The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1872-01-19
MI j 8 @ eIlaneous .
THE ART OF PRINTING.
An Essay Delivered before the William Writ
Literary Society, Of Baltimore
BY VIM. PINKNEY HAMILTON.

The different nations of remote aptiqui-
ty practiced the art of printing iI its sim
plest forms. The Israelites, the Egyptians,
the Assyrians and the Romans al. by the
use of their seals, their stamps, &C., fore
Swallowed the advent of the great art. 1t
is supposed that a passage in Cicero "De
Natura De0'um," which gives directions
respecting type made of metal and called
by him "F0rmg Literarum (the exact
may ire1o e"ss..,.~t sl.~ i,a~.- .f Them
The Chinese, japanese and the Tartars
printed books from engraved blocks. They
Wrote upon very thin and prepared paper,
and then secured it with the writing down
wards upon the smooth surface of hard
block. This done, they chiseled away
both paper and wood excepting those por.
tons covered by the writing. Ink was then
applied and impressions made
Lawrens Janszoon Coster, of HARLEM,
Holland, invented, in 1923, printing on
movable types of wood-afterward using
tin and lead. There,are, however, no print
ed works of his which can be identified.
Johannes Gutenberg is more generally
recognized as the real inventor. After nu-
merous experiments. in the city of Straus
burg, he possessed in 1888 press, movea-
BILE types and other materials. No book
was printed by their use, however, until
after he returned in 1850 to his native CITY
Metz. Here Johann Faust, wealthy man,
joined Gutenberg and agreed to furnish the
capital. They employed Peter Schoffer.
who has the credit of substituting metallic
type cast in plaster moulds, for those of
wood and carved metal. This firm sue
ceeded in printing number of books, the
first of which was three editions ofDonatus.
In 1862 Count Adolphus, of Nassau, cap
tured the city of Metz, and the printers
fled. The art now spread into different
cities of Europe, and was introduced into
Paris in 1470, and into London in 1474.
Before the year 1900 there were presses at
work in 800 places in Europe and multi
tude of Greek and Latin classics were Civ
en- to the world. The first press introduced
in the United States was at Cambridge,
Mass, in 1889.
The carly presses were very simple and
only capable of printing four pages at one
time and that only at two pulls but they
continued in use, with little improve ent,
into the 18th century.
i,
finely ground and very thin. The early
black and red inks were of the most excel
lent character, equal to any now made. The
black ink was OF a remarkably rich color,
and at this day looks as perfect as it did
centuries ago. Editions were very small
200 or 800 copies being considered en-
traordinary. In those days printers made
their own type. The British star chamber,
however, decreed in 1887 that type found
ing was distinct art, and appointed four
founders to supply the printers of the realm
From that time until the 18th century the
mechanical execution of printing very
much deteriorated, and was afterwards
first improved by one John Baskerville,
japanner of Birmingham. The art conuin-
ued to be advanced by Bulmer, whose
Shakespeare and Milton are among the
most splendid specimens of Typography
ever executed. During the present centu-
ry great variety of type has been intro
duced, differing in sizes, shapes and shades.
A complete assortment of one size is called
a font and consists Of three complete al
phabets Capitals, small capitals and '.Ro-
mans" or lower case) making rs characters.
The dipthongs, figures, marks of punctua-
ton, &C., swell the number of characters
to 1879. Besides these, there are used be-
tween words, or at ends of lines, &C., four
sizes of spaces and four Of quadrats: tie
former and the smallest of the latter l,eing
Subdivisions of the letter III or square Of
the size OF the type-one equal to it and
the other two multiples of it; making al
together 1877 sorts. To every complete font
there should also be suite of accented
and long and short vowels, &c making 40
to 100 additional sorts. There are other
characters only required on special occa
sions, as astronomical and mathematical