The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1870-07-07
INVENTION OF PRINTING.

| In the year of grace 144l the card-makers
OF Venice procured Il petition to the magis-
trates of their city. The petition set forth
that the art and mystery of card-making had
been seriously impeded by the Introduction
OF foreign playing-cards, the figure whereof
We're impressed or printed. The result ui
this was that their craft had been serousl,
injured, their trade spoiled, their prospects
ruined; and all that they could do was tu
beg ior some restrictive measure, some law
of protection which should put I'm end to
Tree trade in playing cards.
This petition Of the Venetian rd-mlkers
Is the earliest mention to be found Of print
ing.
But the card-makers were not the only
men who toresaw the overthrow of the pro
tessional pursuits in the blocks and type ut
the early printers. The copyist took alarm
lhey denounced the invention as coming
from the old enemy OF mankind they pre-
dicted treason against the state, and corrup-
ton among the people wherever the art Wa
practiced. To the fire with the printing
press 10 the gi.,hct with the printer
lranscrlbing is the plan designed by nature.
or what were goose qlllls made for?
Ihe clamor against the press was part and
parcel OF the outcry which has been inyari-
able raised against every new invention
TO economize human labor by mechanical
contrivance would, one would naturally sup
pose, be universally popular; but the very
reverse OF this has always been the case. IL
IS not difficult to account for this, as during
the transition state, the period which inter
yenes between the decay OF one occupation
and the growth of another, the dearth of en-
ployment falls heavily on the workmen \
new class of workmen spring up, the tlril
ties for obtaining employment are increased
the sphere OF labor is enlarged; new fields
OF enterprise are opened up,-tields which
yield an abundant harvest. But this is The
work OF time, and men must and do snhcr
in the interval
The Venetian card-makers, what were they
to do? The old transcribes, what was 10 be
comc OF them9 Shall the world stay its
course on their account? Shall everything
remain IN a0tH quo to suit their comfort and
convenience? If so, what is To become of
succeeding generations? How shall that
vast multitude be employed -paper-makers,
type-tounders, machinists, eompositers, press
men-who find in the press their means OF
| eXstance?
The Chinese, who claim the invention of
everything, used block printing at very
early period of the worlds history, and with
characteristic conservatism, they have con-
tlnued using block printing to the present
day. Block printing is a sort of wood
engraving, the letters and figures being cut
on block of wood, from which impressions
can be taken Amongst the first printer,
this was the plan adopted. They copied the
outline hgures of saints and angles, ant
made trans cript of church text upon their
wooden blocks, from which they reproduced
mlssals and breviaries, closely resembling
those of the copyist. There is Il specimen of
this DESCRIPTION still preserved, called Bibliwu
Iaupcrlum, being series of skeleton SER
mons, ornamented with pictures to warm
the preachers Imagination, and stored with
texts TO aid his memory.
/ The invention or discovery of printing is
ascribed to John Gutenberg, of the CITY Of
Metz, who, having expended almost all that
he possessed on the project, was abOnt to
abandon it, when, by the advice OF john
Faust, he succeeded in bringing it to per
lection. They soon abandoned the old block
printing, and, preparing matrices for the
letters. cast them in n mixture of copper and
tin. Peter SchGffer is said to have suggest
ed this plan They We're all bound by al
oath OF secrecy; and, rs they began TO cN-
cite attention by the rapidity and accuracy
Of their productions. the question arose:
How do these men accomplish their work
Nothing could be more in keeping with the
spirit of the times than that Of the popular
conclusion. These men have sold them
selves to Satan, and it is by his agency tha
they do these things
Had not some powerful influence been CIV
crted on their behalf these first printers must
have perShed. But there were men even in
those days who could appreciate human zen
nus, and who held superstitiouS folly in con
tempt Nobemen there were-noblcmcn in
the truest and best sense of that phrasc-who
betriended the early printers. In England,
CaXton found generous patron in Edward
"; and, when driven from Metz. the Ger
man printers found support and safety under
Louis Nl. of france. The memory of Louis
has been covered with odium; and Us every
historian and novelist, in naming him, ha,
cast 4 stone, the carn over his grave is HIGH
and broad But that the man had good a.
well as bad qualities, no impartial person
can doubt, He gained the love of the bur
gesseS rs well as the hatred of the mobiles
lie associated himself with people Of mean
extraction, and the aristocracy took fright
Withal, he was a polite monarch. tor the
kingdom was greatly advanced and impro>-
ed by him and his patroage of the printers.
his furnishing them with an asylum at Paris
ana eXcrting his influence to allay the popu-
lar irritation against them, show him to have
been, in some respects, superior to his age
The printers settled in Paris betook them
selves to the labor of producing printed
Bible; and when it was completed they
sought an interview with the king. Louis
courteously received them, expressed him
self greatly pleased with their success, and
encouraged them to persevere. The Bible
which was the first book printed in France
was presented to the king by the grateful
printers.
Very unlike the accuracy and elegance of
modern book were the books of the early
printers. Their first efforts as in the French
Bible and Caxton's book on Chess" were
rough and crude; but the discovery once
made, improvements We're certain to follow.
This first step in advance was more than
half the battle. SO from the printing press
knowledge has descended to us, like the first
and second rain - uninterrupted, undated
and unbounded; tertlizing some grounds
overowing establishing and over
flowing Notwithstanding and destroying
kingdoms, and changing the form of social
life Western World.
The spots on the sun, that were recently
charged with making the weather cold, are
now accused of the hot spell.