( 83 , 

 A SKETCH OF THE ART OF PRINTING. 



PRINTING took its rise about the middle of the fifteenth century, 

 and in the course of a few years reached that height of improvement 

 which is scarcely surpassed even in the present times. The invention 

 was at first rude and simple, consisting of whole pages carved on 

 blocks of wood, and only impressed on one side of the leaf; the next 

 step was the formation of moveable types in wood, and they were 

 afterwards cut in metal, and finally rendered more durable, regular, 

 and elegant, by being cast or founded. The consequence of this 

 happy and simple discovery, was a rapid series of improvements in 

 every art and science, and a general diffusion of knowledge among 

 all orders of society. Hitherto the tedious, uncertain, and expensive 

 mode of multiplying books by the hand of the copyist, had prin- 

 cipally confined the treasures of learning to monasteries, or to persons 

 of rank and fortune. Yet, even with all the advantages of wealth, 

 libraries were extremely scarce and scanty, and principally consisted 

 of books of devotion, and superstitious legends, or the sophistical dis- 

 quisitions of the schoolmen. An acquaintance with the Latin classics 

 was a rare qualification, and the Greek language was almost unknown 

 in Europe ; but the art of printing had scarcely become general, be- 

 fore it gave a new impulse to genius, and a new spirit to inquiry. 



The history of the origin of printing is involved in considerable 

 mystery. Much labour and learning have been spent, in order to 

 ascertain with certainty to whom we are indebted for the discovery ; 

 but after all the research, it still remains in obscurity, and at this ex- 

 tended period of time, it appears somewhat unnecessary to enter into 

 a controversy with the inhabitants of either Haarlem or Mentz, as to 

 their individual claim to the merit of that discovery. It is allowed 

 that, under Faust and Guttemberg, the process was nearly carried to 

 perfection ; for, about the year 1450, they printed an edition of the 

 Bible with metal types. According to circumstances, this edition of 

 the Bible was far from being a profitable speculation, as a dissolution 

 of partnership took place in 1455, after Faust obtained a verdict in a 

 law-court for the money which he had advanced to Guttemberg. 

 After the separation of Faust and Guttemberg, Schoeffer (a workman 

 of Faust's) privately cut matrices for the whole of the alphabet, which, 

 when he exhibited them to his master, Faust was so much delighted 

 with, that he gave Schoeffer his daughter in marriage. In compara- 

 tively a few years after the deaths of Faust, Guttemberg, and Schoef- 

 fer, the art may be said to have began to retrograde. 



The invention of printing in Germany, between the years 1430 

 and 1440, had facilitated the multiplication of books ; and though the 

 workmen at Haarlem, Strasburg, and Mentz were sworn to secresy, 

 and watched with jealous care, scarcely twenty years elapsed from 

 the establishment of Faust's presses, when every country in Europe 

 could boast of at least one printing-house. On the sacking of Mentz 

 by the Archbishop Adolphus, in the year 1462, the printers were all 

 dispersed, and the different workmen employed by Faust were scat- 



