JOSEPH JACKSON, 1763.
Joseph Jackson, apprentice to Caslon I, was born in Old Street, London,
on Sept. 4, 1733. He was the first child baptised in St. Luke’s, and
received his education at a school in that neighbourhood, the gift of
a Mr. Fuller. During the term of his service at Chiswell Street, he
was, says Nichols,[645] exceedingly tractable in the common branches
of the business. Rowe Mores states that he was an “apprentice to the
whole art,”[646] but this term evidently does not comprehend the most
important branch of that art, namely the cutting of punches. This
was kept a profound secret at Chiswell Street, Mr. Caslon and his
son constantly locking themselves into the apartment in which they
practised it. Jackson, who had a great desire to learn the mystery,
bored a hole through the wainscot, and was thus, at different times,
able to watch his employers through the process, and to form some idea
how the whole was performed; and he afterwards applied himself at every
opportunity to the finishing of a punch. “When he had completed one to
his own mind, he presented it to his master, expecting to be rewarded
for his ingenuity: but the premium he received was a hard blow, with a
threat that he should be sent to Bridewell if he again made a similar
attempt. This circumstance being taken in dudgeon, his mother bought
him what tools were necessary, and he improved himself at her house
whenever he had an opportunity.” {316}
“He continued,” adds Nichols, “to work for Mr. Caslon after he came out
of his time,[647] till a quarrel arose in the foundery about the price
of work; and a memorial, which terminated in favour of the workmen,
being sent to the elder Caslon (who was then in the Commission of
the Peace, and had retired to Bethnal Green), young Jackson and Mr.
Cottrell were discharged, as supposed ringleaders.
“Compelled thus to seek employment, they united their slender stock in
a partnership, and went on prosperously till, Jackson’s mother dying,
he entered in 1759, on board the “Minerva” frigate, as armourer; and
in May 1761 was removed, with Capt. Alexander Hood, into the same
situation in the “Aurora”; and proved somewhat successful, having about
£40 prize money to receive at the Peace of 1763. During the time he was
at sea, he was visited by a severe fit of sickness, in which he vowed,
if he recovered, to lead in future a very penitent life; which promise
he punctually fulfilled.”
Quitting the navy, he returned to London and rejoined once more his old
comrade and partner, now a fully-established type-founder in Nevil’s
Court, Fetter Lane. He worked for some time under Cottrell, but at
length, at the instigation, it would appear, of two of his fellow
workmen, Robinson and Hickson (who shared with Cottrell the distinction
of serving as privates in the Life Guards), he determined to set up in
business for himself.
The necessary capital for the new concern was found by Robinson and
Hickson, who agreed to allow Jackson, as his salary for conducting the
business under the partnership, the sum of £62 8s. per annum, and to
supply money for carrying on the trade for two years.
A small house in Cock Lane was taken for the purpose, and such was the
modest beginning of this famous foundry.
The hazardous adventure succeeded, thanks to the genius of Jackson,
who was able soon to satisfy his partners that the business would be
productive before the time promised.
“When he had pursued his labours about six months, Mr. Bowyer
accidentally calling to inspect some of his punches (for he had no
specimen), approved them so much, that he promised to employ him;
adding, ‘My father was the means of old Mr. Caslon riding in his coach,
how do you know but I may be the means of your doing the same?’
[Illustration: 75. From _Nichols’ Literary Anecdotes_.]
“A short time after this, he put out a small specimen of one fount;
which his former young master carried to Bethnal Green with an air
of contempt. The good old justice treated it otherwise; and desired
his son ‘to take it home and {317} preserve it; and whenever he went
to cutting again to look well at it.’ It is but justice to the third
William Caslon to add that he always acknowledged the abilities of
Mr. Jackson; and though rivals in an art which requires the greatest
exertions of ingenuity, they lived in habits of reciprocal friendship.”
It is much to be regretted that no copy of Jackson’s first specimen
sheet (which we may assume to have been issued about 1665) is now to be
discovered.
Business increasing, he removed from Cock Lane to more commodious
premises in Dorset Street, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, and here his
foundry and reputation made rapid advances.
