WILLIAM CASLON, 1720.
Printing had reached a low ebb in England in the early years of the
eighteenth century. A glance through any of the common public prints
of the day, such, for instance, as official broadsides, political
pamphlets, works of literature, or even Bibles,[447] points to a
depression and degeneration so marked that one is tempted to believe
that the art of Caxton and Pynson and Day was rapidly becoming lost in
a wilderness of what a contemporary satirist terms
“Brown sheets and sorry letter.”
With the exception of Oxford University, no foundry of the day was
contributing anything towards the revival of good printing, or even
towards the maintenance of such a standard as did exist. And Oxford, as
we have said, owed its best founts to gifts procured, almost entirely,
from abroad. Grover and Andrews, the heritors of the old founders,
originated little or nothing; and where their efforts were put into
requisition (as in the case of Andrews’ attempt to cut the Anglo-Saxon
for Miss Elstob’s _Grammar_) they failed. Scarcely a work with any
{233} pretension to fine printing was the impression of honest
English type. Watson, the Scotch historian of printing, openly rebuked
his brethren of the craft for not stocking their cases with Dutch type.
Tonson, a king among English printers is said on one occasion to have
lodged in Amsterdam while a founder there was casting him £300 worth
of type; and James, the only English founder whose business showed any
vitality, owed his success chiefly, if not entirely, to the fact that
all his letter was the product of Dutch matrices; and even these, in
his hands, were so indifferently cast as to be often as bad as English
type.
[Illustration: 57. From _Hansard_.]
What was the reason for this lamentable decline—how far it was
chargeable on the printer, how far on the founder, or how far both
were the victims of that system of Star Chamber decrees, monopolies,
patents, restraints and privileges which had characterised the
illiberal days of the Stuarts—this is not the place to inquire. Nor,
happily, are we called upon to speculate as to what would have been
the consequence to English Typography of an uninterrupted prolongation
of the malady under which it laboured. But it is necessary to remind
ourselves of the critical nature of that malady in order to appreciate
properly the providential circumstance which turned the attention of
William Caslon to typefounding, and thus served to avert from England
the disgrace which threatened her.
William Caslon[448] was born at Hales Owen in Shropshire in the year
1692. He served his apprenticeship to an engraver of gun-locks and
barrels in London, and at the expiration of his term followed his trade
in Vine Street, near the Minories.
The ability he displayed in his art was conspicuous, and by no means
confined to the mere ornamentation of gun-barrels—the chasing of
silver and the designing of tools for bookbinders frequently occupying
his attention. While thus engaged, some of his bookbinding punches
were noticed for their neatness and accuracy by Mr. Watts,[449] the
eminent printer, who, fully alive to the present degenerate state of
the typographical art in this country, was quick to recognise the
possibility of raising it once more to its proper position. He {234}
accordingly encouraged Mr. Caslon to persevere in letter-cutting,
promising him his personal support, and favouring him meanwhile with
introductions to some of the leading printers of the day.
About the same time, it is recorded that another great printer, the
elder Bowyer,[450] “accidentally saw in the shop of Mr. Daniel Browne,
bookseller, near Temple Bar, the lettering of a book, uncommonly neat;
and enquiring who the artist was by whom the letters were made, Mr.
Caslon was introduced to his acquaintance, and was taken by him to Mr.
James’s foundery in Bartholomew Close. Caslon had never before that
time seen any part of the business; and being asked by his friend if
he thought he could undertake to cut types, he requested a single day
to consider the matter, and then replied he had no doubt but he could.
From this answer, Mr. Bowyer lent him £200, Mr. Bettenham[451] (to
whom also he had been introduced) lent the same sum, and Mr. Watts
£100.”[452]
With this assistance Mr. Caslon established himself in a garret in
Helmet Row, Old Street, and devoted himself with ardour to his new
profession.[453] An opportunity for distinguishing himself presented
itself shortly afterwards.
In the year 1720 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,[454]
acting {235} on a suggestion made by Mr. Salomon Negri, a native of
Damascus, and a distinguished Oriental scholar, “deemed it expedient to
print for the Eastern Churches the _New Testament_ and _Psalter_ in the
Arabic language for the benefit of the poor Christians in Palestine,
Syria, Mesapotamia, Arabia and Egypt, the constitution of which
countries allowed of no printing.” A new Arabic fount being required
for the purpose, Mr. Caslon, whose reputation as a letter-cutter
appears already to have been known, was selected to cut it. This he did
to the full satisfaction of his patrons, producing the elegant English
Arabic which figures in his early specimens. The Society was, according
to Rowe Mores, already possessed of a fount of Arabic cast from the
Polyglot matrices in Grover’s foundry. But Caslon’s fount was preferred
for the text, and in it appeared, in due time, first the _Psalter_ in
1725,[455] and afterwards the _New Testament_ in 1727.[456]
[Illustration: 61. English Arabic, cut by Caslon in 1720. (From the
original matrices.)]
“Mr. Caslon, after he had finished his Arabic fount, cut the letters
of his own name in Pica Roman, and placed the name at the bottom of
a specimen of the Arabic[457]; and Mr. Palmer (the reputed author of
Psalmanazar’s _History of Printing_), seeing this name, advised Mr.
Caslon to complete the fount of Pica. Mr. Caslon did so; and as the
performance exceeded the letter of the other founders of the time,
Mr. Palmer—whose circumstances required credit with those who, by his
advice, were now obstructed (_i.e._, whose business was likely to {236}
suffer from this new rival)—repented having given the advice, and
discouraged Mr. Caslon from any further progress.
[Illustration: 59. Pica Roman and Italic, cut by William Caslon, 1720.
(From the original matrices.)]
