The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1884-07-24
Early Tyre Founding and Wood Gu
ting.

The very earliest printers were prob
ably their own type founders. and pos
sibly ut times their own wood cutters
too; but this cannot very long havo been
the case. A man setting up printing
press for the first iimo usually started
with font Of type which he had
bought from some already established
printer Thus, Jacob Nsllacrt, at
HSarlcm, bought typo from Gerard
Leu, at Gouds; hugo Janszocn, At
Leyden. began printing with type and
cuts which had already been almost
worn out by Bcllacrt ut Haarlen,.
Many other instances Of \ like kind
might no noted where the type changed
hands, passing from printer in ono
town to a loss prosperous workman in
another. 40 soon rs the new printer
had made n fair start h. generally
bought or made for himself an entirely
new font Of type. which became tho
characteristic Of his pr,ss.
The early types. ~ We know. were
nothing but copies of tho careful writ
ing Of tho day; thus thcy ysricd ex-
cccdingly. and it is possible. without
much difficulty. 10 get to know almost
every font by sight. 1t 10 then fouad
possible to group together certain fonts
40 possessing general characteristics
in common. and these will usually be
seen to belong TO certain district or
period. Tho varieties in each group
may have arisen from various causes.
Some are duo to the necessity Of having
types of different sizes. some to alter
atoms found advisable 10 avoid un-
necessary wear and tear; some were.
no doubt, made with view to greater
distnctness in tho printing. One very
common kind is one Of the most diff
cult to detect. A font Of type, wc will
imagine. had been used till t began to
woxr out. To save trouble in mOlding
tho dies for . new set tho printer chose
out an alphabet from the old ones, aud
with . knife trimmed the letters to
make them sharp and distinct, cutting
OF q detail here and there, and gcner.
ally making the outline somewhat thin
Nor. From these he cast dies which
were used to strike off fresh set The
font thus manufactured would closely
resemble It's predecessors, differing
from it alone in details not readily per-
ccivcd. The relations existing beweon
wood cutters and printers are not so
easy to discover. The French wood
cutters had from the very first adopted
. 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
full shade; there were no large spaces
left unoccupied and white on the paper.
They were far ahead of their cOnGo M
poraries in neatncss and dexterity, but
there was little life In their work. Ar
. result nothing great ever came from
them; but all their early productions
are pleasing. and contrast agreeably
with the rude work OF their foreign con-
temporaries. Very few Of thek blocks
ever passed into Holland. In his later
years Gerard Leu constantly uses Z
set of cuts and borders which present q
marked difference from anything he
had used before. They were clearly
intended for prayer book, and the
complete series Is found in one, but no,
till after Leeu's death. Each page Of
the book was surrounded by q grace
fully designed border. within which
either the text or the cuts could bt
printed. The cuts were used separate
~ ON many occasions. but the seric,
was never divided, aud after Lecu'i
death 1t came complete into tho hands
Of Liesvcldt.
From origins 50 barbaric, from essay
SO simple and imperfect, there hay,
arisen tho magnificent industries W.
know. The printer and the cngraver hav,
come to be In some sort tho good gent
Of the world OF art. Theirs it Is /,
popnlarize what the artist has pro
duced-to bring within reach Of tn,
many that which is primarily achieved
for the del.ctation and endowment o
the few. Developed and perfected
tho rude craft Of the nameless MASTER
who worked for Lceu aud his fellow
traders has become necessary Of tn,
intellectual and emotional life Of civil
lied humanity. Magazine Of Art.
Whau tina law far the Gradual man.