“About the year 1771”, Nichols relates, “he was applied to by the
Duke of Norfolk to make a mould to cast a hollow square. Telling the
Duke that he thought this was practicable, his Grace observed that he
had applied to all the skilful mechanicks in London, Mr. Caslon not
excepted, who declared it impossible. He soon convinced the Duke of his
abilities, and in the course of three months, producing what his Grace
had been years in search of, was ever after held in great estimation by
the Duke, who considered him as the first mechanick in the kingdom.”
In 1773, it would appear that Jackson issued a further specimen of his
now increasing foundry. Of this performance Rowe Mores makes flattering
mention in presenting his summary of the contents of the foundry as it
stood in that year:―
“Mr. Jackson,” he says, “lives in Salisbury Court in Fleet Street.
He is obliging and communicative, and his Specimen will, _adjuvante
numine_, have place amongst the literate specimens of English letter
cutters. The prognostics are these:―
“MR. JACKSON’S FOUNDERY.
ORIENTALS:
_Hebrew._―
Double Pica.
_Persic._―
English.
_Bengal._―
(or Modern Sanskrit), a corruption of the older characters of the
Hindoos, the ancient inhabitants of Bengal.
OCCIDENTALS:
_Greek._―
English, Long Primer, Brevier.
_Roman and Italic._―
_sicut et reliqui._
SEPTENTRIONALS:
_English._―
2-line Great Primer.
_Scriptorial._―
Double Pica, nearly finished.
“He has likewise Proscription letters beginning at 12-line Pica, the
same with those of Mr. Cottrell, the first who cut letters of this
dimension.”
With regard to the Bengalee letter, Rowe Mores states that this was
cut by Jackson “for Mr. William Bolts, Judge of the Mayor’s Court of
Calcutta, for a work in which he had been engaged at the time of his
sudden departure from England about 1774.”[648] {318}
The work here referred to was the _Grammar of the Bengal Language_,
projected by the East India Company as part of a scheme for the
dissemination of a knowledge of the Indian Languages in Europe. It
appears, however, that although Mr. Bolts was supposed to be in every
way competent for the fabrication of this intricate character, his
models, as copied by Jackson, failed to give satisfaction, and the
work was for the time abandoned;[649] to be revived and executed some
few years later in a more masterly and accurate manner by Mr. Charles
Wilkins,[650] then in the service of the East India Company in Bengal,
{319} who with an extraordinary combination of talents, succeeded, by
the work of his own hand, in designing, engraving, casting and printing
the _Grammar_ published at Hoogly in 1778.
Mr. Bolts’ failure in this particular reflects no discredit on
Jackson, who faithfully reproduced the models given him, and who
displayed his talent in the same direction shortly after by the
production of a fount of Deva Nagari, cut under the direction of
Captain William Kirkpatrick, of the East India Service, and Persian
Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief for India, for the purpose of
printing a _Grammar and Dictionary_ in that language.
Of this fount a specimen remains—the only specimen extant, we believe,
bearing Jackson’s name. It is a broadside, displaying in table form
the alphabet and combinations of the Sanscrit, and exhibits no small
delicacy of workmanship, not only in the Oriental character itself, but
in the few lines of Roman letter composing the title. There is no date
to the specimen.
Captain Kirkpatrick’s _Dictionary_ was never completed. One part only
appeared in 1785,[651] containing the Glossary of the Arabic and
Persian words incorporated with the Hindu, and in this no Nagari is
used. All the remaining parts of the work, as first projected, depended
on the new type; but as they never appeared, the object for which the
fount was cut was lost.
The next important undertaking which engaged Jackson’s talents was
one of national interest. The House of Lords had, in the year 1767,
determined upon printing the Journals and Parliamentary records, “a
work, which,” says {320} Nichols, “will ever reflect honour on the
good taste and munificence of the present reign” (George III). Jackson
had been employed to cut several varieties of letter for this work;
and he was now called upon to assist in a further outcome of the same
good taste and munificence, in the production of type for the splendid
facsimile of the _Domesday Book_, begun in 1773. This important work
was projected and carried through by Dr. Nichols himself, and a brief
account of the circumstances under which it saw the light may be
interesting and not out of place here.
