PRINTING 



409 



(Henry Cotton's Typographical Gazetteer, 3d ed. 

 Oxford, 1852-66). 



Printing was brought to England in 1476 or 1477 

 by William Caxtpn (q.v.), who set up his office 

 within the 'precincts of Westminster Abbey 

 but not within the sacred building itself, as often 

 erroneously stated. See William Blades's Bio- 

 graphy and Typography of William Caxton (2d 

 ed. Lond. 1882). The first hundred years of the 

 history of printing in England was a period of 

 great activity. In 1478 printing was done at 

 Oxford by Theo. Rood ; in 1480 at St Albans by 

 an unidentified printer now called ' the School- 

 master;' in the same year in the city of London 

 by Lettou ; in 1521 at Cambridge by Siberch. 

 When the art had spread throughout the country, 

 when education l>ecame more common, and men 

 began to read about the questions and events of 

 the day, it began to be seen by the authorities and 

 rulers that a mighty power for good or evil had 

 arisen in the land. Then it was deemed necessary 

 to regulate the press. In 1530 censorship was 

 established in England. It ushered in a period of 

 lamentable decadence in the quality and quantity 

 of the printing done. Printers were cruelly 

 punished, especially during the existence of the 

 unconstitutional Star-chamber (q.v.). Oppressed, 

 abused, and often imprisoned, printers lost all 

 enterprise and all social position. For many years 

 there were no good printers at all. Censorship 

 was abandoned in 1694. Then began a period of 

 revival, greatly aided by the improvements in type- 

 founding in the middle of the 18th century, and 

 the prevalence of the ' Bibliomania ' towards its 

 close. The 19th century has been one of marvel- 

 Jons development, following the invention in 1814 

 of the steam printing-press. 



It is believed that printing was introduced into 

 Scotland in 1507. A patent has been discovered, 

 of King James IV., which shows that a printing- 

 press was established at Edinburgh during the 

 year named. This patent was granted to two 

 burgesses of the city of Edinburgh Walter Chep- 

 inan, a capitalist and speculator, and Andrew 

 Myllar, a bookseller who had learned in France 

 the art of printing. The 'prent and expert men" 

 to use the press came from France. The office was 

 in the Southgnit, now the Cowgate. * As early as 

 1508 several small publications were issued. After 

 these came the great work for which the press was 

 ostensibly established the 'Aberdeen Breviary,' 

 in two volumes, forming 1554 pages of small type. 

 It was intended to l>ecome the standard Scottish 

 service-book. Myllar was probably dead when 

 it was completed, and with its publication Chep- 

 . man's connection with typography came to an 

 end. For many years subsequently all works of 

 Scottish authors were printed in France. The 

 next printer was Thomas Davidson, a practical 

 man who in 1541 was chosen to print acts of the 

 parliament of James V., which placed him in the 

 position of king's printer. It is not necessary to 

 catalogue the names or the works of his immediate 

 successors. Up to 1600 the average workmanship 

 of the Scottish printers was alx>ut as bail in quality 

 as that of their later successors has been di.stin- 

 giii.slnMl for its beauty, excellence, and accuracy. 

 This is not the only noteworthy feature of early 

 Scottish typography. The printers were astonish- 

 ingly few in number ; during 150 years after the 

 introduction of the art there were only about a 

 dozen master printers who were natives. During 

 the first hundred years only twenty-five different 

 works are known to have leen printed in Scotland. 

 See R. Dickson and J. P. Edmond, Annals of Scot - 

 tih Printing from the Introduction of the Art to 

 the. Beginning of the. 17th Century (4to, Cambridge, 

 1890) a most exhaustive and trustworthy book. 



The first printing-press set up in America was 

 introduced by the viceroy of Mexico, Antonio de 

 Meudoza, and the first book printed by it in the 

 New World was La Escala de S. Juan Climaco 

 (1536). The earliest press in the British- American 

 colonies was brought over for Harvard College in 

 1638. The Bay Psalm Book (1640; see ELIOT, 

 JOHN) was its first important work ; but in 1639 it 

 printed the Freeman's Oath and an almanac. The 

 first press in Philadelphia was set up in 1685, in 

 New York in 1693. See I. Thomas, History of 

 Printing in America (2d ed. Albany, 1874). 



The practical art of letterpress printing consists 

 essentially in coating certain relief surfaces with 

 printing-ink, and then transferring that ink to the 

 fabric, such as paper. The relief surface may be a 

 forme of movable types or an engraved design cut 

 in wood or metal, or a block cast or electrotyped 

 from the type or the engraving ; and the impressing 

 is effected by the press or machine presently to be 

 described. 



Types are cut, cast, or otherwise formed from 

 various materials, though the printer recognises 

 only two kinds wooden ones, which are cut to form 

 the larger letters used in placards, and metal ones. 

 All books and newspapers and the great bulk of 

 jobbing are done from the last named (see TYPES). 



A complete assortment of type of any one par- 

 ticular style is called a ' fount, and may vary in 

 amount to any extent, according as it may be re- 

 quired in large or small quantities. The in- 

 dividual type is a piece of metal about 1 inch 

 lonj,' with a letter, point, comma, or other 

 printing device cut in relief on one end as 

 shown in fig. 1. The notch shown on one 

 side is to enable the compositor to place it 

 right side up when 'setting' without the 

 trouble of looking at the letter. The differ- 

 ent founts are arranged in one or more pairs 

 of -ruses,' a 'lower' and 'upper' case, the 

 former holding the small letters ( technically g . 

 called 'lower case' letters in consequence), A IJT 6 - 

 figures, commas and points, spaces to put 

 between the words, 'quads,' &c. The upper case 

 holds the capitals, small capitals, and the less 

 often used ' sorts. ' 



The cases, wooden trays divided into ' boxes ' by 



Upper Case. 



Lower Case. 

 Fig. 2. Cases. 



thin slips of wood, are shown diagrammatically in 

 fig. 2. The lower case is arranged not alphabeti- 

 cally, but so that the letters most used will be 

 nearest the compositor's hand and have the largest 