“Mr. Caslon, disgusted,[458] applied to Mr. Bowyer, under whose
inspection he cut, in 1722, the beautiful fount of English (Roman)
which was used in printing the edition of _Selden’s Works_[459] in
1726.”
Caslon’s excellent performance of this task may best be judged of by an
inspection of this noble work, which remains conspicuous not only as
the impression of the first letter cast at the Caslon foundry, but as
marking a distinct turning-point in the career of English typography,
which from that time forward entered on a course of brilliant
regeneration. The Hebrew letter used in the _Selden_ was also of
Caslon’s cutting, and must therefore share with the English Roman the
honour of a first place in the productions of his foundry.
[Illustration: 62. Pica Coptic, cut by Caslon, _ante_ 1731. (From the
original matrices.)]
His next performance was a fount of Pica Coptic for Dr. Wilkins’s[460]
edition {237} of the _Pentateuch_,[461] a letter which Rowe Mores
commends as superior to the Oxford Coptic in which Dr. Wilkins’ _New
Testament_ had been printed in 1716.[462] This fount Caslon also cut
under the direction of Mr. Bowyer, his generous patron, whom he always
acknowledged as his master from whom he had learned his art.
Caslon’s business, thus established, rapidly advanced in fame and
excellence. Although at the outset it depended mainly on the support of
his three chief patrons, it was soon able to stand alone and compete
with the best houses in the trade.
“It is difficult,” observes Mr. Hansard, “to appreciate the obstacles
which Mr. Caslon encountered at the commencement of his career. At
present the theory and practice of letter-founding are not, as in his
time, an ‘art and mystery,’ and efficient workmen in every branch are
easily procured. He had not only to excel his competitors in his own
particular branch of engraving the punches, which to him was probably
the easiest part of his task, but to raise an establishment and cause
his plans to be executed by ignorant and unpractised workmen. He had
also to acquire for himself a knowledge of the practical and mechanical
branches of the art, which require, indeed, little genius, but the
most minute and painful attention to conduct successfully. The wishes
and expectations of his patrons were fulfilled and exceeded by his
decided superiority over his domestic rivals and Batavian competitors.
The importation of foreign types ceased; his founts were, in fact, in
such estimation as to be frequently, in their turn, exported to the
Continent.”[463]
In 1728 Mr. Caslon narrowly escaped committing an error which might
seriously have affected his after career. The foundry of the Grovers
being then in the market, he contracted for the purchase of it.[464]
Fortunately for English typography, the business fell through, and
Caslon was still left a free man to pursue his own method, unburdened
by the incubus of a large and useless stock of matrices, which, had
they been suffered to mingle with his own beautiful productions, would
have degraded his foundry to a patchwork establishment little better
than that of his competitors at home and abroad. As it was, he had
the advantage of completing his specimens after his own plan, and
impressing with the mark of his own genius every fount which bore his
name.
His fame in 1730 was such, that (as Ged, in his narrative of the
invention of {238} Block-Printing, states) he had already eclipsed most
of his competitors, and had introduced his founts into some of the
chief printing houses of the metropolis, and even secured the custom
of the King’s printers to the exclusion of all others.[465] Although
Ged’s narrative goes to show that Caslon shared the scepticism of his
contemporaries with regard to the utility of stereotyping, and was
even ready to back his opinion with his money, it is satisfactory to
observe that he was no party to the discreditable persecution to which
that unfortunate inventor was subjected by other members of the craft.
Indeed, the only successful experiment made by Ged appears to have been
a cast from Caslon’s type.
That the success of the new foundry was not achieved wholly without
opposition is apparent from the following anecdote preserved by Mr.
Nichols, and told in connection with the account of Bishop Hare’s
_Hebrew Psalter_, published by Bowyer in 1733.[466]
This work, it appears, had been originally intended to be printed at
the press of Palmer, with whom Caslon, as we have seen, had already had
dealings of a not altogether satisfactory character.
“His Lordship, however,” says Nichols (quoting Psalmanazar’s account
of the transaction), “had excepted against Mr. Palmer’s Hebrew types
which were of Athias’ font,[467] and a little battered, and insisted
upon his having a new set from Mr. Caslon, which greatly exceeded them
in beauty. But Mr. Palmer was so deeply in debt to him (Caslon) that he
knew not how to procure it from him without ready money, which he was
not able to spare. The Bishop likewise insisted upon having some Roman
and Italic types cast with some distinguishing mark, to direct his
readers to the Hebrew letters they were designed to answer, and these
required a new set of punches and matrices before they could be cast;
and that would have delayed the work, which Mr. Palmer was in haste to
go about that he might the sooner finger some of his Lordship’s money.
This put him upon such an unfair stratagem as, when discovered, quite
disgusted his lordship against him; namely, representing Mr. Caslon
as an idle, dilatory workman, who would in all probability make them
wait several years for those few types, if ever he finished them. That
he was indeed the only Artist that could supply him with those types,
but that he hated work and was not to be depended upon; and therefore
advised his Lordship to make shift with some sort which he could
substitute and would answer the same purpose, rather than run the risk
of staying so long and being perhaps disappointed.
“The Bishop, however, being resolved, if possible, to have the
desired types, sent for Mr. Bowyer, and asked him whether he knew
a letter-founder that could {239} cast him such a set out of hand,
who immediately recommended Mr. Caslon; and being told what sad and
disadvantageous character he had heard of him, Mr. Bowyer not only
assured his Lordship that it was a very false and unjust one, but
engaged to get the above-mentioned types cast by him, and a new font
of his Hebrew ones, in as short a time as the thing could possibly be
done. Mr. Caslon was accordingly sent for by his Lordship, and having
made him sensible of the time the new ones would require to be made
ready for use, did produce them according to his promise, and the book
was soon after put to the press.”[468]
Among the other interesting founts cut by Caslon about this time,
may be mentioned the Pica Black, of which we show a specimen, and
which received special commendation for its faithful following of the
traditional Old English character first used by Wynkyn de Worde.