The Lords, it appears, being petitioned to sanction the printing of
the _Domesday Book_, the most important of the Anglo-Saxon records,
as a matter of national importance, referred, through the Treasury
Board, to the Society of Antiquaries as to the mode in which it should
be published, whether by printing-types, or by having a copy of the
manuscript engraved in facsimile. By the examination of several
eminent printers, it was learned that according to the first plan
very many unavoidable errors would occur; a tracing of the record
was then proposed, to be transferred to copper plates. An estimate
of the expense of this was next ordered by the Treasury Board, which
amounted to £20,000 for the printing and engraving of 1250 copies,
each containing 1664 plates; but this sum, however proportionate, was
considered too large, and the first plan was again reverted to.
It was then proposed by the learned Dr. Morton that a fount of
facsimile types should be cut under his superintendence. This
undertaking, however, failed, and Dr. Morton received £500 for doing
little or nothing, and nearly £200 more for types that were of no use.
The founder to whom Dr. Morton applied was Thomas Cottrell, a specimen
of whose unsuccessful fount appeared shortly afterwards in Luckombe’s
_History of Printing_, 1770.
Dr. Morton’s plan being abandoned, on account of the difficulty of
producing in type letters which, in the manuscript, were constantly
differing in their forms, the work was entrusted to Mr. Abraham Farley,
F.R.S., a gentleman of great Record learning, and who had had access to
the ancient MSS. for upwards of forty years. His knowledge, however,
did not induce him to differ from his original in a single instance,
even when he found an apparent error; he preserved in his transcript
every interlineation and contraction, and his copy was ultimately
placed in Mr. Nichols’ hands. Jackson was then employed to cut the
types, and successfully accomplished the difficult undertaking.[652]
The work occupied ten {321} years in printing, and appeared in 1783,
in two folio volumes.[653] The type was destroyed in the fire which
consumed the printing-office of Mr. Nichols in 1808, previous to which,
however, it was used in Kelham’s Introduction and Glossary to the
_Domesday Book_ in 1788.[654]
It was Jackson’s success, no doubt, in his facsimile letter for the
_Domesday Book_, which led to his selection shortly afterwards by
Mr. Nichols to cut the type for Dr. Woide’s[655] facsimile of the
New Testament of the _Alexandrian Codex_ in the British Museum. To
the history of this priceless relic reference has been made once or
twice in the course of this work.[656] Only one attempt had previously
been made to reproduce its character in type,—that of Dr. Patrick
Young, in 1643, within a few years of the arrival of the manuscript
in this country. In this letter was printed a specimen containing
the first chapter of Genesis. But the project was abandoned, and
the matrices, there is reason to believe, subsequently passed into
Grover’s Foundry, and afterwards, through James, into the possession
of Dr. Fry in 1782.[657] That Mr. Nichols was acquainted with their
existence in 1778 is almost certain, since they are mentioned in Rowe
Mores’ _Dissertation_, which he himself edited and annotated. But
not being sufficiently exact for the purpose, and, at the same time,
it being decided that the facsimile should be produced through the
medium of type in preference to other process,[658] Mr. Jackson was
fixed on to cut a new set of punches from the transcript made by Dr.
Woide’s own hand. To this task he proved fully equal, and the work
issued from Mr. Nichols’ press in 1786[659]—a splendid folio edition,
worthy alike of {322} its subject and the artists who produced it. The
unusual compliment was, in this instance, paid to the letter-founder
of mentioning his name on the title-page as the author of the types
employed in the work.
The matrices were afterwards deposited in the British Museum, and
were again brought into requisition when, in 1812, Mr. Baber produced
his facsimile of the _Psalms_[660] from the Alexandrian MS., and
afterwards, in 1816–21, at the press of Messrs. R. and A. Taylor,
completed the entire _Old Testament_.[661] Thus concluded this great
enterprise, which has been justly characterised by the Abbé Jager as
“_opus plane aureum_.”
Jackson having now become famous for his skill in this particular
branch of his art, was called upon shortly before his death to
execute a work of scarcely less importance than the facsimile of the
Alexandrian Greek. This was to cut the punches for Dr. Kipling’s
facsimile of the celebrated _Codex Bezæ_ preserved at the University
of Cambridge. The character of this MS. differs considerably from
that of the Alexandrine; and, being less regular in its execution,
the difficulty of reproducing it in type is proportionately greater.
