_Fœdera_; Thoresby's _Ducatus Leodiensis_, and an old book, _of
Monarchy_, by Sir John Fortescue, in 'Saxon,' with notes upon it,
printed on an 'extraordinary paper' (Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_,
vol. i. p. 56). This short list of notable works proves that Bowyer had
a flourishing business at the time of the catastrophe. A subscription
was at once raised for his relief, and £1162 subscribed by the
booksellers and printers in a very short time. A royal brief was also
granted to him for the same purposes, and by this he received £1377,
making a grand total of £2539, with which he began business anew. In
remembrance of his misfortune, Bowyer had several tail-pieces and
devices engraved, representing a phoenix rising from the flames.
In 1715 Bowyer the elder printed Miss Elstob's _Anglo-Saxon Grammar_.
The types for this were cut by Robert Andrews from drawings made by
Humphrey Wanley, and were given to the printer by Lord Chief-Justice
Parker. But these types were very indifferently cut. Wanley himself said
'when the alphabet came into the hands of the workman (who was but a
blunderer) he could not imitate the fine and regular stroke of the pen;
so that the letters are not only clumsy, but unlike those that I drew.'
In 1721 Bowyer printed an edition of Bishop Bull's Latin works in folio,
but lost £200 by the impression. The following year his son, William
Bowyer the younger, joined him in the business.
The younger Bowyer had received an University education, though he never
succeeded in taking a degree. He was, however, a highly cultivated man,
and employed his pen in many of the controversies of the time, writing
_Remarks on Mr. Bowman's Visitation Sermon_ in 1731, and on Stephen's
_Thesaurus_ in 1733, and in 1744 a pamphlet on the _Present State of
Europe_. But at the beginning of his connection with the printing-house,
he was mainly concerned in reading the proofs of the learned works
entrusted to his father for printing, and though towards the latter end
of the elder Bowyer's days the son may have taken a more active part in
the practical work, as we read of his appointment as printer of the
votes in the House of Commons in 1729, and as printer to the Society
of Antiquaries in 1736, it was not until his father's death, in 1737,
that the sole management of the business devolved upon him.
[Illustration: WILLIAM CASLON]
One of the earliest works upon which the younger Bowyer was employed as
'reader' was Dr. Wilkins's edition of Selden's Works, printed by Bowyer
the elder in six folio volumes in 1722. The publication of this book
marks an era in the history of English printing, for the types with
which it was printed were cut by William Caslon.
This famous type-founder, who by his skill raised the art of printing to
a higher level than it had reached since the days of John Day, was born
at Cradley, near Hales Owen in Shropshire. We are indebted for his
biography partly to Bowyer and partly to Nichols, but it must be
confessed that the earlier part of it is vague and unconvincing.
According to this oft-quoted story, Caslon began life as an engraver of
gun-locks, and made blocking tools for binders. This was somewhere about
1716, in which year it is said John Watts, the printer, became his
patron, and employed him to cut type punches. Bowyer became acquainted
with him from seeing some specimen of his lettering on a book, and took
him to the foundry of James, in Bartholomew Close. Bowyer next advanced
him some money, as also did Watts, and with these loans he set up for
himself, his first essay in type-founding being a fount of Arabic for
the Psalter published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge. When he had finished the Arabic, _i.e._ somewhere about 1724
or 1725, he cut his own name in Roman type and placed it at the foot of
the specimen. This attracted the notice of Samuel Palmer, the author of
a very unreliable _History of Printing_, and with Palmer, Caslon worked
for some time, but at length transferred his services to William Bowyer,
for whom he cut the types of the 'Selden.'
It is almost impossible to place any reliance upon so vague and
inconclusive a biography as this. There was a belief in the Caslon
family that he began letter-cutting before 1720, and the equally vague
traditions which point to a later date need not make us treat this as
impossible.
Was his the unknown hand that cut the double pica type which Baskett
used in printing the 'Vinegar' Bible? A close examination of the types
used in that Bible, those used in printing the folio edition of Pope's
_Iliad_, and those of the 'Selden,' reveals a striking resemblance,
especially in the form of the italic letter, and at least makes it clear
that if the two first-mentioned works were printed with Dutch letter,
then it was on the best form of that letter that Caslon modelled his
types.