[Illustration: 60. Pica Black, cut by Caslon. (From the original
matrices.)]
He also cut an Armenian for Whiston’s edition of _Moses
Choronensis_,[469] and an Etruscan for Mr. J. Swinton of Oxford,
the learned antiquary and philologist, who published his _De Linguâ
Etruriæ_[470] in 1738; as well as a Gothic and several other of the
foreign and learned characters.
[Illustration: 63. Pica Armenian, cut by Caslon, _ante_ 1736. (From the
original matrices.)]
[Illustration: 65. Pica Gothic, cut by Caslon, _ante_ 1734. (From the
original matrices.)]
{240}
[Illustration: 64. Pica Etruscan, cut by Caslon, 1738. (From the
original matrices.)]
[Illustration: 66. Pica Ethiopic, cut by Caslon. (From the original
matrices.)]
All of these, with exception of the Etruscan and an Ethiopic cut still
later, were completed before 1734, in which year the first _Specimen_
of his foundry appeared.
This famous broadside, of which very few copies are now extant, dates
from Chiswell Street, to which address Mr. Caslon had transferred the
Helmet Row Foundry (after an intermediate sojourn in Ironmonger Row),
about the year 1734.
The sheet is arranged in four columns, and displays altogether
thirty-eight founts, namely:
_Titlings._―
5-line Pica, 4-line Pica, 2-line Great Primer, 2-line English,
2-line Pica, 2-line Long Primer, 2-line Brevier.
_Roman_ and _Italic._―
French Canon, 2-line Great Primer, 2-line English, Double Pica,
Great Primer, English, Pica, Small Pica (2), Long Primer (2),
Brevier, Nonpareil, and Pearl.
_Saxon._―
Pica and Long Primer.
_Black._―
Pica and Brevier.
_Gothic_, _Coptic_, _Armenian_, _Samaritan_.―
Pica of each.
_Syriac_ and _Arabic_.―
English of each.
_Hebrew._―
English, English with points, Brevier.
_Greek._―
English, Pica, Long Primer, Brevier.
_Flowers._―
Seven designs.
Of these, all, with three exceptions, are Caslon’s own handiwork, and
represent the untiring industry of fourteen years. Of the excellence
of the performance it is sufficient to say that the Specimen placed
Caslon absolutely without rival at the head of his profession; “and,”
as Nichols says, “for clearness and uniformity, for the use of the
reader and student, it is doubtful whether it has been exceeded by any
subsequent production.”
The three founts referred to as not the product of Caslon’s hand, were
the Canon Roman, from Andrews’ foundry, formerly Moxon’s, and exhibited
in the {241} _Mechanick Exercises_[471]; the English Syriac, which is
from the matrices of the _Polyglot_[472]; and the Pica Samaritan, which
was cut by a Dutchman named Dummers.
Fame appears to have followed rapidly on the appearance of this
Specimen. The sheet was included as an inset plate in the second
edition of Ephraim Chambers’ _Cyclopædia_ in 1738,[473] with the
following flattering notice:—“The above were all cast in the foundery
of Mr. W. Caslon, a person who, though not bred to the art of
letter-founding, has, by dint of genius, arrived at an excellency in it
unknown hitherto in England, and which even surpasses anything of the
kind done in Holland or elsewhere.”
Caslon made a further addition to his stock of matrices in 1739
by the purchase of half of Mitchell’s foundry,[474] of which the
most interesting items were a Pica Greek, sets of Music and flower
matrices, and six sizes of Black. The remainder, consisting of Romans
and Italics, do not appear to have added much to the resources of the
Chiswell Street foundry.[475]
In the year 1742 Mr. Caslon’s eldest son, William—at that time
twenty-two years of age—entered the business, and in the Specimen of
the same year his name first appears in conjunction with his father’s.
Unfortunately, no copy of this Specimen (which had evidently been
seen by Nichols[476]) is known to be extant. Another Specimen, also
unfortunately missing, is mentioned by the same authority, who says,
“the abilities of the second Caslon appeared to great {242} advantage
in the specimen of the types of the learned languages in 1748.”[477] A
further Specimen was issued in the following year, in broadside form,
which displayed a large variety of letters, from Canon to Pearl, many
of them being the handiwork of Caslon the younger. It is possible
that this last sheet may have been sent, for the most part, abroad;
for while no copy of it is to be found in this country, we find one
mentioned with commendation by Fournier in 1766,[478] and another
preserved to this day in the Sohmian Collection at Stockholm, where,
along with several other rare English and foreign specimens, it has
been recently discovered by, the indefatigable Mr. William Blades.
In Ames’ _Typographical Antiquities_,[479] published in 1749, appears
a specimen of “Mr. Caslon’s Roman letter and the names of the sizes
now in use,” the introductory note to which affords the first definite
notice of the younger Caslon in connection with the foundry. “The
art,” says Ames, “seems to be carried to its greatest perfection by
Mr. William Caslon, and his son, who, besides the type of all manner
of living languages now by him, has offered to perform the same for
the dead, that can be recovered, to the satisfaction of any gentleman
desirous of the same.”
Another contemporary record of equal interest, which seems, moreover,
to allude to one or more of the three missing Specimens above
mentioned, is contained in a little essay on the _Original, Use, and
Excellency of Printing_, published in 1752[480]; in which the anonymous
writer, after dealing with the invention, remarks: “Altho’ the chief
honour is due to the Inventor, yet the perfection and beauty that
Printing is now arrived at is very much owing to them that came after.
