The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1884-07-24
Early Type Founding and Wood Cot.
ting.

ting.
The very earliest printers were prob
ab. Y their own type fnun.iers, and pos
s1b': 1t times their Owu WOOd cutters
too; but this cannot very long baye been
the c=sc. A man setting up printing
press for the first time usually slsrtcs4
with. 4 font of type which he had
bought from some a'ready established
printer. Thus, Jacob Bcllaert, at
Haar!am. bought type frum Gerard
ieeu. at Goirin; Hugo Jsnszoen. nj
LeyGrn. began printing with type and
cuts which had already been almost
worn ont bv Belaert at Haariem.
Many other instances OF like kind
| M 4-tt bu noted whcrethe type changed
hahds. pas 'ing from printer in one
town to l''ss prosperous workman IN
another So soon as the new printer
had made Il fair s:art he generally
bongh, or made for himself an entirely
new font Of type, which became the
characteristic Of his press.
TIE ear.y types. AS we know. were
nothing hu: copies of the careful writ
ing Of the dar; thas they vnric ex-
:ee'lingly. and it is possible. without
much dEi :uity, 20 get to know almost
every font by SIGHT. II is then found
possible to group together certain fonts
as possessing general cilarac, eristics
in common. anl these will usually be
seen 10 heion. 10 Il certain district or
lperiO!. Phc varieties in each group
may have arisen irom virious C. uS.s.
Some are du.. 10 thc Necessity of having
ttypes Ct different siz,:s. some To alter
a;i'ns foun1 ;.t:viS:,J g 10 avoi,l un-
| necessary wear an, ieac; sem. were.
| 40 ;. n:;... ...t,." with & View 10 ere tter
aisiinctncs. IN the printing. Oae ,,rv
tco2Eon k;:,d Is one ". the most d Il
cui. TO Diet c.. \ font Of type, We viii
/ imagine, lad been r.sctl till il BEGAN 20
wear out. To save trouble i'll mOlsiing
the dies for a new SET the printer chose
| out I'm alphabet from the Old ones, and
with u 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 fresh set The
font thus manufactured would closely
resemble its predecessors differing
from it alone in details not readily per.
ceived. The relations existing beween
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
blOchs were always much more uni
fOrmiv flied with even MASSES of care
full shade; there were no large spaces
left un,ccupied and white on tie paper.
They were far aiis.a,i Of their cUntrnl-
pOraricS in 'a;n rs sud t!exter;ty, but
there wss little life in their work. As
result. nothing great ever came from
them; but ali their early productions
are p.ca$:nH. AID Contrast agrerab:v
with the ru,ic work ot their foreign con-
item ,.oi arics., Wy ;..w .,i their b.uc&s
ever passed i1,o HOLLAND. l., his i..c.
Your, q ,1ard E"eu constantly uses a
set OF ct:s "u,i DUr,lcrs wh.c:: present .
ma.'kc'i T. II renee from any. hing he
had used u..fore.. T,sy wurv clearly
intended fir prayer book. and the
com, .i..tc series is F,iind in one, but not
till after lr;v,,'s ,te:.;h.. Ia. /, page OF
the book WIS surruuii,ted by u grace
fully designed boz ier.. within which |
clthcr the text or the GUS ccuid be |
printed IN. cuts Were used separate
ly OH many Occasions. but the series !
was never div.,:cd. and after Lecu' !
d 'ath it came complete into :l.e hands |
of Licsreldt.-
From orig n, so bari,aric. from essays
so s.np:e aud im:,rgtcoL there have I
arisen the magn;fi cnt Industries we T
know Tine L.r.nte- and :hc en- raver have |
come 10 be- in >c,nu sort :h;, good ,enii 7
of the world OF art. Theirs Ii is TO
p''pniariZe what She ar;is. has pro +
d;,ued--:o oriag within reach of lii"
many shai w;'ich is r~.rnar:iv :.chieved
frr ;i,e d:i-c.a;io,i- an:l en,!owmen, OF [
the f,w. D.ve:opc,i and perirc:e.i, I
ifa ri,,ie craft Of :pc na;nr;c>s masters
wl.I wet:kt..l for L-..,, and his fellow
;raders has bc..o.Ie Il aecesSary of the +
intellectual and emo.uiiai i.fc of civil I
izcd man.iy.--I.tgGziac Of Dirt.