Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-04-18
FIRST BOOK PRINTED
MEXICO CLAIMS THE HONOR FOR
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT.

The Success and the DISASTERS Tint
Attended the Establishment of
Printing Throughout the Vast EN-
tent of This Country.
The first printing press on the Ameri-
can continent was set up in the City of
Mexico in the sixteenth century. SO
much is known regarding the commence
ment of the art preseryative in the west
ern world, but when details are looked
for different accounts and conflicting
statements are found. One author claims
that the first Spanish yiceroy of Mexico,
Antonio de Mendoza, who went to that
country in 1885 and who was distin-
guished for his devotion to literature,
established n printing house some years
before 1851, and that the printer employ
ed by him, whose name was Joannes
Paulus Brissensius of Lombardus, a ma
tive Of Brescia, Italy, was the first man
to handle type in America. For a time
one of his books, folio volume executed
in 1910, was cited as the first book print
ed on this continent. Another and per
haps more correct version is that printing
was first established in Mexico by the
Spanish missionaries, and the fact seems
pices n book, one mutilated copy Of which
is still in existence in a private library in
Madrid, was printed in 1910 by Julian
Crombergcr, who died about 1914 and
who was in all probability the first print
er in America.
1t is quite certain that the printing
! press was actively employed in Mexico
/ in less than century after the new art
| became generally known in Europe and
! for nearly a century before printing
J press was introduced into the present
/ limits Of the United States. The second
| American city in which n printing office
was established was Lima, Peru, where
work designed to assist the priests in
the study of the language of the natives
| appeared in 1886
At Cambridge, Mass, as Isaiah Thom-
as asserts, in January, 1G39 printing was
first performed in that part of North
America which extends from the gulf OF
Mexico to the frozen ocean.
The beginning of the work of this first
printing office in our country was a sor-
rowful one. Rev. Jesse Glover, through
whose exertions the press had been Sc.
cured and who contributed largely to the
purchase, died upon his voyage to the
new world, and his sons had aftcrward
to sue their stepfather for the possession
of the press. This primitive establish
ment was subject to the authority OF
Cambridge college, the president Of
which was censor Of the press and re-
sponsible for all publications. until spe-
cial licensees were appointed by law in
1862, the press never being enfranchised
in Massachusetts until as late as 1855.
One Green became the second printer
In the United States. Three hundred
acres Of land were granted him in 1863.
but Mr.. Green, it would appear, could
not find n suitable location for his grant
until 1867, when it IS recorded that 300 |
acres of land were laid out to Ensign /
Samuel Green Of Cambridge, printer, in
the wilderness on the north of Merrimac /
river.
In 1863 an Indian boy taught at the |
charity school Of Cambridge to read and |,
write English was apprenticed to Samuel |
Green and took upon himself subsequent |
ly the name of James the Printer, or ]
James Printer. He printed Eliot's In |
dian Bible the first copy Of the sacred |
Testament made in this country. He |
rendered such efficient service on this
work that Eliot said he had but one
man, namely, the Indian printer, that
was able to compose the sheets and cor
rect the press with understanding" A
copy of the Indian Bible is to be seen in
the National museum.
The negro appears first in an American
printing Office under the direction Of one !
Thomas Fleet, who fed to this country
for refuge from the rage of an insensate
London mob. In Boston he established
printing house with the sign of the
Heart and Crown, and here his sons sue
ceeded him in the business, although with
the advent of antiroyal feeling the sign
was changed to the Heart and Bible.
Fleet owned several negroes, one Of
whom he taught not only to work the
special profit in printing small books for
children and popular ballads, and such
publications were rendered more at
tractive by the wood engravings cut for
them by the negro artist. Cesar and
Pompey, sons Of this negro, also became
printers and remained in the office of
their masters sons.
The first firmly established newspaper
in North America appeared in 17O4, but
full IA years previous to this date one
number of a newspaper had been pub
lished in Boston, which was instantly
suppressed by the authorities. To the
publisher, Richard Harris, this appears
to have been no novel experience, for he
had In his native land been fined for sell
Ing q Protestant petition during King
Charles reign and had also come to grief
through printing book with the reyolu-
tionary title of English Liberties" Be
sides, he was once set in the pillory, on
which occasion his wife is recorded to
have stood by him to defend him against
the attentions Of the mob.
. Boston was early distinguished as the
home Of letters. James Franklin, an
older brother of Benjamin, established in
1921 q periodical which he made the
organ of q company Of literary gentle
men whose common characteristic seems
to have been total disagreement with
each other. The object Of the journal
was ultra revolutionary in tendency, be-
ing generally to show the world the
events Of the day by assaulting all estab-
lished beliefs and conventional manners
and customs. Attacks were leyeled in
discriminatory at the British government,
the preachers and finally inoculation. The
aged Puritan minister, Increase Mather,
protested publicly against the iniquity of
the vile Courant and warned its sub
scribers against being "partakers in other
mems sins" James Franklin was put in
jail for a month and forbidden to print
or publish the Courant or any pamphlet
or paper Of the like nature except it be
first supervised, and ne was finally oblig-
ed to leave Boston, like his brother Ben
jamin, and journey to more liberal
minded community Washington Tins.