Many in the present age have not a little contributed thereto. Among
whom I cannot but particularly mention Mr. William Caslon and his
Son, Letter Founders in Chiswell Street, who have very much by their
indefatigable labours promoted the honour of this Art, and who have
lately printed three broadsheet specimens of their curious types; one
of them consisting of all the common sorts of letter used in printing;
the second sheet is {243} divers sorts of their Orientals, Old-English,
and Saxon; and the third contains a great variety of curious Flowers
and Fancies for Ornamenting of Title Pages, Tickets, &c., also several
sorts of Titling letter of Roman, Old-English and Greek; and the whole,
for their master strokes and curious flourishes, outdo all that have
been cast in England, Holland or any other place before.”
The above is one of many compliments paid to Caslon at this period by
his contemporaries. Smith, in his _Printer’s Grammar_ in 1755, goes
out of his way more than once to commend the founder by whose genius
“letter is now in England of such a beautiful cut and shape as it
never was before.” Baskerville, in a passage quoted elsewhere,[481]
frankly acknowledges him as the greatest master of the art. Ames and
Chambers, as has been noticed, vie with one another in proclaiming his
pre-eminence; Mores himself styles him the Coryphæus of modern letter
founders, and Lemoine awards him the title of the English Elzevir.
In 1750 Mr. Caslon’s reputation was such that his Majesty George II.
placed him on the Commission of the Peace for Middlesex, which office
he sustained with honour to himself and advantage to the community till
the time of his death.
In June of the same year, the _Universal Magazine_[482] contained
an Article on Letter Founding, extracted chiefly from Moxon, and
accompanied by a view of the interior of Caslon’s Foundry, containing
portraits of six of his workmen. The view (of which our frontispiece
is a reproduction) represents four casters at work, one rubber (Joseph
Jackson), one dresser (Thomas Cottrell), and three boys breaking
off, etc. Considering the extent of the business at the time, it may
be doubted whether this represents the entire working staff of the
establishment, or whether the view is of a portion only, in which, for
the convenience of the artist, the four processes of the manufacture
are assembled. The processes of punch-cutting and justifying were
conducted in private by the Caslons themselves; yet not, as history
shows, in such secrecy as to prevent their two apprentices, Cottrell
and Jackson, from observing and learning the manual operation of that
part of the “art and mystery.”[483]
A movement among the workmen of the Foundry in 1757 for a higher
scale of wages, although decided in favour of the men, resulted in
the dismissal of the two ex-apprentices, who were supposed to have
been ringleaders in the {244} movement. With the experience acquired
during their term of service at Chiswell Street, both these men were
enabled to establish foundries of their own; and it is to the credit of
Cottrell’s good sense, if not of his good feeling, that he subsequently
supported his own claim to the patronage of the trade by announcing on
his specimens that he had “served his apprenticeship to William Caslon,
Esq.”
The active part taken by the Second Caslon in the operations of the
Foundry may be best judged of by a reference to the Specimen Book
of 1764.[484] In this book the number of founts which originally
appeared on the broadside of 1734 is more than doubled,[485] most of
the additions (with the exception of those which had formed part of
Mitchell’s Foundry) being the handiwork of Caslon II. The following
advertisement appears on the last page:―
“This new Foundery was begun in the year 1720, and finish’d 1763;
and will (with God’s leave) be carried on, improved and inlarged
by William Caslon and Son, Letter-Founders in London.—Soli Deo
Gloria.”
Rowe Mores, whose prejudice against the Second Caslon is undisguised,
waxes facetious on the head of this innocent declaration,[486] although
he can find but little to blame in the Specimen itself, “in which,” he
says, “is nothing censurable but the silly notion and silly fondness
of multiplying bodies”—the Specimen showed a long-bodied English and a
large-face Long Primer and Bourgeois—“as if the intrinsic of a foundery
consisted in the numerosity of the heads!” Such animadversions,
however, leave untouched the younger Caslon’s reputation as an able and
successful typefounder, which was, indeed, so well established that
during the later years of his father’s life he appears to have had the
sole management of the business.
Caslon I, having lived to see the result of his genius and industry
in the regeneration of the Art of Printing in England, retired,
universally respected, from the active management of the Foundry, and
took up his residence first in {245} a house opposite the Nag’s Head in
the Hackney Road, removing afterwards to Water Gruel Row, and finally
settling in what was then styled a country house at Bethnal Green,
where he resided till the time of his death.
“Mr. Caslon,” says Nichols, “was universally esteemed as a first-rate
artist, a tender master, and an honest, friendly, and benevolent
man.”[487] The following anecdote, preserved by Sir John Hawkins in his
_History of Music_, gives a pleasing glimpse into his private life, and
shows that in his devotion to the severer arts the gentler were not
neglected.