The charm of Caslon's Roman letter lay in its wonderful regularity as
well as in the shape and proportion of the letters. In this respect it
was a worthy successor to the best Aldine founts of the sixteenth
century. The italic was also noticeable for its beauty and regularity.
Caslon's superiority over all other letter-cutters, English or Dutch,
was quickly recognised, and from this time forward until the close of
the century all the best and most important books were printed with
Caslon's letter; the old letter-founders, such as James and Grover,
being entirely neglected, and even such a powerful rival as John
Baskerville being unable to compete with him.
In addition to the printers in London already noticed, there were two
others who must not be forgotten. Samuel Richardson, author of _Pamela_,
_Clarissa Harlowe_, and _Sir Charles Grandison_, was by trade a printer.
Born in Derbyshire, of humble parents, in 1689, he was apprenticed to
Mr. John Wilde, a printer in London, whom he served for seven years. He
took up his freedom in 1706, and started business for himself in
Salisbury Court, Fleet Street. Among his earliest patrons were the Duke
of Wharton, for whom he printed some six numbers of a paper called the
_True Briton_, and the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, by whose interest he
obtained the printing of the Journals of the House of Commons. But he
did some better work than this, as in 1732 he printed for Andrew Millar
a good edition in folio of _Churchill's Voyages_, and in 1733 the second
volume of De Thou's _History_, a work in seven folio volumes, edited by
Samuel Buckley, his share in which reflects credit on Richardson as a
printer. Between 1736-37 he printed _The Daily Journal_, and in 1738 the
_Daily Gazeteer_, and in 1740 the newly-formed Society for the
Encouragement of Learning entrusted to him the printing of the first
volume of _The Negociations of Sir Thomas Roe_, in folio. In this the
text was printed in the same type as the De Thou, but the dedication was
in a fount of double pica Roman. This work, which was intended to have
been in six volumes, was never completed.
Richardson's work as an author began in 1741 with the publication of
_Pamela_, in four volumes, duodecimo, printed at his own press.
_Clarissa Harlowe_ appeared in 1747-48, and in 1753 his final novel,
_Sir Charles Grandison_. Through the treachery of one of his workmen in
the printing office, the Dublin booksellers were enabled to issue an
edition of _Sir Charles Grandison_ before the work had left Richardson's
press. He vented his aggrieved feelings by printing a pamphlet, _The
Case of Samuel Richardson of London, Printer_.
In 1755 Richardson rebuilt his premises, and in 1760 he bought half the
patent of law printing, which he shared with Catherine Lintot. His
death took place on the 4th July 1761, his business being afterwards
carried on by his nephew, William Richardson.
The other press to which reference has been made was that of Henry
Woodfall. In the first series of _Notes and Queries_ (vol. xi. pp. 377,
418) an anonymous contributor supplied some very interesting and
valuable notes drawn from the ledgers of that printer between the years
1734 and 1747. Such a record is the most valuable material for a history
of printing, but unfortunately this is the only known instance in which
it is available. It supplies us with the most useful information, the
numbers of copies that went to make up an edition, the quality and cost
of the paper and the number of sheets contained in each volume, with
many other interesting particulars, which it is impossible to get from
any other source. While recognising the value of these extracts from
Woodfall's ledger, the writer hardly seems to have made the most of his
opportunity. In many instances he gives only the title of the work and
the number of copies printed, omitting all particulars as regards the
cost of printing. But even as it stands this series of papers throws
much interesting light upon the publication of some of the notable works
of that period.
Woodfall's printing was broadly divided into two classes, 'gentlemen's
work' and 'booksellers' work,' and the second is naturally the more
interesting.
