1. From what has been said in a preceding article, it is manifest that
the art of printing arose from the practice of engraving on wood.
Letters were cut on wood as inscriptions to pictures, and were printed
at the same time with them, by means of a hand-roller. The impressions
were taken on one side of the paper; and, in order to hide the
nakedness of the blank side, two leaves were pasted together. These
leaves were put up in pamphlet form, and are now known under the
denomination of _block-books_, because they were printed from wooden
blocks.
2. Although the art of typographical printing can be clearly traced to
wood engraving, yet so much uncertainty rests upon its history, that
the honor of its invention is claimed by three cities--Harlem, in
Holland, and Strasburg and Mentz, in Germany; and, at the present
time, it is difficult to determine satisfactorily the merits of their
respective claims. The obscurity on this point has arisen from the
desire of the first printers to conceal the process of the art, that
their productions might pass for manuscripts, and that they might
enjoy the full benefit of their invention.
3. The advocates of the claims of Harlem state, that Laurentius Coster
applied wooden types, and some say, even metal types, as early as
1428, and that several persons were employed by him in the business up
to the year 1440, when his materials were stolen from him by one of
his workmen or servants, named John, while the family were engaged in
celebrating the festival of Christmas eve. The thief is said to have
fled first to Amsterdam, then to Cologne, and, finally, to have
settled in Mentz, where, within a twelvemonth, he published two small
works, by means of the types which Laurentius Coster had used.
4. These claims in favor of Harlem, however, were not set forth until
120 years after the death of Coster; and the whole story, as then
stated by Hadriamus Junius, was founded altogether upon traditionary
testimony. Perhaps wood engravings, with inscriptions, may have been
executed there; if so, the account may have originated from that
circumstance.
5. The statements which seem to be the most worthy of credit, bestow
the honor of this invention on a citizen of Mentz. Here, it appears,
that John Geinsfleisch, or Guttemburg senior, published two small
works for schools, in 1442, on wooden types; but, not having the funds
necessary to carry on the business, he applied to John Faust, a rich
goldsmith, who became a partner, in 1443, and advanced the requisite
means. Soon afterwards, J. Meidenbachius and some others were admitted
as partners.
6. In the following year, John Guttemburg, the brother of
Geinsfleisch, made an addition to the firm. For several years before
this union, or from 1436, Guttemburg had been attempting to complete
the invention at Strasburg; but it is said that he had never been able
to produce a clean printed sheet. The brothers may, or may not, have
pursued their experiments without receiving any hints from each other,
before their union at Mentz.
7. Soon after the formation of this partnership, the two brothers
commenced cutting _metal types_, for the purpose of printing an
edition of the Bible, which was published in Latin, about the year
1450. Before this great achievement of the art had been effected,
Geinsfleisch appears to have retired from the concern, some say, on
account of blindness.
8. The partnership before mentioned, was dissolved, in 1450, and Faust
and Guttemburg entered into a new arrangement, the former supplying
money, the latter, personal services, for their mutual benefit; but
various difficulties having arisen, this partnership was also
dissolved, in 1455, after a lawsuit between them, which was decided
against Guttemburg.
9. Faust, having obtained possession of the printing materials,
entered into partnership with Peter Shoeffer, who had been for a long
time a servant, or workman, in the printing establishment. In 1457,
they published an edition of the _Psalter_, which was then considered
uncommonly elegant. This book was, in a great measure, the work of
Guttemburg, since, during the four years in which it was in the press,
he was, for two years and a half, the chief operator in the
printing-office.
10. Guttemburg, by the pecuniary aid of Conrad Humery and others,
established another press in Mentz, and, in 1460, published the
"_Catholicon Joannis Januensis_." It was a very handsome work, but not
equal in beauty to the Psalter of Faust and Shoeffer. The latter was
the first printed book known to have a genuine date. From this time,
it has been the practice for printers to claim their own productions,
by prefixing to them their names.
11. Notwithstanding the great advancement which had been made in the
art of printing, the invention cannot, by any means, be considered
complete, until about the year 1458, when Peter Shoeffer contrived a
method of casting types in a matrix, or mould. The first book executed
with cast metal types was called "_Durandi Ralionale Divinorum
Officiorum_," published in 1459. Only the smaller letters, however,
were of this description, all the larger characters which occur, being
_cut types_. These continued to be used, more or less, as late as the
year 1490.
12. In 1462, Faust carried to Paris a number of Latin Bibles, which he
and Shoeffer had printed, and disposed of many of them as manuscripts.
At first, he sold them at five or six hundred crowns, the sums usually
obtained by the scribes. He afterwards lowered the price to sixty.
