Eosecgarten.] ■"'-' [Ian. 4, 



letter. la 1487, Halin, a rival German printer, began printing in another 

 Roman letter, which also showed a preference for the Gothic form. The 

 first really good form of Roman, adopted everywhere to the suppression 

 of all others, was made by Jenson of Venice, and shown in his EuseUus 

 of 1470. Accepted by the educated, it was, however, rejected by the 

 common people, who were just beginning to buy books, and Jenson had 

 to print popular books in Gothic characters, and the most beautiful con- 

 temporary books of Paris, the Netherlands and England were in pointed 

 type. The first book printed in England iu Roman type was Henry YIII's 

 treatise, which secured for him the title of Defender of the Faith, so 

 printed by Pynson possibly in deference to Italian taste and in compli- 

 ment to the Pope. Aldus Manutius added a new style, the Italic, based 

 on a written style then popular with copyists. The Italic, first shown in 

 the 1501 Virgil, differed from modern Italic in several respects, notably in 

 the fact that the capitals are upright and stand apart from the text. 

 The Lyons founders, moved by the popularity of Italic, soon after pro- 

 duced the Cursiv Franq^ois or Cimlite, an unreadable letter. The disuse 

 of black letter iu France was largely due to Tory of Paris, and his 

 Champ Meuri of 1536. Caxton's type was distinctly Flemish, that 

 of his successors resembled the black letters of the printers of the day 

 of Paris and Rouen. Black letter maintained its popularity in Eng- 

 land and the Netherlands, after it had fallen into disuse in France. Eng- 

 lish printers had no type foundry until John Day established his, 1546-84, 

 and had to accept Dutch type with their mannerisms. English readers 

 showed a marked preference for black letter, and it was used in some of 

 the most popular books, such as the first edition (1525) of Tyndall's Neio 

 Testament, Coverdale's Bible (1535), Cranmer's Great Bible (1540), and 

 the authorized Prayer Books. In the reign of Roman Catholic Mary, 

 Roman was the proper text for books of devotion, but under Protestant 

 Elizabeth, Prayer Books in black letter had the preference. Fox's Acts 

 and Monuments (1560) was in black letter. Soon after the printers 

 evinced a partiality for Roman for English classics. The writings of 

 Shakespeare and Bacon appeared in Roman. Black letter was out ot 

 fiishion at the close of the sixteenth century." — Chambers' Encyc, s. v. 

 "Types." 



"The earliest known representation of a printing press is dated 1507, 

 and it pictures an apparatus which is little more than a modification of 

 the ancient wine press — hence the name." — do., s. v. "Printing," p. 410. 



Under the head of " Black Letter," Chambers' Encyc. says : " The first 

 types were copies of the letters in use in the middle of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury. Two sorts of letters were in use — Roman from the fifth to the close 

 of the twelfth century, when they gradually began to pass into what has 

 been called Gothic, which continued till the sixteenth century, when, in 

 most European countries, they were superseded by Roman letters. The 

 classic taste of Italy could not long tolerate Gothic, and it was modified 

 until it assumed the shape to which the name of Roman has since been 