Among those for whom he printed were Bernard and Henry Lintot, Robert
Dodsley, Andrew Millar, and Lawton Gilliver. Against Bernard Lintot is
the following entry:--
Decr. 15th, 1735--
Printing the first volume of Mr. Pope's Works,
Cr., Long Primer, 8vo, 3000 (and 75 fine), @
£2, 2s. per sheet, 14 sheets and a half, 30. 09. 0
Title in red and black, 1. 1
Paid for 2 reams and 1/4 of writing demy, 2. 16. 3
On May 15, 1736, Woodfall enters to Henry Lintot--
The _Iliad of Homer_ by Mr. Pope, demy,
Long Primer and Brevier. No. 2000 in
6 vols, 68 sheets and 1/2 @ £2, 2s. per sheet, £143. 17
Under Dodsley's account is entered on 12th May 1737--
Printing the _first Epistle of the Second Book
of Horace Imitated_, folio, double size, Poetry,
No. 2000, and 150 fine, [seven] shts., at
27s. per sht., 9. 09. 0
May 18, 1737. 150 fol. titles, _Second Book of
Epistles_, 4. 0
A few weeks later Woodfall received an order from Lawton Gilliver for
1500 crown octavo copies of _Epistles of Horace_, and 100 fine or large
paper copies. The second edition of Pope's Works was also printed by
Woodfall for Henry Lintot, the order being for 2000.
For Andrew Millar Woodfall printed the following works of Thomson the
poet--
Oct. 14th 1734. Spring, a poem, 8vo, 250
copies.
Jan. 8th 173-4/5. Liberty, a poem, 1st part
cr. 8vo, No. 3000, and 250 fine copies.
Of the 4th and 6th parts only 1250 copies were printed.
June 6th, 1738, Mr. Thomson's Works. Vol. I.
No. 1000, 8vo.
With the issue of the second volume the number was increased to 1500.
_The Seasons_ were printed on June 19th, 1744, in octavo. There were
1500 errata in the work, and a special charge of £2, 4s. was made for
'divers and repeated alterations.'
Among the miscellaneous writers whose works were passed through the
elder Woodfall's press was the Rev. John Peters, against whom he entered
an account, dated July 17th, 1735, for printing _Thoughts concerning
Religion_, 4to, 16 sheets. This gentleman was a literary shark, ready to
devour any unprotected morsel that came in his way. The work above
mentioned, and another printed by Woodfall in 1732, called _A Letter to
a Bishop_, were afterwards discovered to be from the pen of Duncan
Forbes, and were published in an edition of his works printed in
Edinburgh and London in 1751. A lawsuit was at once commenced by George
Woodfall and John Peters against the publishers of Forbes' works, the
name of Messrs. Rivington being prominently mentioned, and the
defendants, in their answer, stated that the two works in question were
well known to have been written by Duncan Forbes, and that the MS. was
in the possession of his family.[14]
This little incident, taken in conjunction with Henry Woodfall's
connection with E. Curll and the letters of Pope, and the story told by
Thomas Gent of the printing of _The Bishop of Rochester's Effigy_, shows
that he was a worthy disciple of Iago in the matter of
money-getting.[15]
Mention of Thomas Gent leads naturally to a study of the provincial
press of this period. This is a much more difficult matter than it has
been hitherto, as presses were established not in three or four places
only, but in almost every town of any size. The history of provincial
printing has never yet been written, and the task of tracing out the
various printers and their work would be long and arduous. All that is
attempted here is to give a sketch of the earlier and more important
presses, adding in an appendix a chronological list of the places in
which printing was carried on before 1750.
In the previous chapter it has been shown how the munificence of Bishop
Fell and Francis Junius furnished the University of Oxford with an
unusually large stock of excellent letter of all descriptions, so that
it was in a position to do better work than any other house in the
kingdom. Its productions, during the first twenty years of the
eighteenth century, were in every way worthy of its reputation, and some
of them deserve special mention.
In 1705 Hickes's _Linguarum Vett. Septentrionalium Thesaurus_ was issued
in three large folio volumes of great beauty. The work required many
unusual founts, and these were mainly furnished from the bequest of
Junius.
