Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-04-29
HoW PRIINr1NG GIVE.

which contains, as CLAIMED by Mir.
George Smith, record Of the food.
The ancients frequently cut inscriptions
and records Of important events into
stones which formed their monuments
and temples. The brickmakers of AS
syria, Persia aud Egypt had their own
marks ipdanted into the clay with the
corner Of burnt brick 4 stylus, sharp
at one end and blunt at the other. male
and erased letters in tablets OF soft wax.
The Roman made kind of book by
binding together few wax-covered slips
Of wood.
We are much indebted for our knowl-
edge of the past to ink. Black ink WAS
sold like India ink, and made from
lampblack and glue The letters on the
papyrus OF parchment stood out in re-
lief. Occasionally, red and green inks
were employed. Emperors sometimes
signed in purple ink. This was OBJ
tanned from the beautiful morex, the
secretion at first being yellow, the light
changing it to variable violet. Cicero
says that an ink was made from the
liquid which the cuttle-fsh discharges
to darken the water, that it may escape
when pursued. Silver and gold ink
beautifed violet parchment. It is re-
ported that in Algiers the iron and gallo
acids of two rivers flow together, the
mixture forming veritable ink.
Nearly 5000 years ago block-books
were printed from engravings on wood,
by the Chinese and other Eastern ma
tons. The Chinese have no sign for
mere sound, but use symbol for each
word, and thus several thousand words
cut in wood were necessary. The Ger
mans claim the credit of introducing
printing, paper and newspapers into
Europe. They early printed playcards
and legends of the saints with wooden
blocks and plates, perforated with novel
designs. In the early part of the ff-
tenth century the block page was sep
arated into letters, which permitted any
arrangement similar to the IS, Is, IA
puzzle. This was very valuable in
vention, and is claimed for both John
Gutenberg, Of Strasburg, and Laurens
Roster, Of HARLEM, It is claimed in
1923, when Roster amused his children
one day in the woods by cutting their
names on the bark of trees, the idea
came of making separate block letters.
and thus the invention of movable type.
Guttenburg, his apprentice, assisted by
John Faust, used wine press in start
ing printing Office at Mentz in 1926.
Peter Schoffer, one of Guttenberg's
workmen, first cast metallic type, which
so cheapened books that the masses
began to buy them. Manuscript books,
which were often the work of lifetime,
could be owned only by the rich.
A punch and matrix or mold is re-
quired for every kind of metallic letter
or character employed in printing. Few
people have sufficient skill to cut in on
the end of little pieces of soft steel the
finely-proportioned letter. When the
die is finished and hardened a single
stroke stamps an impression in small
piece Of copper, which is made to fit
into the bottom of little box or frame.
Into the top of this mold is poured
melted type metal. This is lead, mixed
with anthony which hardens, and tin
and little copper which tougher.
When the alloy has cooled, the mold,
made in two parts, opens on a hinge,
and out drops new type. The grooves
in the bottom make them stand up erect.
and the nick in the side helps the com-
positor to tell when the pe is right
side up. The type wrall,. ( in papers,
each letter by itself, is now ready for
sale. A font of type, or enough for
printing, includes large and small capt.
tells, small tiers (more of the letter @
than any other, italics, figures and
punctuation marks, nearly 200 different
characters in all.
The sizes mostly used are plea, small
plea, long primer, bourgeois and BREWER.
Great primer was formerly used in the
largest old Bibles. Type smaller than
the brewer is called minion, nonpareil,
agate, pearl, diamond and brilliant Last
summer [ purchased in London an Ok
ford Bible, the smallest printed, contain
ing 1866, 480 letters. It is diamond
type; and is only four and a half inches
long, three inches wide. and about half
an inch thick the usual size of small
Testament.
The smallest book ever printed with
type is a microscopic edition called
"Little Dante" which was exhibited at
the Paris Exhibition. Its 500 tissue pages
contained the Il, 1913 verses of the "Di-
vina Commedia," and the whole volume
is only two inches long, one and three
eighth inches wide, and five-eighths of an
inch thick. The best magnifying-glass
was used by the type setter and proof
i l.