The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-02
PRINTING Nv FRANCR.
NJ IDIOTS Historical sIretoh-Tbs ImDs-
rial Printing Odfoa

Paris, which has general interest M, Didot. in
hPcing the art of printing through its many
nlcissitudes, tells us that IL was introduced into
Paris In the year 147O by three Germans, who
resorted to that city at the invitation of one
Guillaume Fichet, doctor of theology, and of
La Pierre, Prior of the Sorbonne. The books
which were first issued from their press appear
to have been printed in l470 and 147I, and in
the following few years, having removed from the
sorbonne to the Rue ST. Jacques, they executed
several works IN Gothic and other characters
at their house, which bore the sign of the "Gol-
den SUM-" In l478 two OF them seem 10 have
returned to Germany, since on very fine copy
Of Virgil the name of one of them, Ulrich
Gering, stands alone, as Is also the case in the
copy of the most ancient edition of the Breviary
q Paris, in the library of st. Genevieve, and in
( me following year Gerng removed again to a
Ilouse belonging to the SOrbOnne carrying with
i'm his sign of the Golden Sun.
Il The number of printers rapidly increased
Ind we hear of one Antoine Verard, who pub
Fshed great number OF works in remarkably
beautiful Gothic character, and after four re-
poyals, having preserved his sign OF st. John
Ihe Evangelist to the last, died opposite the Rue
Eotre Dame, leaving his business TO his son Bar
lhelemy.
THREE REMARKABLE EVENTS.
Henri Estienne, whose family name Is so well
lnown in connection with rare and early edi-
ions, came to Paris from Provence in 1900, and
p partnership with German named Wolfgang,
Printed with great care a hundred and one
Iiheleu works before his death, in 1920 Dur
pg the twenty years of his life in Paris, three
emarkable events in the history of printing
pok place. The first proof of Royal sympathy
vas received by the printers from Louis XII,
Eho RENTED the very considerable imposts
Fhich had formerly been exacted. Two years
Pter, 1915, Francis l exempted them from
hilitary service, except in case OF imml-
kent danger to the State and the same
king in 1915 annulled the prohlbi
Iion which the University had put on the
printing of the Concordat with Pope Leon x.
When Henri Estienne died, his widow married
printer named Colines, who not only himself
Produced some very fine editions, but educated
bis wlfe's son, Robert Estienne, to the business,
which he bequeathed te him in 1929, the very
year which witnessed the burning of Erasmus
friend Louis Berquin in the square OF "Greve,"
hlthough he had been we'll received by the king,
who called him his counsellor. Colines had
printed twenty-four thousand copies, in those
pays prodigious number, of the "Coloquia
ETasma," q book which was prohibited by the
Faculty of Theology, and which the University
forbade to:be read or taught IN its colleges.
NEW TYPE.
In 1920 Clande Garamond introduced Roman
lnd Italian characters after the designs of the
Peautitul Venetian type of Jenson, and Aide
Hanuce, which have since continued to be most
generally used. In Germany and England so
YARN was the approval with which the new
type was greeted, that the technical name of
Paramond is still applied to type of particular
Iize, in which all the Elzevr editions are printed
RELIGIOUS TROUBLES.
In the following year, when it is estimated
that there were in Paris about twenty-four
printers, Francis forbade the printing or pub
fishing of any book which had not received the
kanction of the University and the Faculty of
rheology, and had not been submitted for the
appreciation of the Provost of Paris. In 1922
Robert Estienne published a Latin translation
Pf the New Testament, which gave great offense
10 the Sorbonne, and although he obtained the
royal license for a subsequent edition of the
Bible in the same language, he was at length
compelled to submit to the authority of that in
btitution, and engage to print nothing for the
future unless cum bona cordn1 grdtiI. By this
means he was enabled to continue in the ex-
hrcise of his occupation and SauTal, In his
l'Antiquites of Paris" says that in 1850 his sign
bf the olive tree was yet to be seen in the Rue
Jean de Beauvais. In 1888 the SoIbonne petit
Eioned Francis ], then at Lyons, to abolish
Arinting altogether, and m had i not been for the
irenuous opposition OF Du Bellag, Archbishop
\ Paris, and Guillaume Bede they would GER
linly have obtained their end.
RESTRICTIONS.
In the following year Francis I issued letters
Rtent which entirely prohibited printing, and
Lsigned the punishment OF hanging (peine de Ia
krt) to printers, which was, however, refused
se consent of Parliament. A month afterwards,
lie same King, who has been called the Father
Restorer of Letters, ordered the Parliament
( VI proceed to the election of twenty-four per-
A pms, of whom he himself should choose twelve,
N Tho, having given due security, should alone be
Moved to exercise the art OF printing in Paris,
hd should be confined themselves, at the same
line, to the production of "books approved and
lecessary for the public welfare" under pain of
trbtrary punishment.
By way of compensation in some sort, Francis
subsequently exempted printers from service
b the "GdrdeS Bourgoise," policy which was
ldopted by his successor, Henry II, who had
previously revived tue prohibition on all print
I hg except such as had received the sanction of
The University. Latterly, however, he showed
himself to be more bene7olently disposed to
printers, and relieved them of the oppressive
huties to which their work had hitherto been
subjected; and in 1866 he ordered that a copy
printed on vellum of every book published
under authority should be sent to the Royal
Library. These copies were beautifully bound,
and it is said that the ordinance under which
they were collected was issued on the petition
Z of the celebrated Diane de Poitiers, whose
Iarmoral bearings may be found emblazoned on
"a great many books OF this period.
BETTER DAYS.
Charles TX followed in the steps OF his prede-
cessors. Printing was encouraged by a very
favorable decree, while on the other hand one
IsMartin pHomme, who had published satire
lapainst the Guises, was hung. In spite of all
restrictions, the art continued to prosper, and
although the faculty of Medicine and the Uni
Versity had lost nothing of their ancient intole-
rance, under Louis XIII 9, regular censorship
was established, and from the year 1927 printing
was freed from all religious surveillance, and
was merely subjected to system OF trade rules,
of which D'Aguesseau made careful digest IN
the Order of Council OF the goth February, 1928.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth GEN.
turies Holland and Switzerland afforded a re-
fuge to those authors who for political reasons
had cause to fear the laws of their own country,
and when the stormy days of the ReE0iuhen
were over the press found itself in possession 0