“Mr. Caslon,” says Sir John, “settled in Ironmonger Row, in Old Street;
and being a great lover of music, had frequent concerts at his house,
which were resorted to by many eminent masters. To these he used to
invite his friends and those of his old acquaintance, the companions of
his youth. He afterwards removed to a large house in Chiswell Street,
and had an organ in his concert room.[488] After that, he had stated
monthly concerts, which, for the convenience of his friends, and that
they might walk home in safety when the performance was over, were
on that Thursday in the month which was nearest the full moon; from
which circumstance his guests were wont humourously to call themselves
‘Luna-tics.’ In the intervals of the performance the guests refreshed
themselves at a sideboard, which was amply furnished; and when it was
over, sitting down to a bottle of wine, and a decanter of excellent
ale, of Mr. Caslon’s own brewing, they concluded the evening’s
entertainment with a song or two of Purcell’s sung to the harpsicord,
or a few catches; and, about twelve, retired.”[489]
Mr. Caslon’s hospitalities were not confined to his musical friends
merely. His house was a resort of literary men of all classes, of whom
large parties frequently assembled to discuss interesting matters
relating to books and studies.[490]
Mr. Caslon was thrice married. His second and third wives were named
respectively Longman and Waters, and each had a good fortune. By his
first wife he had two sons and a daughter: William, who succeeded him
at Chiswell {246} Street; Thomas, who became an eminent bookseller in
Stationers’ Hall Court, where he died in 1783, after having in the
previous year served the office of Master of the Stationers’ Company;
and Mary, who married first Mr. Shewell, one of the original partners
in Whitbread’s brewery, and afterwards Mr. Hanbey, an ironmonger of
large fortune. A brother of Mr. Caslon, named Samuel, is mentioned by
Rowe Mores, and appears to have served at Chiswell Street for a short
time as mould maker, leaving there subsequently, on some dispute, to
work in the same capacity for Mr. Anderton of Birmingham.
Mr. Caslon died, much respected, at Bethnal Green, on Jan. 23rd, 1766,
aged 74, and was buried in the Churchyard of St. Luke’s, the parish
in which his three foundries were all situated. The monument to his
memory, kept in repair by bequest of his daughter, Mrs. Hanbey, is thus
briefly inscribed:―
W. CASLON, Esq., ob. 23rd Jan., 1766, ætat 74.
A life-size portrait of him by Kyte is preserved at Chiswell Street,
representing him holding in his hand the famous Specimen Sheet of 1734.
William Caslon II issued in the year of his father’s death a Specimen
in small quarto, bearing his own name and containing the same founts
as those exhibited in the 1764 book.[491] This Specimen, consisting of
thirty-eight leaves, was again reprinted in 1770 by Luckombe in his
_History of Printing_,[492] of which work it occupies pages 134 to 173.
[Illustration: 67. Long Primer Syriac, cut by Caslon II, _circa_ 1768.
(From the original matrices.)]
About the year 1768 the Chiswell Street foundry was called upon to
supply a Syriac fount for the Oxford University Press, and Caslon
produced the Long Primer Syriac which occurs in his subsequent
specimens. He had previously supplied the University with a Long
Primer Hebrew, and the old ledgers of the foundry show that numerous
transactions of a similar kind took place during the latter half of
last century.
In 1770, besides the specimen of Luckombe, another indirect specimen
of the Caslon types was issued by a Mr. Cornish, printer, in
Blackfriars, in a very {247} small form—32mo—exhibiting a series of
Romans, two founts of Black, and three pages of flowers.
It was probably on the Specimen of 1766 that Rowe Mores founded
his summary of the contents of the Caslon foundry; and it will be
interesting to reproduce this list, as it presents a view of the state
of the foundry as it then existed, and, at the same time, distinguishes
the authors of the several founts with which it was supplied.
Rowe Mores seizes the opportunity afforded by this enumeration for
another sneer at Caslon II. “This is the best account,” he says, “we
can give of this capital and beautiful foundery, the possessor of which
refused to answer the natural questions, because, forsooth, ‘answering
would be of no advantage to us; if we wanted letter to be cast, he
would cast it.’ But this we can do ourselves.”[493]
The summary is as follows:―
“MR. CASLON’S FOUNDERY.
ORIENTALS.
_Hebrew._―
2-line English. [Caslon I]
Double Pica. [Caslon II]
Great Primer. [Caslon II]
English. [Caslon I]
English open.[494] [Caslon I]
Pica. [Caslon II]
Long Primer.[495] [Caslon II]
Brevier. [Caslon II]
2-line Great Primer. [Caslon II]
_Samaritan._―
Pica. [Dummers]
_Syriac._―
English. [Polyglot]
_Arabic._―
English. [Caslon I]
_Armenian._―
Pica. [Caslon I]
MERIDIONALS.
_Coptic._―
Pica. [Caslon I]
_Ethiopic._―
Pica. [Caslon I]
OCCIDENTALS.
_Greek._―
Double Pica. [Caslon II]
Great Primer. [Caslon II]
English.[496] [Caslon II]
Pica.[497] [Head]-[Mitchell]
Long Primer. [Caslon I]
Brevier. [Caslon I]
Small Pica. [Caslon II]
Nonpareil. [Caslon II]
_Etruscan._―
English. [Caslon I]
_Roman and Italic._―
All the regulars.
_Irregulars and Titlings._―
5-line. [Caslon I]
4-line.[496] [Caslon I]
Canon. [Moxon]-[Andrews]
2-line Double Pica. [Caslon II]
2-line Great Primer.[496] [Caslon I]
2-line English.[496] [Caslon I]
2-line Pica full-face. [Mitchell] {248}
_Irregulars and Titlings._―
2-line Pica. [Caslon II]
Paragon. [Caslon II]
Small Pica. [Caslon II]
Bourgeois. [Caslon II]
Minion. [Caslon II]
Nonpareil. [Caslon II]
Pearl.[498] [Caslon II]
_Proscription._―
20-line to 4-line.[499] [Caslon II]
SEPTENTRIONALS.
_Gothic._―
Pica. [Caslon I]
_Anglo-Saxon._―
English. [Caslon II]
Pica.[500] [Caslon I]
_Anglo-Saxon._―
Long Primer.[500] [Caslon I]
Brevier. [Caslon II]
_English._―
Double Pica. [Caslon II]
Great Primer. [Caslon II]
English. [Head]-[Mitchell]
English Modern.[501] [Caslon II]
Pica.[501] [Caslon II]
Long Primer. [Caslon II]
Brevier. [Caslon I]
2-line Great Primer. [Caslon II]
Small Pica.[502] [Caslon II]
MUSIC.―
Round Head. [Caslon II]
FLOWERS and the rest of the Apparatus.
