Washington telegraph., 1856-03-05
Printing.


The invention Of printing in the molcr
sense. from movable letters. haa been refer
red by most To Gutenberg. native Of Ments
but settled at Sirasbufg lie Is suppose
10 have conceived the idea before lilo, au,
10 have spent the next ten years in maxim!
attempts a, carrying it into effect, whiel
some assert him to baye done in short fngi
tive pieces. actually printed from his movea
bic wooden character. bei1re li50 But
of the existence Of these there seems Ia be
no evidence. Guttenbergs priority is dis
puted by those who deem Lasfeheo Cosiar,
of HARLEM, the real inventor Of the art
According to tradition. which seems not
10 be traced beyond the middle Of the 10th
century, but resting afterwards upon suili.
eient testimony 10 prove it local reception,
eoslar substituted moyeable for fixed letters
as carly as 1850, aud some have believed
that book called IS peculum humanm Sal.
saiionis. ui very rude wooden characters,
proceeded from the llaarlem press before
any other that is generally recognised The
tradition adds, that an uniaiihtul servant hay
ing fed with the secret set up for himself at
sirasbufg or Meniz; aud this treachery was
originally ascribed TO Gutenberg or fausi.
but seems. since they have been maniiestly
cleared of il, to have been laid on one
Geasf.iseh. Tepu,ed 10 be brother II Gut.
tehberg The evidence however. as to this.
i highly prccarioasi aud even il We were to
admit the claims VI Co,iar. there seems no
iair reason to dispute that Gutenberg might
als1 have struck out an idea. that surely did
not require any extraordinary ingenuity,
aud which left the must important dllicll.
iies To be surmounied. as lbey nnleaiably
were. hy him.cl! aud his eoadjalar..
II isagreed by all that ab5al ll51. Gut.
tehbefg having gone TO Meniz. euterei into
partnership with Faust, fieh merchant Of
TINT city, for the purpose If carrying the in.
senlion into effect nj that fausi supplied
him with considerable sums Il money. The
subsequent steps are ob.eufe. According
10 a Iassagc in the "Anmles llrsargienses
Of Trliheniius. written sixty years after.
HaIds. bat on the authority ol a grandson OF
i'eier Sehsciur sncif asailugs N tisg work.
1t was about li52 that tho latter brought
tue nrt iorerfeciicn by de,i,iue an easier
mode Of casting types THIS Tassago has
been interpreted. according TO lax eonsrue.
lon. 10 mean. that SchWger invented the
method Of casting types in ma,rix but
seems more strictly to mean, that we owe
to him the frea; Improvement in letter.
casting, namely the punches Of engraved
steel. by which the matrices or moulds are
struck. aud without which. Independent Of
the economy Of labor, there could be no
perfect uniformity of shape Upon the
former suppo.iiion schpiTer may be reck.
oncd ihs main inventor Of tue art Of print.
ing for mo,eable wooden letters. though
small books may possibly have been print.
ed by means Of them, are 80 inconyonicn,,
aud letters of cut metal 80 expensive, that
few great works were likely to have passed
through the press, till cast types were om.
ployel Van Praci. howerer, believes the
psalier of lj51 to have been printed from
wooden characters aud some have eoneciy.
cd letters Of Gu, metal 10 have been en-.
ployed both in that aud 10 tho hrs, Bible
lambine,, who thinks the essence Of the
art Of printing is in the engraved punch"
naturally gives the credit to Srhei3cri but
this is no, the more usual opinion