Jackson, however, accomplished his task faithfully and with marked
success. Unhappily his death in 1792 prevented him from seeing in
print the fruit of his labours, as the work did not appear till the
following year, when it was published at Cambridge in two beautiful
folio volumes,[662]—a work which, says its reviewer, “reflects honour
on the University of Cambridge, and its editor, and, we may add, on
the late excellent letter-founder, Mr. Jackson, who cut the types
for this handsome book, as well as for the Alexandrine MS. and for
_Domesday_.”[663]
Jackson’s reputation was not by any means wholly dependent on his
skill in expressing in type the character of ancient and difficult
manuscripts.
During the time he was occupied in the works above described, he
made several useful additions to his foundry. Amongst others, he cut
a beautiful {323} fount of Pica Greek for Mr. Bowyer, “who,” says
Nichols,[664] “used to say that the types in common use were no more
Greek than they were English.”
“He had also, under the direction of Joseph Steele, the ingenious
author of _Prosodia Rationalis_,[665] augmented the number of musical
notes by such as represent the emphasis and cadence of prose.” This
curious work, designed to show how the recitation of Garrick and other
eminent speakers might be transmitted to posterity in score, was
printed by Nichols in 1779, being an amplified edition of a treatise
published four years previously,[666] in which Jackson’s “expression
symbols” were made use of.
The most important work of his later years was undoubtedly the splendid
fount of 2-line English Roman, cut for Mr. Bensley, about the year
1789, for Macklin’s _Bible_.[667] As in the case of the Bezæ _Gospels_,
he did not live to see the completion of his labours in the publication
of this grand edition, which did not appear till some years after his
death, and then in a type not wholly his own, but supplemented, in
close facsimile, by a fount cut by his former apprentice and manager,
Vincent Figgins.[668] Jackson’s grand letter is justly counted among
his greatest achievements, exhibiting, as Nichols observes, a pattern
of the most perfect symmetry to which the art had at that time
arrived.”[669]
A crowning monument to the skill of this excellent artist is Robert
Bowyer’s sumptuous edition of Hume’s _History of England_, printed
by Bensley[670] in 1806, in a Double Pica type, on which Jackson was
engaged at the time of his death. On the execution of this fount
he appears to have staked his reputation; “Mr. Jackson,“ says his
biographer in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_,[671]” had been engaged to cut
the letter for the projected edition of Hume’s _History of England_,
which he declared should ‘be the most exquisite performance of the
kind in this or any other country.’ And accordingly he had, in a great
degree, accomplished his purpose, but his anxiety and application were
so intense that his health suffered and he fell a victim to the great
undertaking.” {324}
This circumstance was made the occasion of a curious and affecting
Elegy, of which we will venture to inflict a specimen on the reader,
not on account of its merit, but as being a rare instance of a
letter-founder becoming the object of a poetical tribute:―
“Patrons of merit, heave the sadden’d sigh !
Ye brilliant dewdrops, hang on Beauty’s eye !
Let heavy hearts beat with the tolling bell,
And mourn the fatal hour when _Jackson_ fell !
His were the gifts the Gods alone impart―
A _tow’ring genius_ and a _tender heart_ !
A greatness equalled only by his skill―
A goodness greater than his greatness still;
An ardent zeal each purpose to _obtain_,
Which Virtue and the Arts might entertain.
But Fate in jealous fury snatched him hence
The moment he accomplished excellence !
_Tenax propositi_—his art he tried,
Achieved perfection—and achieving died !” etc.
Although anxiety and overwork may have contributed to Jackson’s death,
the immediate cause was a severe attack of scarlet-fever, which carried
him off on January 14th, 1792, in the 59th year of his age. The last
few years of his life had been considerably troubled. In 1790 his
foundry was destroyed by a fire, in which his moulds and matrices were
seriously damaged. The shock of this calamity affected both his health
and his energy, and the management of his business was, during his
later years, left almost entirely in the hands of his trusted servant,
Mr. Vincent Figgins. The foundry was rebuilt, and the damaged materials
were, as far as possible (though not wholly), replaced at the time of
his death.