Caslon II died in 1778, aged 58, and was buried in the family vault at
St. Luke’s, the following line being added to his father’s inscription:
Also W. Caslon, Esq. (son of the above) ob. 17 Aug., 1778, ætat.
58 years.
Of him, too, an excellent oil portrait is preserved at Chiswell
Street. He had married a Miss Elizabeth Cartlitch,[503] a lady of
beauty, understanding, and fortune, who, during the latter years of
her husband’s life, had taken an active share in the management of the
foundry.
Mr. Caslon dying intestate, his property was divided equally
between his widow and her two sons, William and Henry, the chief
superintendence of the business devolving on William Caslon III, at
that time quite a young man. The chief event of the new _régime_ was
the issue of the admirable Specimen Book of 1785, a work which, for its
completeness and excellent execution, has received high approbation.
It consists of sixty sheets, twenty-one of which are devoted to Romans
and Italics, ten to “learned” letter[504] and Blacks, two to Music,
two to {249} Script, and no fewer than twenty-six to flowers arranged
in artistic combinations and designs. The volume is dedicated to King
George III, Mr. Caslon assuming the title allowed a century earlier to
Nicholas Nicholls, of “Letter Founder to His Majesty.”
The “Address to the Public,” which prefaces this Specimen, naturally
lays claim on behalf of the Caslon Foundry to the merit of having
rescued the type trade in England from the hands of foreigners. But it
also suggests, by the somewhat acrid tone in which it refers to its
“opponents,” that the competition of the newly-established foundries
of Cottrell, Fry, Wilson, and Jackson was already beginning to tell on
the temper of the third of the Caslons, who evidently did not regard
as flattery the avowed imitation of the Caslon models by some of his
rivals.[505]
The Specimen contains one new feature—a Double Pica Script—which,
however, is of no particular merit.
The year 1785 was prolific in Specimens of the Chiswell Street foundry.
In addition to the book above referred to, two folio Specimens, one an
8 pp. large post-folio, and another a 6 pp. foolscap-folio, appeared,
intended for use as {250} inset plates to Encyclopædias,[506] in
which the principal founts of the foundry, Roman and Oriental, were
displayed. In addition to this, there was issued a 2 pp. folio Specimen
of large letter[507] showing the sand-cast types of the foundry in
sizes from 19 to 7-line Pica.
In the preceding year Caslon III. had issued his specimen of
Cast Ornaments—the first of the kind exhibited by an English
Founder—displaying 65 designs of various size and merit at prices
ranging from 3d. to 7s. each. In his introductory note to the second
edition, dated July 20, 1786, he takes to himself the credit of an
invention “completed with infinite attention and at an inconceivable
expence,” whereby the trade is in future to be supplied with
typographic designs equal to copperplate and less costly than the
commonest wood-cuts. The process thus originated was that of sharply
impressing a wood block in cooling metal so as to form a lead matrix
from which to “dab” further impressions as required. The specimen of
1785 contained a few small ships of imposing appearance, but these were
produced by the usual method of punch and matrix.
It does not appear that the third Caslon’s connexion with the business
resulted in any large addition to its founts. As, however, no specimen
book of the Foundry is known between 1786 and 1805, it is difficult to
judge of its progress during that period.
In the year 1792 Mr. Caslon disposed of his interest in the Chiswell
Street business to his mother and sister-in-law. Henry Caslon had
died in 1788. He had married Miss Elizabeth Rowe, a lady of good
family,[508] between whom and their only son, Henry (at that time an
infant of two years), he left his share of the Foundry.
“It will not appear extraordinary,” says Hansard, “that a property so
divided, and under the management of two ladies, though both superior
and indeed extraordinary women, should be unable to maintain its ground
triumphantly against the active competition which had for some time
existed against it. In fact, the fame of the first William Caslon
was peculiarly disadvantageous to Mrs. Caslon, as she never could be
persuaded that any attempt to rival him could possibly be successful.”
Mrs. Caslon, sen., was an active member of the Association of
Typefounders {251} of her day, which first met in 1793. In this
capacity she gained the esteem of her fellow founders as well as of
the printers, and on one occasion formed one of a deputation of two to
confer with the latter on certain questions affecting the price of type.
She died from the effects of a paralytic stroke in October 1795.
The esteem in which she was held by all who knew her was amply
testified by numerous notices in the public prints of the day. “Her
merit and abilities,” says one, “in conducting a capital business
during the life of her husband and afterwards, till her son was capable
of managing it, can only be known to those who had dealings with the
manufactory. In quickness of understanding and activity of execution
she has left few equals among her sex.” And, in the same strain, the
_Freemason’s Magazine_ of March 1796, thus speaks of her: “The urbanity
of her manners, and her diligence and activity in the conduct of so
extensive a concern, attached to her interest all who had dealings with
her, and the steadiness of her friendship rendered her death highly
lamented by all who had the happiness of being in the extensive circle
of her acquaintance.” The latter notice is accompanied by a portrait of
this worthy lady.
Mrs. Caslon’s will becoming the object of some litigation, her estate
was thrown into Chancery, and in March 1799, the Foundry was, by order
of the Court, put up for auction and purchased by Mrs. Henry Caslon for
£520. The smallness of this figure is the more remarkable since only
seven years previously, on the retirement of Caslon III., a third share
of the concern had sold for £3000.