In 1707 the University published Mill's _Greek Testament_, which Wood in
his _Athenæ Oxonienses_ (vol. ii. p. 604) says had been begun in 1681 at
Bishop Fell's printing-house near the theatre. The double pica italic
used in this was a grand letter. Both the foregoing works were
ornamented with handsome initial letters, and head and tail pieces
engraved by M. Burghers, probably the first engraver of the day in this
country. Many classical works were also produced in the same sumptuous
manner, notably Hudson's edition of the _Works of Dionysius_,1704, which
it is difficult to praise too highly. The copies measured nearly
eighteen inches in height, the paper was thick and good; the Greek and
Latin texts were printed side by side, with notes at the foot, yet
ample margins were left. In fact it is one of the finest examples of
English printing of this period to be met with.
Cambridge was sadly behind her sister University. Neither Reed in his
_Old English Letter Foundries_, nor Mr. Allnutt in his valuable articles
on Provincial Presses, has anything to say of it. Cornelius Crowndale
was the University printer at this time, but beyond an edition of
_Eusebius_ in three folio volumes, issued in 1720, no notable book came
from his press, little in fact beyond reprints in octavo and duodecimo
of classical works for the use of the scholars, and repeated editions of
the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, full of errors, and so badly
printed that the less said about them the better. We may notice,
however, an edition of Butler's _Hudibras_, edited by Zachary Grey, in
two octavo volumes, with Hogarth's plates, and two books by Conyers
Middleton, _Bibliothecæ Cantabrigiensis ordinandæ methodus_, 1723, and
_A Dissertation concerning the Origin of Printing in England,_ 1735,
both in quarto.
Among the earliest provincial presses at work in the beginning of the
eighteenth century was that at Norwich, where Francis Burges was
established in the year 1701. Thomas Tanner, afterwards Bishop of St.
Asaph, sent John Bagford a broadside, printed by that printer, a list of
the clergy that were to preach in the cathedral at Norfolk from
November 1st, 1701, until Trinity Sunday following. In a MS. note at the
foot Tanner says:--
'DR. BAGFORD,--When you were at Cambridge, I thought you would have
come to Norwich. I send this to put among your other collections of
printers. It is the first thing that was ever printed here.'[16]
In this statement, however, Tanner was wrong, unless we suppose this
broadside to have been printed nearly five weeks in advance, as there
had appeared, on September 27th, 1701, _Some Observations on the Use and
Original of the Noble Art and Mystery of Printing_, by Francis Burges,
which is also claimed as the first book printed at Norwich since the
sixteenth century. There is also evidence that Burges began to issue a
newspaper called _The Norwich Post_ early in September. Among his other
work of that year were sermons by John Jeffery and John Graile, and
Humphrey Prideaux's _Directions to Churchwardens for the Faithfull
Discharge of their Offices. For the Use of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk_.
(Norwich 1701, quarto.) Francis Burges died in January 1706, leaving the
business to his widow, who in the following year printed and published a
little tract of eight quarto pages, with the title, _A true description
of the City of Norwich both in its ancient and modern state_.
Meanwhile, in November of the preceding year, a second press was
started in the town by Henry Crossgrove, who began to issue a paper
called the _Norwich Gazette_.
Burges's business seems to have been taken by Freeman Collins, who
printed from the same address, in 1713, Robert Pate's _Complete Syntax_.
He in his turn was succeeded by Benjamin Lyon, who in 1718 reprinted the
_True Description_, as _The History of the City of Norwich ... To which
is added Norfolk's Furies: or a view of Kett's Camp_. (Norwich. Printed
by Benj. Lyon near the Red-well, for Robert Allen and Nich. Lemon. 1718.
8vo. pp. 40.) He added to this some useful lists of bishops, etc., and a
'Chronological Account of Remarkable Accidents and Occurrences, to
date,' in which the following entries occur:--
'1701. The first printing office was set up in Norwich, near the
Red-well, by Francis Surges.
'1706. Sam. Hashart a distiller, set up a Printing Office, in
Magdalen St., and sent for Henry Cross-grove from London to be his
journeyman.'
Crossgrove appears to have continued work till 1739, being succeeded by
William Chase, who had been printing since 1711, and who established the
_Norwich Mercury_ in 1727.
