LI^'>fEAy SOCIETY OF LONDON. 2^ 



2. Early WorTcmansMp of W. Bense compared wltli iliat of 

 the Booklet dated 1849. 



The rough appearance of the booklet was referred to in last 

 year's address (|). 41), where Mr. Hart's opinion that it was the 

 work of an amateur is quoted, and where it is compared un- 

 favourably with the 1860 pamphlet. 



Sir George Warner wrote, August 7, 1913, after seeing the 

 booklet : — 



Apart from its really astonishing anticipation of modern theories and 

 discoveries, the only thing at alJ suspicious about the pamphlet is that it looks 

 almost too early and scrubby — in short, overdone, especially as it purports to 

 have been printed at Boston, which was not a primitive Western town, but the 

 literary centre of the States. Even if Bense was merely a printer in a small 

 way of business, one would have expected something better, and it is a pity 

 more of his work is not available for comparison. 



It has, fortunately, been possible to supply this want ; for 

 Mrs. Endicott, a daughter of the late Mr. W, Bense, kindly 

 seut to me on Nov. 4, 1913, two samples of her father's work 

 set up within a few years of 1849. One is the ' Annual Eeport 

 of the Selectmen of the Town of Canton' (1855); the other the 

 ' Massapoag Journal and Canton Observer' (vol. i. No. 12, 

 Oct. 9, 1852). Mr. Hart has kindly examined both of them, 

 and tells me that the type referred to on p. 25 is not to be fotnid 

 in either, although the journal is rich in the variety of its fotmts. 

 The workmanship of both is creditable, and bears no resemblance 

 to the rough and untidy print of the booklet. The comparison 

 affords strong evidence that the booklet was not printed by 

 Bense. 



Mrs. Endicott wrote in the accompanying letter : — 



My father thoroughly imderstood his business, and took pride and 

 pleasure in it. Ho served an apprenticeship in the old-fashioned way with 

 the well-established firm of Crocker and Brewster, continued with them 

 afterward as a journeyman, and ever since mj earliest recollection had his 

 own printing-otHce in Boston, and I suppose was in business for himself at 

 the time of his marriage. He must have had a proper outfit, too, for he made 

 a specialty of dainty work, dance orders, bills of fare for some of the largo 

 city hotels, and other work of that nature. 



Mr. Phinney, in his letter to Mr. Hart (p. 26), also stated that 

 "William Bense was an excellent printer." 



The copy of the ' Massapoag Journal' supplies evidence that 

 there were business relationships between W. Bense and G. W. 

 Sleeper ; for it contains a rather extensive advertisement of the 

 latter's " New England Tea Hong," at 130 Washington Street. 

 Eurtherniore, the last advertisement in the paper, that of the 

 printer, W. Bense, states that " orders may be left with E. & N. 

 Bent, at the Depot, or at 130 Washington Street, Over New 

 England Tea Hong, Boston." 