“On the decease of Mrs. Caslon,” writes Hansard, in 1825, “the
management of the Foundry devolved on Mrs. Henry Caslon, who,
possessing an excellent understanding, and being seconded by servants
of zeal and ability, was enabled, though suffering severely under
ill-health, in a great measure to retrieve its credit. Finding the
renown of William Caslon no longer efficacious in securing the sale
of his types, she resolved to have new founts cut. She commenced the
work of renovation with a new Canon, Double Pica and Pica, having the
good fortune to secure the services of Mr. John Isaac Drury, a very
able engraver, since deceased. The Pica, an improvement on the style of
Bodoni,[509] was particularly admired, and had a most extensive sale.
Finding {252} herself, however, from the impaired state of her health,
which suffered from pulmonary attacks, unable to sustain the exertions
required in conducting so extensive a concern, she resolved, after the
purchase of the Foundry, to take as an active partner Mr. Nathaniel
Catherwood, (a distant relation), who by his energy and knowledge of
business fully equalled her expectations. This connection gave a new
impetus to the improvements of the Foundry, which did not cease during
the lives of the partners, and their exertions were duly appreciated
and encouraged by the printers. In 1808 the character of the Foundry
may be considered as completely retrieved, but the proprietors did not
long live to enjoy their well-merited success. In 1799, Mrs. Henry
Caslon had married Mr. Strong, a medical gentleman, who died in 1802.
In the spring of 1808 she was afflicted with a serious renewal of her
pulmonary attack, in consequence of which she was advised to try the
effect of the air of Bristol Hotwells, which probably protracted her
life during a twelvemonth of extreme suffering, but could not eradicate
the fatal disease. Her fortitude and resignation under this long
continued, and helpless affliction could not be surpassed, and were
truly admirable. Her sufferings were terminated in March 1809, when
she was buried in the Cathedral of Bristol. The worthy and active Mr.
Nathaniel Catherwood did not long survive his associate, being seized
with a typhus fever which baffled the medical art. He died on the 6th
of June, ætat. 45, very generally regretted.”[510] A portrait of Mrs.
Strong is preserved at Chiswell Street.
In 1805 was published the first Specimen containing the new Romans of
Messrs. Caslon and Catherwood, among which, however, the Canon and
Double Pica referred to by Hansard are not included. The dates affixed
to the various specimens[511] show that most of them were completed
between 1802 and 1805, the {253} earliest being the Great Primer,
dated May 1802. The Specimen also contained the Caslon Orientals. In
1808 a further Specimen of the Romans, including a few additional
founts, appeared as a supplement to Stower’s _Printers’ Grammar_.[512]
These two Specimens, which are the only ones known to have been issued
during twenty-three years, indicate clearly the important revolution
through which the Chiswell Street Foundry, in common with all the
other foundries of the day, had passed in respect of the model of
its characters. All the once admired founts of the originator of the
Foundry have been discarded, and between the Specimen of 1785 and that
of 1808 there is absolutely no feature in common.[513]
On the death of his mother and her partner, Henry Caslon II assumed the
management of the business, and fully maintained its reputation. The
former name of the firm was retained, and a fresh specimen of Roman
letters and modern Blacks was issued about the year 1812.
In 1814 Mr. Caslon took into partnership Mr. John James
Catherwood,[514] brother to Mr. Nathaniel Catherwood, and in this
association proceeded vigorously with the improvement of the foundry.
The partnership continued until 1821, during which period, says
Hansard, “the additions and varieties made to the stock of the Foundry
have been immense. Nothing that perseverance in labour and unsparing
effort could effect, either to meet the fashion and evanescent whim
of the day, or with the superior view of permanent improvement, has
been wanted to keep the concern up to its long-established eminence,
and to enable it to rank high among the many able competitors of the
present age. The ancient stock can never be equalled—the modern never
excelled.”[515]
Among the more important accessions to the stock of the Foundry
may {254} be mentioned the acquisition in 1817 of the Foundry of
Mr. William Martin of Duke Street, St. James’s, which, as elsewhere
stated,[516] included several good Roman and Oriental letters.
The partnership between Mr. Caslon and Mr. Catherwood being dissolved
in 1821 by the withdrawal of the latter,[517] Mr. Caslon admitted to
a share of the business Mr. Martin William Livermore, “who for many
years,” says Hansard, “had evinced ample talent, indefatigable zeal,
and obliging attention, as active foreman and manager of the mechanical
department.”
It is to be regretted that the absence of any specimen book between
1812 and 1830, prevents us from forming any accurate idea of the
development of the Foundry during that period. It may be interesting,
however, to quote the list given by Hansard, of matrices of the
“learned” languages in the Foundry at the time when he wrote, _i.e._
1825:
_Arabic._―
English.
_Armenian._―
Pica.
_Coptic._―
Pica.
_Ethiopic._―
Pica.
_Etruscan._―
Pica.
_German._―
Pica, Long Primer, Brevier.
_Greek._―
Double Pica,[518] Great Primer,[518] English, Pica, Small Pica, Long
Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Nonpareil, Pearl, Diamond.[519]
_Gothic._―
Pica.
_Persian._―
English.
_Hebrew._―
Two-line Great Primer, Two-line English, Double Pica, Great
Primer; ditto, with points; English; ditto, with points; Pica;
ditto, with points; Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier.
_Samaritan._―
Pica.
_Sanscrit._―
English.[520]
_Saxon._―
English, Pica, Long Primer, Brevier.
_Syriac._―
English (_Polyglot_) Long Primer.
_Music._―
Large, Small.
_Black._―
Two-line Great Primer, Double Pica, Great Primer, English, Pica,
Small Pica, Long Primer, Brevier, Nonpareil.