At Bristol the press that William Bonny had established in 1695
continued to flourish until 1713. About November 1702 he began to issue
a weekly paper called the _Bristol Post-Boy_, which ran until 1712,
when it was either replaced or supplanted by Samuel Farley's _Bristol
Postman_.[17]
The Parleys were noted printers in the West of England at this time, and
the above-named Samuel must not be confounded with Samuel Farley the
Exeter printer.
In Cirencester printing began in 1718, in which year Thomas Hinton
brought out the first number of the _Cirencester Post_, and the
_Gloucester Journal_ was printed in that city by R. Raikes and W. Dicey
on April 9, 172-1/2. Robert Raikes continued printing there till 1750,
and was succeeded by his son Robert, the founder of Sunday Schools.[18]
In the neighbouring county of Devon the Exeter press, finally
established after many vicissitudes in 1698 by Samuel Darker, is found
busily at work in 1701, Darker having been joined by Samuel Farley,
whose relation to the Samuel Farley of Bristol offers an opportunity to
some cunning genealogist to reap distinction. In 1701 Farley issued by
himself John Prince's _Danmonii Orientales Illustres; or The Worthies of
Devon_, a work of 600 folio pages, with coats of arms. It was certainly
one of the largest works printed at that time by any provincial press
outside the Universities. In point of workmanship all that can be said
for it is that it was no worse than the bulk of the work turned out by
provincial presses; and it furnishes its own criticism in a list of
errata on the last page, which closes with the words, 'with many others
too tedious to insert.' Thomas Tanner, writing to Browne Willis in 1706,
says that he has heard of a bi-weekly paper printing at Exeter. No copy
of an Exeter paper of so early a date is known.
In 1705 Farley was joined by Joseph Bliss, and jointly they issued
several books; but the partnership lasted a very short time, as by 1708
Joseph Bliss had set up for himself in the Exchange.
On September 24, 1714, Samuel Farley issued the first number of _The
Exeter Mercury; or Weekly Intelligence of News_, which in the next year
he transferred to Philip Bishop. In 1715 also Joseph Bliss started a
rival sheet called the _Protestant Mercury, or The Exeter Post-Boy_,
from his new printing-house near the London Inn. Meanwhile Farley
appears to have left Exeter, for on September 27, 1715, he published the
first number of the _Salisbury Post-Man_. In 1717 Andrew Brice, the most
important of Exeter printers, began to print, his address then being 'At
the Head of the Serge Market in Southgate Street,' from which he issued,
some time in 1718, a paper called the _Post-Master, or the Loyal
Mercury_. The history of this printer is too lengthy to be told here,
and has already been ably written by Dr. T. N. Brushfield (_The Life
and Bibliography of Andrew Brice_). Farley's name occurs again in 1723,
when he returned to Exeter and started _Farley's Exeter Journal_. In
November 1727 the burial of Samuel Farley is recorded in the registers
at St. Paul's, Exeter. He was succeeded in business by an Edward Farley.
Another provincial press that revived very early in the eighteenth
century was that of Worcester. It had been silent for upwards of a
century and a half; but in June 1709 a printer from London, named
Stephen Bryan, set up a press, and started a newspaper called the
_Worcester Postman_. In 1722 the title was altered to the _Worcester
Post, or Western Journal_. Bryan died in 1748, but just previous to his
death he assigned his paper to Mr. H. Berrow, who then gave it the name
it has ever since borne, that of _Berrow's Worcester Journal_.
Hazlitt, in his _Collections and Notes_ (3rd Series, p. 282), mentions a
book entitled _Tunbridgialia, or ye pleasures of Tunbridge, a poem_, as
printed 'at Mount Sion at ye end of ye Upper Walk at Tunbridge Wells,'
1705.
At Canterbury printing was revived in 1717, and a very interesting
record of it is in the British Museum in the form of a broadside with
the following title:--
'A List of the names of the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen & Common Council
of the City of Canterbury Who (In the year of our Lord 1717) promoted
and encouraged the noble Art and Mystery of Printing in this City and
County.' Canterbury, Printed by J. Abree for T. James, S. Palmer, and W.