Mr. Jackson was twice married—first to Miss Elizabeth Tassell,
originally a whinster in Spitalfields, “a very worthy woman,” says
Nichols, “and an excellent wife, who greatly contributed by her
care and industry to his getting forward in his first entering into
business” She died in 1783, and, in the following year, Mr. Jackson
married Mrs. Pasham, widow of a well-known printer in Blackfriars,[672]
a union which materially assisted him in the means of carrying on his
{325} business. This lady died in 1791, her husband surviving his
bereavement only a few months. He was buried in the same grave with his
two wives in the ground of Spa Fields Chapel.
Of Jackson’s private character his contemporaries concur in speaking
very highly. “By the death of this ingenious artist and truly worthy
man,” says Nichols, “the poor lost a most excellent benefactor, his own
immediate connexions a steady friend, and the literary world a valuable
coadjutor in their labours.” He was a deacon at the Meeting-House in
Barbican, where a funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Towers,
who also delivered a “neat funeral oration,” at the grave. He died
possessed of some considerable property. There is an oil portrait
of him in the possession of Mr. Blades, and an engraved portrait in
Nichols’ _Literary Anecdotes_, from which our copy is taken.
It is unfortunately impossible to ascertain in what condition his
foundry was left at the time of his death—how far it had recovered from
the consequences of the fire, or how far that calamity had destroyed,
beyond replacing, any of its contents.
It was offered for sale in 1792, and Mr. Figgins, the presumptive
successor to the business, not finding himself in a position to
become its purchaser, it was acquired by William Caslon III, who had
recently disposed of his share in the Chiswell Street Foundry, over
whose affairs he had for some years been presiding.[673] He removed
the Foundry from Dorset Street to Finsbury Square, where for a few
years it remained located; but presently transferred it back to its old
quarters, leaving the house in Finsbury Square to be converted by James
Lackington, the celebrated bookseller, into the “Temple of the Muses,”
one of the largest and most popular old book-shops of the day.
In the hands of Mr. Caslon, Jackson’s foundry was greatly enlarged
and improved. The specimen of 1798, dedicated to the King, exhibits
19 pages of Titlings and open letters, 1 of Ornamental, 35 of Roman
and Italic, 8 of foreign letter and Blacks, 1 of Script, 5 of sundry
specimens, and 12 of Flowers.”[674]
The book has many features in common with the Chiswell Street specimen
of 1785, many of the founts in which re-appear here. Indeed, it would
seem that on relinquishing his share in the parental business, William
Caslon III had provided himself with duplicate matrices of several of
the Chiswell Street founts, {326} particularly of the Foreign and
Oriental letters, which figure prominently in this and subsequent
specimens of the Salisbury Square Foundry.
Bound with the book is a specimen of Cast Ornaments, a species of a
typographical embellishment which Caslon III had had the merit of
introducing into this country in 1784, while still at Chiswell Street.
In this particular too, the Salisbury Square specimen is a reproduction
of that of the Chiswell Street house.
About the year 1803 Mr. Caslon took his son, the fourth William
Caslon, into partnership, and the firm became W. Caslon & Son. The
specimen of this year exhibits a slight increase on that of 1798,
the chief additions being in the modern-faced Romans, then becoming
fashionable. The learned and Oriental founts remain unaltered from the
1798 specimen, and as this is the last specimen of the foundry in which
these occupy a prominent place, it will be convenient to give the list
here:
_Greek._―
Double Pica, Great Primer, English, English new, Pica, Small Pica,
Long Primer, Brevier, Nonpareil.
_Hebrew._―
2-line Great Primer, 2-line English, Double Pica, Great Primer,
ditto with points, English, ditto with points, Pica, ditto with
points, Small Pica, Long Primer, Brevier.
_Syriac._―
English, Long Primer.
_Arabic._―
English.
_Armenian._―
Pica.
_Samaritan._―
Pica.
_Saxon._―
English, Pica, Brevier.
_Blacks._―
2-line Great Primer, Double Pica, Great Primer, English 1, English
2, Pica 1, Pica 2, Small Pica, Long Primer, Brevier.
The whole of these founts, with the exception of the new English Greek,
are identical with those shown in the Chiswell Street Specimen of 1785.
The Specimen Book of 1803 appears to have served the foundry for
several years; as copies exist in which the date is altered by hand to
1807, and the name of the firm changed from “W. Caslon & Son” to “W.