This created universal astonishment; but, when he produced them
according to the demand, and when he had reduced the price to thirty,
all Paris became agitated.
13. The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder of the
Parisians, and information was finally given against him to the police
as a magician. He was accordingly arrested, and a great number of his
Bibles were seized. The red ink with which they were embellished, was
supposed to be his blood. It was seriously adjudged, that the prisoner
was joined in league with the devil; and had he not disclosed the
secret of his art, he would probably have shared the fate of those
whom the magistrates of those superstitious times condemned for
witchcraft.
14. It may be well to inform the reader, that, although the story of
Faust's arrest, as above detailed, is related as a fact by several
authors, yet by others it is thought to be unworthy of credit. It is
also generally supposed, that the celebrated romance of "Doctor
Faustus and the devil" originated in the malice of the monks towards
Faust, whose employment of printing deprived them of their gain as
copiers. It seems more probable, however, that it arose from the
astonishing performances of Doctor John Faust, a dealer in the black
art, who lived in Germany in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
15. Faust and Shoeffer continued their printing operations together,
at least, until 1486, about which time it is conjectured, that the
former died of the plague, at Paris. Geinsfleisch, or, as he is
sometimes called, Guttemburg senior, died in 1462; and his brother
Guttemburg junior, in 1468, after having enjoyed, for three years, the
privileges of nobility, which, together with a pension, had been
conferred upon him by Archbishop Adolphus, in consideration of his
great services to mankind.
16. More copies of the earliest printed books were impressed on vellum
than on paper; but very soon paper was used for a principal part of
the edition, while a few only were printed on vellum, as curiosities,
to be ornamented by the illuminators, whose ingenious art, though in
vogue before and at that time, did not long survive the rapid
improvements in printing.
17. We are informed, that the Mentz printers observed the utmost
secrecy in their operations; and, that the art might not be divulged
by the persons whom they employed, they administered to them an oath
of fidelity. This appears to have been strictly adhered to, until the
year 1462, when the city was taken and plundered by Archbishop
Adolphus. Amid the consternation which had arisen from this event, the
workmen spread themselves in different directions; and, considering
their oath no longer obligatory, they soon divulged the secret, which
was rapidly diffused throughout Europe.
18. Some idea may be formed of the celerity with which a knowledge of
printing was extended, from the fact that the art was received in two
hundred and three places, prior to the year 1500. It was brought to
England, in 1471, by William Caxton, a mercer of the city of London,
who had spent many years in Germany and Holland. The place of the
first location of his press was Westminster Abbey. The first press in
North America was established at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1639.
19. Printed newspapers had their origin in Germany. They first
appeared in Augsburg and Vienna, in 1524. They were originally without
date or place of impression; nor were they published at regular
periods. The first German paper with numbered sheets was printed, in
1612; and, from this time, must be dated periodical publications in
that part of Europe.
20. In England, the first newspaper appeared during the reign of
Elizabeth. It originated in a desire to communicate information in
regard to the expected invasion by the Spanish armada, and was
entitled the "English Mercury," which, by authority, was printed at
London by Christopher Barker, her highness's printer, in 1588.
21. These, however, were extraordinary gazettes, not regularly
published. Periodicals seem to have been first extensively used by the
English, during the civil wars in the time of the Commonwealth. The
number of newspapers in Great Britain and Ireland amounted, in 1829,
to 325, and the sums paid to the government for stamps and duties on
advertisements, amounted to about £678,000 sterling.
22. No newspaper appeared in the British colonies of America until
1704, when the "News Letter" was issued at Boston. The first paper
published in Philadelphia, was issued in 1719; the first in New-York,
in 1733. In 1775, there were 37; and in 1801, there were, in the whole
United States, 203; in 1810, 358; at the present time, there are about
1500, and the number is annually increasing.
23. The first periodical paper of France originated with Renaudot, a
physician in Paris, who, for a long time, had been in the habit of
collecting news, which he communicated verbally to his patients, with
the view to their amusement. But, in 1631, he commenced the
publication of a weekly sheet, called the "Gazette de France," which
was continued with very little interruption, until 1827. There are
now, probably, in France, about 400 periodical publications most of
which have been established since the commencement of the revolution
of 1792.
24. Periodicals devoted to different objects have been established in
every other kingdom of Europe; but, in many cases, they are trammelled
by a strict censorship of the respective governments. This is
especially the case with those devoted to politics or religion. But
all Europe, with its 200,000,000 of inhabitants, does not support as
many regular publications as the United States, with its 17,000,000.
25. The workmen employed in a printing-office are of two kinds:
_compositors_, who arrange the types according to the copy delivered
to them; and _pressmen_, who apply ink on the types, and take off
impressions. In many cases, and especially where the business is
carried on upon a small scale, the workmen often practise both
branches.