Hunter, 1718.' This John Abree died in 1765 at the age of seventy-seven.
Turning northward, the most important presses were those of York and
Newcastle.
At York John White, who had settled in the city in 1680, was actively
engaged in business in 1701, and he remained the sole printer there
until his death in the year 1715. By his will, dated 31st July 1714, he
gave his wife Grace White the use of one full half of his printing tools
and presses, etc., for her life; and after her death he gave the same to
his grandson, Charles Bourne, to whom he bequeathed the remaining half
of his printing implements immediately upon his death. To John White,
his son, he devised his real estate.
On the 23rd February 1718-19 Grace White issued the first York
newspaper, _The York Mercury_. Upon her death in 1721 the printing-house
was carried on by Charles Bourne until 1724, when he was in turn
succeeded by Thomas Gent, who had served under John White in 1714-15,
and married the widow of Charles Bourne. Davies in his _Memoirs of the
York Press_ (pp. 144 _et seq._) gives a detailed and interesting
biography of this printer, who, he says, has obtained a wider celebrity
than any other York typographer. Gent was an engraver as well as
printer, and was the author of a _History of York_, and other works. As
a printer his work was wretched; there is little to be said for him as
an engraver; while as an author he was below mediocrity. Nevertheless,
he deserves credit for the interest he took in the history of York. His
history of that city was published in small octavo in 1730, and he
followed it up in 1735 with _Annales Regioduni Hullini, or The History
of the Royal and Beautiful town of Kingston upon Hull_, also an octavo.
These works were quickly overshadowed by Drake's _History_, and from
this time forward Gent's fortunes began to decline. He made an enemy of
John White, the son of his old employer, with the result that White set
up a press at York in 1725, and issued the first number of _The York
Courant_, a weekly paper, but sold it and the business to Alexander
Staples ten years later. Staples in turn was succeeded by Cæsar Ward and
Richard Chandler--the first a bookseller in York, the second in London;
but Chandler committed suicide in 1744, and left Ward to carry on the
business alone. John Gilfillan was another printer at work in the city
during this period. Thomas Gent lived to the age of eighty-seven, his
death taking place on the 19th May 1778.
In Newcastle, John White, the son of the York printer of that name,
began printing in 1708. He started the _Newcastle Courant_, the first
number of which appeared in 1711. In 1761 the firm became John White and
Co., and in 1763 John White and T. Saint. White died in 1769, when he is
said to have been the oldest printer in the kingdom. As has been noted,
from 1725 to 1735 he had carried on a press at York in opposition to T.
Gent. One or two other printers are found here for short periods, but
little is known about them.
Among other towns possessing presses early in this century
were--Nottingham, 1711; Chester, 1711; Liverpool, 1712; and Birmingham,
1716.
In America the number of printing presses increased but slowly during
the first half of the eighteenth century. William Bradford in New York
continued the only printer in that province for thirty years. He died on
the 23rd May 1752, at the age of ninety-two. For fifty years he had been
printer to the Government, and among the numerous books that came
through his press were the Book of Common Prayer in quarto, in 1709, the
only issue in America before the Revolution, a venture by which he is
said to have lost heavily. He also printed a Mohawk Prayer-book in
quarto; this was issued in 1715. On the 16th October 1725 he began to
publish a weekly paper called _The New York Gazette_, and continued it
until his retirement from business.
In 1726 a German named John Peter Zenger set up as a printer in New
York. He is chiefly remembered as the printer of the second New York
newspaper, the _New York Weekly Journal_, the first number of which was
wrongly dated October 5th, 1733, instead of November 5th. The paper
involved the printer in several actions for libel, and led to some
lively passages with William Bradford. He is believed to have died about
1746. Bradford was succeeded as printer to the Government by James
Parker, one of his apprentices, who is described as a neat workman. He
continued the _New York Gazette_, with the alternative title, _or Weekly
Post Boy_. He also issued in 1767 an edition of the Psalms in metre, one
of the earliest books printed from type cast in America.
In 1753 Parker took into partnership William Weyman, but the connection
lasted but a short time, Weyman setting up for himself in 1759. Parker
also established presses at New Haven and Woodbridge in New Jersey.