Caslon, Junior.”
This last alteration was consequent on the retirement of William Caslon
III from the business in 1807. Although this gentleman’s connection
with type founding ceases here,[675] we cannot refrain from quoting the
few sentences in which Mr. Hansard, in 1825, describes his personal
character, while the subject of his notice was yet living:―
[Illustration: 76. From _Hansard_.]
“If his friends had not yet the pleasure of occasionally receiving his
lively salutations—of enjoying the gay and gentlemanlike converse,
the whim, the anecdote, and the agreeable bagatelle of William Caslon
aforesaid, I might be induced to amplify on these points . . . The
mention, however, of one thing must not be omitted. Some years ago he
was deprived of sight by the {327} formation of a cataract in each eye;
still his musical ear furnished the faculty of distinguishing persons
whom he knew by their voices; and his cheerful spirits enabled him to
sustain the calamity with a becoming temper of mind. At length, his
courage, in undergoing the operation of couching three several times,
was rewarded with the perfect restoration of his sight; and his friends
again experience the delight of hearing him truly say, ‘Ah! I’m happy
to see you, by ——.’ But although ever ready with anecdote and whim to
enliven, still more to his honour as a man, may it be added, that he
can at once turn the cheerful smile into serious solicitations, for
the assistance of a decayed old friend, his orphan, or his widow.” Mr.
Caslon died in 1833. The portrait here given is taken from that in
Hansard’s _Typographia_.
William Caslon IV, being left in sole possession of the foundry,
made considerable progress in extending the business, especially by
the addition of the new fashioned fat-faced types, at that period so
largely affected. His chief improvement, however, was the introduction
in 1810 of the Sanspareil matrices for large letters.[676] This
invention, which Hansard somewhat extravagantly describes as the
greatest improvement in the art of letter-founding that has taken place
in modern times, consisted in the substitution of pierced, or rather
built-up matrices, in place of the old sand moulds hitherto in use, and
it rapidly secured favour in the trade, and was as early as possible
adopted by the other founders.
In 1812, Mr. Caslon also took out a patent for a new form of type
for imposing on a cylinder, of a size from 1/3 to 1/7th that of
ordinary type, and cast wedge-shaped, or larger at the end containing
the face than at the foot; an attempt which reflected more credit on
the ingenuity of its author than upon his practical judgment, and which
was not proceeded with.[677]
Although no complete specimen book of Caslon IV has occurred to our
notice of a later date than that of 1807 (which is itself the 1803
book altered by pen and ink), the numerous sheets appearing from time
to time, and collected in the first specimen of his successors, prove
that one or more specimens of the foundry must have appeared during the
interval.
In 1819, Mr. Caslon, Junr. disposed of his foundry to Messrs. Blake,
Garnett & Co., of Sheffield, to which town the entire stock was removed.
After his retirement from type-founding, he devoted himself actively
to the {328} scheme for lighting London with coal-gas. For some of his
appliances in connection with this business—the sliding water-joints
for pendants and chandeliers amongst others—he received the medal
of the Society of Arts (his only reward, for he did not patent his
invention). In 1832 he went to reside at Henley, and ten years later
was afflicted with total blindness, an operation for cataract having
proved unsuccessful. In this state he continued for twenty-seven years,
“tired,” as he said, “of having been so long in the dark,” but serene
in temper, and his mind illuminated with Christian hope. He taught
himself to read the embossed printing for the blind, and was able to
write by the aid of a simple apparatus constructed for that purpose. He
lived, in spite of his affliction, to a cheerful old age, and died in
1869, aged 88. He left no son.
To estimate the complete revolution which had taken place in the
productions of this foundry during the interval between 1807 and 1819,
it is only necessary to glance through the first specimen book of
the new proprietors, issued in the latter year, which may be taken
to represent the state of the foundry pretty nearly as it was at the
time of its transfer to Sheffield. There is not a single fount in the
one book which reappears in the other. The modern fat-face Romans and
Egyptians[678] take the place of Jackson’s elegant old-style letters.
The Orientals have completely disappeared, and the general appearance
of the book reflects as much as any specimen of the period the
prevalent taste of a so-called improved art.