Messrs. Caslon and Livermore issued specimens in 1830 and 1834, the
latter appearing exactly one hundred years after the first broadside
published by William Caslon I.
We do not propose to continue the particular history of this venerable
Foundry beyond this date. It may, however, be interesting to take a
rapid survey of its subsequent career. {255}
Numerous specimens followed the issue of 1834, that of 1839 bearing
the title of Caslon, Son, and Livermore, Letter-founders to Her
Majesty’s Board of Excise—the new partner being Mr. Caslon’s son, the
late Mr. Henry William Caslon. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Livermore’s
connexion with the business ceased, and the next few specimens bear the
name of Henry Caslon alone.
In 1843 a revival of the Caslon old-style letter took place under the
following circumstances, which, as they initiated a new fashion in
the trade generally, call for reference here. In the year 1843, Mr.
Whittingham of the Chiswick press, waited upon Mr. Caslon to ask his
aid in carrying out the then new idea of printing in appropriate type
_The Diary of Lady Willoughby_,[521] a work of fiction, the period and
diction of which were supposed to be of the reign of Charles I. The
original matrices of the first William Caslon having been fortunately
preserved, Mr. Caslon undertook to supply a small fount of Great
Primer. So well was Mr. Whittingham satisfied with the result of his
experiment, that he determined on printing other volumes in the same
style, and eventually he was supplied with the complete series of
all the old founts. Then followed a demand for old faces, which has
continued up to the present time.
An attempt to sell the Foundry in 1846,[522] not being successful, the
business, again took the style of Caslon and Son.
Mr. Henry Caslon died May 28, 1850, and in the same year the important
step was taken of uniting the London Branch of the Glasgow Letter
Foundry with that of Chiswell Street, which was now carried on under
the style of H. W. Caslon and Co., Mr. Alexander Wilson, of the Glasgow
Foundry, being for some time associated with Mr. H. W. Caslon in the
management.
In 1873, Mr. Caslon, being in ill health, retired, and died in the
following year. He was the last of his race, and the Chiswell Street
Foundry, after an uninterrupted dynasty of five generations, covering
a period of nearly 160 years, was by his death left without a Caslon
to represent it. The management of the business devolved on Mr. T. W.
Smith, in whose hands it has since remained. {256}
LIST OF SPECIMENS OF THE CASLON FOUNDRY, 1734–1830.
1734. A Specimen by William Caslon, Letter-founder in Chiswell
Street, London. 1734. Large post broadside. . . . . (Caslon.)
1738. A Specimen by William Caslon, Letter-founder in Chiswell
Street, London. Large post broadside. . . . . (Chambers’ _Cycl._,
1738.)
1742. A Specimen by Caslon and Son, (referred to by Nichols, _Lit.
Anec._, ii, 365). . . . . (_Lost._)
1748. A Specimen by Caslon and Son (referred to by Nichols, _Lit.
Anec._, ii, 721). . . . . (_Lost._)
1749. A Specimen by William Caslon and Son, Letter-founders in
Chiswell Street, London. 1749. Large Broadside. . . . . (Sohmian
Coll., Stockholm.)
1749. A Specimen of Mr. Caslon’s Roman Letter, and the names of
the sizes now in use. . . . . (Ames’ _Typ. Antiq._, p. 571.)
1763. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon and Son.
Printed by Dryden Leach, London, 1763, 8vo. . . . . (Amer. Antiq.
Soc.)
1764. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon and Son.
Printed by Dryden Leach. London, 1764. 4to and 8vo. . . . . (T. B.
R.)
1766. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon,
Letter-founder, London. Printed by John Towers. 1766. Small 4to.
. . . . (B.M. T, 320, [11].)
1770. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon,
Letter-founder, London. 8vo. . . . . (Luckombe’s _History of
Printing_, pp. 134–147.)
1770. A Specimen of Printing Types cast by Wiliam Caslon for the
use of John Dixcey Cornish, at Number 4, in Printing-House-Yard,
Blackfriars, London. 1770. 32mo. . . . . (Caslon.)
1784. A Specimen of Cast Ornaments on a new plan by William Caslon
and Son. London. 1784. 8vo. . . . . (Sohmian Coll., Stockholm.)
1785. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon,
Letter-founder to His Majesty. London. Printed by Galabin and
Baker, 1785. 8vo. . . . . (B.M. 441, f. 14.)
1785. A Specimen of Large letter by William Caslon, London, 1785.
Two sheets folio. . . . . (B.M. 441, f. 14.)
1785. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon,
Letter-founder to His Majesty, 1785. Folio, 8 pp. . . . .
(Chambers’ _Cycl._, 1784–6.)
1786. A Specimen of Cast Ornaments on a new plan by William
Caslon, Letter-founder to His Majesty. London. Printed by J. W.
Galabin, 1786. 8vo. . . . . (B.M. 668, g. 17, [2].)
1805. Specimen of Printing Types by Caslon and Catherwood,
Letter-founders, Chiswell Street, London. T. Bensley, printer,
London. 1805. 8vo. . . . . (Ox. Univ. Pr.)
1808. A Specimen of Caslon and Catherwood’s modern-cut Printing
Types. London, 1808. 8vo. . . . . (Stower’s _Printers’ Grammar_.)
n. d. Specimen of Printing Types by Caslon and Catherwood,
Chiswell Street, London. T. Bensley, printer, London. 1812? 8vo.
. . . . (Caslon.)
1830. Specimen of Printing Types by Caslon and Livermore,
Letter-founders, Chiswell Street, London. Bensley, Printer, 1830.
8vo. . . . . (Caxt. Cel. 4411.)
[Illustration]
{257}
[Illustration]