The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1884-04-24
Early Type Eoun,iia:s and Wood Cut
ting,

The very earl:es, printers were prob.
ably their own tspe founders, and pos.
s.biy at Zines then, own wood cutters
too; but this cannot very long have been
the case. A man setting up n printing
press for the .first time usually started
with font of type which he had
bought from some already established
printer. Thus, Jacob Be!laert, al
Haarlem, bought type from Gerard
Leeu. at Gouda; Hugo Janszoen, at
Leyden, began printing with type and
cuts which had ro:ioy eeen almost
worn out by Be"cc-t 1T Haarlenl.
Many other instances Of a like kind
might be noted wh"e the type changed
hands, passing from printer in one
town to less prosperous workman in
another. So soon as ine new printer
had made lair Start he generally
? bought or made for him self an entirely
new font of type, which became the
characteristic of his press.
The early types, as we know, were
nothing bu: copies OF The careful writ
ing of the day; thus they varied ex-
,eedingly, and it is possible, without
much difficulty. 10 ret to knew almost
L i
possible TO group togethef-certain fonts
as possessing general characteristics
in common. and these viii usually be
seen TO belong 20 a-certain district or
period. The varieties in eaci group
may have arisen from various causes.
Some are due TO the necessity Of having
types of different sizes, some TO alter
ations found advisable TO avoid un-
necessary wear and tear; some were.
no doubt, made with a view TO greater
disunctness in the printing. One very
common kind is one of the most diff
cult to detect. A font Of type, we will
imagine, had been used till it began to
wear out. To save trouble in naolding
the dies for new set. the printer chose
cut an alphabet from the old ones, and
with knife trimmed The letters to
make them sharp and distinct, cutting
off a detail here and there, and gener-
ally making the outline somewhat thin
ner. From these he cast dies which
were used to strike off = fresi, set. The
font thus manufactured would closely
resemble its predecessors, differing
from it alone in details not readily per-
ceived. the relations existing bewcen
easy to discover. The French wood
cutters had from the very first adopted
a style completely different from that
either Of the Germans or Dutch. Their
blocks were ALWAYS much more uni
formly filled with even masses of care
1,il shadei there were no large spaces
lett Unoccupied and white on tie paper.
They we're far ahead of their contem-
poraries in neatn.ss and deXterity. but
there was little life in their work. As
a result, nothing great ever came from
them; but ali their early productions
are pleasing, and contrast agreeabiy
with the rude work Of their fore.gr con-
temporaries. Very few of their blocks
ever passed into Holland. In his later
years Gerard Leu constantly uses
set of cuts and borders which present a
marked ff--ence from anything he
had used before. Tney were clearly
intended for a prayer book, and the
complete series is found in one, but not
till after Leeu'S death. Each page of
the book was surrounded by grace
fully designed border, within which
either the text or the cuts could be
printed. The cuts were used separate
ty Ou HdIiy oCS'tSioi.S, otb- Tue series
was never divided, and after Lecu's
death it came compie.e into tie hands
of Liesveldt.
From origins so barba-;c. from essays
SO simple and imperf> CT. there nave
arisen the :uagnifi cent industries we
know. The pr:;i;sr:n,i he en rsvar iiava
come TO be III some sort the good scnii |
of the world %: art. Theirs i; IS 10 |
popularize what lhe artist has p-o-
duced-to bring within reach OF the
many that wien IS pri.na-tl,- acl.i>. c.i
for the delec:ation aal en;.cyil1n:. OF
the few. Deve.oped and perfected.
The rude craft of the nanlclcss masters
who worked for Leu and his fellow
traders has become L necessary of the
intellectual aid emotional i:fe OF civil
izcd humanty.-MaJazi'.e Of Art.