It was, apparently, highly esteemed in its day. “Mr. Caslon,” says
Hansard, writing only six years after the event, “transferred to the
Sheffield founders such a specimen of type and flowers as will ever
cause us printers to regret the loss of such a competitor for fame in
this difficult business.”
Messrs. Blake, Garnett & Co., a firm formed for the special purpose
of acquiring the type business, issued their first specimen, above
referred to, very shortly after the transfer of the business to its new
quarters. Their prefatory note is interesting, not only as recording
the transaction, but as intimating that the Oriental and Foreign
founts, which had formed so conspicuous a feature of the previous
specimens of the foundry, had also found their way to Sheffield:―
“Blake, Garnett and Co. beg leave respectfully to inform the trade
that they have purchased the whole of Mr. Caslon’s Foundery,
which, in addition to the Specimens here offered to their
inspection, contains founts of Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic,
Saxon, German, etc. from Brevier to Double Pica, chiefly modern,
also every kind of Accented letters, . . . . . . and a variety of
other Sorts, of which Specimens are not yet printed.” {329}
The activity of the new proprietors resulted in a rapid increase in
the extent and business of the foundry. Supplementary specimens were
frequently issued between 1820 and 1830, when the style of the firm
became Blake and Stephenson. Mr. Stephenson was a man of great energy,
practical skill and artistic taste, and it is to his exertions that the
rapidly-achieved eminence of the house was chiefly due. In 1841, the
firm took its present style of Stephenson, Blake & Co. Mr. Stephenson
directed the operations of the Sheffield foundry until 1860, when the
management devolved on his son, Mr. Henry Stephenson, in whose hands it
still remains.
LIST OF SPECIMENS, 1765–1831.
No date. Jackson’s first Specimen of one fount. 1765? (Referred to
by Nichols, _Lit. Anec._, ii, 360.) . . . . (_Lost._)
1783. Jackson’s second Specimen (described by Mores, _Dissert._,
p. 83.) . . . . (_Lost._)
No date. Specimen of the Deo Nagri or Hindvi Type, cut for the
purpose of printing a Grammar and Dictionary of that Language
under the Direction of William Kirkpatrick, Captain in the Service
of the Honourable East India Company, and Persian Secretary to the
Commander in Chief in India. By Joseph Jackson, Letter Founder,
Salisbury Court, Fleet Street. 1784? Broadside. . . . . (J. F.)
1798. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon, Letter
Founder to the King, Salisbury Square, London. 1798. 8vo. . . . .
(W. B.)
1798. A Specimen of Cast Ornaments by William Caslon, Letter
Founder to the King. London. Printed by C. Whittingham. 1798. 8vo.
. . . . (W. B.)
1803. A Specimen of Printing Types by W. Caslon and Son, Letter
Founders to the King. London. Printed by C. Whittingham, Dean
Street, Fetter Lane. 1803. 8vo. . . . . (Caslon.)
1807. The above Specimen, with additions, and title, altered from
“W. Caslon and Son, 1803,” to “W. Caslon, junr., 1807.” . . . .
(Caslon.)
No date. A Specimen of Printing Types, etc., by Blake, Garnett and
Co. (successors to Mr. W. Caslon, of London), Letter Founders,
Sheffield. (1819.) 8vo. . . . . (T. B. R.)
1826. Supplement to Blake, Garnett and Co.’s Specimen, 1826. 8vo.
. . . . (Caxt. Cel., 4405.)
1827. Specimen of Printing Types by Blake, Garnett and Co.
(successors to Mr. W. Caslon of London), Letter Founders, Allen
Street, Sheffield. 1827. 8vo. . . . . (Caxt. Cel., 4406.)
1827–8. Supplements to Blake, Garnett and Co.’s Specimen, 1827 and
1828. 8vo. . . . . (Caxt. Cel., 4408.)
1830. Select Specimen of Printing Types by Blake and Stephenson,
Sheffield. 1830. 8vo. . . . . (Caxt. Cel., 4414.)
1831. Specimen of Printing Types by Blake and Stephenson
(successors to Mr. W. Caslon of London), Letter Founders,
Sheffield. 1831. 8vo. . . . . (S. B. & Co.)
{330}
[Illustration]