Among the later printers in New York were Hugh Guine (1750-1800); John
Holt (1750-1784), printer to the State during the war; Robert Hodge
(1770-1813); and Frederick Shober (1772-1806).
Philadelphia possessed only one printer until 1723--Andrew Bradford, son
of William Bradford, of New York. In 1723 Samuel Keimer set up near the
Market House. It was this printer whom Benjamin Franklin worked for in
his early days. Bradford started the _American Weekly Mercury_ on
Tuesday, November 22nd, 1719; and the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, afterwards
carried on by Franklin and Meredith, was first printed by Keimer. Andrew
Bradford died in 1742. Perhaps the most notable of Keimer's books was
the folio edition of Sewell's _History of the Quakers_, which he began
in 1725. It was a work of upwards of seven hundred pages and Keimer soon
found that he had taken the contract at a ruinous rate. It was only by
the help of Franklin and Meredith that he was enabled to finish it in
1728.
Benjamin Franklin's history hardly needs retelling. His career as a
printer began in the shop of his brother James at Boston in 1717.
Differences arose between them which ended in Franklin's setting out for
New York. Work was not to be had there, and by the advice of William
Bradford he moved on to Philadelphia. There for some months he worked
for Samuel Keimer until, deluded by the promises of Governor Keith, he
took ship for England with a view of obtaining materials for a printing
office. While in England he worked for James Watts in Bartholomew Close,
and James Palmer. On his return to America he once more entered Keimer's
office as a journeyman. But after a short time, in company with Hugh
Meredith, he set up in business for himself. He was the proprietor and
printer of _Poor Richard's Almanack_, which became celebrated, and also
of the _Pennsylvania Gazette_. After a long and prosperous career
Franklin died, on April 19th, 1790, at the age of eighty-five.
Boston was the home of more printers than any other place in America
during the eighteenth century. To give anything like a history of even a
few of them would be beyond the limits of this work. Only one or two of
the more important can be even noticed.
Thomas Fleet arrived in Boston in 1712, set up as a printer, and for
nearly fifty years carried on business there. His issues were
principally pamphlets for booksellers, small books for children, and
ballads. He was also the proprietor of a newspaper called the _Weekly
Rehearsal_, first begun in September 1731. At his death in July 1758, he
left three sons, two of whom succeeded him in business.
In 1718 Samuel Kneeland set up in Prison Lane, and his printing house
continued for eighty years. He was one of the printers of the _Boston
Gazette_, and he started besides several other journals. Thomas in his
history (vol. i. p. 207) says that Kneeland, in company with Bartholomew
Green, printed a small quarto edition of the English Bible with Mark
Baskett's imprint, but this is not confirmed. Kneeland died on December
14th, 1769. Another celebrated printer in the city of Boston was
Gamaliel Rogers, who began business about 1729. In 1742 he entered into
partnership with Daniel Fowle. In the following year they issued the
first numbers of the _American Magazine_, and in 1748 started the
_Independent Advertiser_. The partnership with Fowle was dissolved in
1750. Rogers subsequently moved to the western part of the town, but
suffered from a fire, which destroyed his plant. He died in 1775.
Daniel Fowle, on the dissolution of his partnership with Rogers, set up
for himself. He was arrested in 1754 for printing a pamphlet reflecting
on some members of the House of Representatives, and was thrown into
prison for several days. Upon his release, he at once left the town and
set up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he started the _New Hampshire
Gazette_. He was succeeded in his Boston business by his brother
Zachariah Fowle, who continued printing there until the Revolution, when
he also retired to New Hampshire, where he died in 1776.
[Footnote 14: Chancery Proceedings, 1753 (Record Office).]
[Footnote 15: _Notes and Queries_, First Series, vol. xii. p. 197.]
[Footnote 16: Harl. MS. 5906.]
[Footnote 17: Hyett and Bazeley, _Bibliog. Man. of Glouc. Literature_,
vol. iii. p. 339.]
[Footnote 18: Allnutt, _Bibliographica_, vol. ii. p. 302.]