CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



in his History of Printing, says that the art was 

 introduced into Scotland from the Low Countries 

 by the priests who fled thither from the persecu- 

 tions at home. Be this as it may, we find James 

 IV. granting a patent, in 1507, to Walter Chap- 

 man, a merchant of Edinburgh, and Andrew 

 Mollar, a workman, to establish a press in that 

 city. According to bibliographers, the most ancient 

 specimen of printing in Scotland extant is a col- 

 lection entitled the Porteus of Nobleness, Edin- 

 burgh. In 1509, a Breviary of the Church of 

 Aberdeen was printed at Edinburgh ; and a second 

 part in the following year. Very few works, how- 

 ever, appear to have issued from the Scottish 

 press for the next thirty years; but from 1541, 

 the date from which we find James V. granting 

 licenses to print, the art has been pursued with 

 success in the metropolis. At present, and from 

 the beginning of the present century, it is perhaps 

 the most distinguished craft in the city, being 

 conducted in all its departments of typefounding, 

 printing, publishing, and, we may add, paper- 

 making at the mills in the vicinity. 



Printing was not known in Ireland till about 

 the year 1551, when a book in black-letter was 

 issued from a press in Dublin ; but till the year 

 1700, very little printing was executed in Ireland, 

 and even since that period, the country has acquired 

 little celebrity in this department of the arts, 

 although possessing some respectable printing 

 establishments. 



We shall now proceed to a description of the 

 art in its various branches, though without enter- 

 ing into the more minute and, what would be 

 tiresome, technical details of the profession. 



OF THE TYPES. 



Printers, in early times, made the letters which 

 they used, but in process of time the necessity for 

 a division of labour created the distinct trade of a 

 manufacturer of types, and it is only in rare 

 instances in the present day that printers supply 

 their own letter. The preparation of types re- 

 quires much delicacy and skill. The first step 

 in the process is the cutting of a punch or die, 

 resembling the required letter. The punch is of 

 hardened steel, with the figure of the letter cut, 

 the reverse way, upon its point. On this die 

 being finished, it is struck into a piece of copper, 

 about an inch and a quarter long, one-eighth of 

 an inch deep, and of a width proportionate to the 

 size of the type to be cast. This copper, being so 

 impressed with the representation of the letter, is 

 called the matrix. The matrix is now fixed into 

 a small instrument or frame, called the mould, 

 which is composed of two parts. The external 

 surface is of wood ; the internal, of steel At the 

 top is a shelving orifice, into which the metal is 

 poured. The space within is of the size of the 

 required body of the letter, and is made exceed- 

 ingly true. The melted metal, being poured into 

 this space, sinks down to the bottom into the 

 matrix, where it cools instantly, and the mould 

 being opened, the type is cast out by the work- 

 man. This process of casting types is executed 

 with great celerity. Of course, every separate letter 

 in the alphabet, every figure, point, or mark, must 

 have its own punch and matrix. In casting types, 



he lifts with a small ladle. Various alloys, used 

 in various proportions, are employed in different 

 type-foundries at the present day, the exact com- 

 binations being trade secrets. Lead, antimony, 

 and tin seem to be universal ingredients, while 

 copper is sometimes added. One composition, 

 which is especially hard, consists of fifty parts 

 lead, twenty-five of tin, and twenty-five of anti- 

 mony. 



Type is now largely cast by machinery ; the 

 following is the method adopted : The metal is 

 kept fluid by a little furnace underneath, and is 

 projected into the mould by a pump, the spout of 

 which is in front of the metal pot. The mould is 

 movable, and at every revolution of the crank in 

 the hand of the workman, it comes up to the 

 spout, receives a charge of metal, and flies back 

 with a fully formed type in its bosom ; the upper 

 half of the mould lifts, and out falls a type. Many 

 machines to cast type have been invented, but 

 those of the Patent Type-founding Company, 

 London, are considered to be the most perfect of 

 their kind. 



When the types are cast from the mould, they 

 are in a rough state, and go through a number of 

 hands, to be smoothed and finished, before they are 

 ready for use. Whatever be the size of the types, 

 they are all made of a uniform height, and must 

 be perfectly true in their angles, otherwise it would 

 be quite impossible to lock them together. A 

 single irregular type would derange a whole page. 

 The height of a type made in this country is f|ds 

 of an inch. All the types of one class of any 

 founder are always uniform in size and height ; 

 and to preserve their individuality, all the letters, 

 points, &c. belonging to one class, are distin- 

 guished by one or more notches or nicks on the 

 body of the type, which notches range evenly 

 when the types are set These nicks, as we shall 

 immediately see, are also exceedingly useful in 

 guiding the hand of the compositor. Types are 

 likewise all equally grooved in the bottom, to 

 make them stand steadily. 



The varieties of size of types in the present day 

 amount to forty or fifty, enlarging, by a progres- 

 sive scale, from the minutest used in printing 

 pocket Bibles, to the largest which is seen in 

 posting-bills on the streets. For very large post- 

 ing-bills, the types used are cut in wood. Printers 

 have a distinct name for each size of letter, and 

 use about sixteen sizes in different descriptions of 

 book-work ; the smallest is called Brilliant, the 

 next Diamond, and then follow in gradation 

 upwards, Pearl, Ruby, Nonpareil, Minion, Brevier, 

 Bourgeois, Long Primer, Small Pica, Pica, and 

 English. The larger sizes generally take their 

 names thus Two-line Pica, Two-line English, 

 Four, Six, Eight, or Ten Line Pica, &c. 



All kinds of types are sold by weight by the 

 founders, the price varying inversely according 

 to the size of the letter. The type used in the 

 present work, is of the size called Bourgeois, and 

 costs is. 5d. per Ib. Expensive as types thus are, 

 their prices will not appear too high, considering 

 the immense outlay in cutting the punches and 

 the general manufacture. In the Diamond size,. 

 2800 go to a single pound-weight of the letter /, 

 and of the thinnest space about 5000. 



A complete assortment of types is called a 



the founder stands at a table, and has beside him i \ fount, which may be regulated to any extent. 

 a small furnace and pot with heated metal, which [Every typefounder has a scale shewing the 



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