26. Before the types are applied to use, they are placed in the cells
or compartments of a wooden receptacle called a _case_, each species
of letter, character and space, by itself. The letters which are
required most frequently, are lodged in the largest compartments,
which are located nearest to the place where the compositor stands,
while arranging the types.
27. The compositor is furnished with a _composing-stick_, which is
commonly an iron instrument, surrounded on three sides with ledges
about half an inch in height, one of which is moveable, so that it may
be adjusted to any length of line. The compositor, in the performance
of his work, selects the letters from their several compartments, and
arranges them in an inverted order from that in which they are to
appear in the printed page.
28. At the end of each word is placed a _quadrat_, to produce a space
between that and the one which follows. The quadrats are of various
widths, and being considerably shorter than types, they yield no
impression in printing. A thin brass rule is placed in the stick, on
which each successive line of types is arranged. When the
composing-stick has been filled, it is _emptied_ into the _galley_,
which is a flat board, partly surrounded with a rim.
29. On this galley, the lines are accumulated in long columns, which
are afterwards divided into pages, and tied together with a string, to
prevent the types from falling asunder, or into _pi_, as the printers
term it. A sufficient number of pages having been completed to
constitute a _form_, or, in other words, to fill one side of a sheet
of printing-paper, they are arranged on an _imposing-stone_, and
strongly locked up, or wedged together, in an iron _chase_.
30. The first impression taken from the types is called the _proof_.
This is carefully read over by the author or proof-reader, or both,
and the errors and corrections plainly marked in the margin. These
corrections having been made by the compositor, the form is again
locked up, and delivered to the pressman.
31. The pressman having dampened his paper with water, and put every
part of his press in order, takes impressions in the following manner:
he places the sheet upon the _tympan_, and confines it there by
turning down upon it the _frisket_; he then brings them both, together
with the paper, upon the form, which has been previously inked. He
next turns a crank with his left hand, and thereby places the form
directly under the _platen_, which is immediately brought, in a
perpendicular direction, upon the types, by means of a lever pulled
with his right hand.
32. After the impression has been thus communicated, the form is
returned to its former position, and the printed sheet is removed. The
operation just described, is repeated for each side of every sheet of
the edition. In the cut at the head of this article, the pressman is
represented as in the act of turning down the frisket upon the tympan.
The business of the boy behind the press is to apply the ink to the
types by means of the _rollers_ before him. In offices where much
printing is executed, the roller-boy is now dispensed with, simple
machinery, attached to the crank of the press, called a _patent
roller-boy_, being substituted in his place.
33. Within the present century, great improvements have been made in
the printing business generally, especially in the presses, and in the
means of applying the ink. In the old _Ramage_ press, the power was
derived from a screw which was moved by a lever; but, in those by
several late inventors, from an accumulation of levers.
34. In 1814, printing by machinery was commenced in London, and
rollers became necessary for inking the forms. These were made of
molasses, glue, and tar, in proportions to suit the temperature of the
weather. From these originated composition balls in the following
year, and in 1819, hand rollers. Formerly the ink was applied by
means of pelt balls stuffed with wool.
35. The power-press first used in this country, was invented, in 1823,
by Mr. Treadwell, a scientific mechanic, of Boston, who was originally
a watch-maker by trade. It acts on the same principle with the hand
press, and is equal to three of these of the best construction. Daniel
Fanshaw, who first applied steam to printing in the United States,
introduced several of these presses into New-York, in 1826. Messrs.
Adams and Tufts, of Boston, have each invented a power-press which act
on the same principle with Mr. Treadwell's.
36. The presses noticed in the preceding paragraph, are used chiefly
in printing books and periodicals requiring moderate speed in their
production. But they do not answer the purposes of the daily press in
large cities, where from twenty thousand to sixty thousand impressions
of a single paper are required every day. To supply this immense
demand of the public was the original aim of the inventors of
power-presses in England. The first attempt to construct a printing
machine was made, in 1790, by William Nicholson, of London; but his
machine was never brought into use. The next attempt was made by Mr.
Konig, an ingenious German, who but partially succeeded. The first
really useful machine was constructed by Messrs. Applegate and Cowper.
37. The machines used in this country are modifications of that
originally invented by Mr. Napier, of England. The paper is brought in
contact with the form of types by means of a cylinder, while the form
is passing underneath it. The press is constructed with one or two
cylinders. A double cylinder press will give from 4000 to 6000
impressions an hour. The improvements on this press were made by
Robert Hoe & Co., who have permitted Mr. Napier to introduce them into
his press in England.
[Illustration]