158 



PRINTING. 



Fiinting. 

 Definition. 



Printing 

 known in 

 China at a 

 very early 



date. 



Invention 

 in Europe. 



Claimed by 

 three cities. 



c.'Iriims of 

 Harlaem. 



PRINTING, a term susceptible }>f several slight 

 shades of meaning, is used in this article as denoting 

 the art of making impressions of figures, characters, 

 letters, with ink, upon paper, vellum, or any similar 

 substance; or, in other words, as expressing that me- 

 chanical process by which any piece of literary com- 

 poskfon, written in any language or dialect, is con- 

 verted into a book by means of types, ink, paper, &c. 



This art, though unknown in Europe till towards 

 the middle of the fifteenth century, was practised in 

 China at an extremely remote period. The Chinese 

 mode of printing, however, as explained below, * 

 was considerably different from that used by Euro- 

 peans. It was indeed characterized by almost insu- 

 perable disadvantages. Yet that country, while Eu- 

 rope was'involv. d in the ignorance and barbarism by 

 which the middle ages were distinguished, had the 

 honour of exercising an art, which presupposes no 

 mean degree of refinement, and which, more than any 

 other circumstance, has the effect of promoting the 

 progress of literature and liberal knowledge. At what 

 period printing was invented in China, it is impos- 

 sible to ascertain. This invention has been ascribed 

 by some writers to an age prior to the tinie of our 

 Saviour ; others have referred it to an era somewhat 

 less remote ; but. amid the diversity of opinion, it 

 seems to be denied by none, that it was fully establish- 

 ed early in the tenih century, five hundred years ere 

 it had. in the slightest degree, been contemplated in 

 Europe. 



But printing, though thus early known in China, 

 was not introduced thence into Europe. The Euro- 

 peans had the honour of inventing this art for them- 

 selves, ere the passage to the East by the Cape of Good 

 Hope was discovered, and of course ere they had any 

 knowledge even of the existence of that distant country. 

 This fact none ha* wntured to call in question ; but 

 the circumstances connected with the origin of print- 

 ing in Europe cannot be so satisfactorily explained. 

 Three cities, Harlaem, Mentz, and Strasburg, have 

 severally laid claim to this distinction. Each of them 

 can produce a greater or less body of evidence ; but 

 which of them is supported in the most conclusive 

 manner, it has not hitherto been found very easy to 

 determine. Our opinion is decidedly *in favour of 

 Harlaem ; yet it must not be denied that the cause of 

 the other two cities respectively have been warmly 

 espoused by various distinguished writers, and that 

 one of them, (Mentz) if not entitled to the honour of 

 the invention, contributed not a little to the progress 

 and perfection of the art. In the present article, we 

 shall state impartially the prominent facts in support 

 of the different places, without bringing forward all 

 the minute and frivolous statements and objections 

 with which this investigation has been needlessly en- 

 cumbered. 



The claims of Harlaem deserve to be first consider- 

 ed. That Laurentius Coster of that city (so called 

 from his father's holding the office of Custos of the 

 cathedral) was the inventor of the art of printing, is 



supported by evidence that no candid inquirer can Printing, 

 resist. The first celebrated writer wh;> (in 1588) es- -v~ 

 poused the cause of Laurent ius, was Hadrian Junius, 

 an author of authenticity, whose narrative is given on 

 the authority of two respectable persons, Nicohius 

 Galius, and Quit-inns Talesius. Talesius, amanuensis 

 to the great Erasmus, and a very eminent citizen of 

 Harlaem, had every opportunity of acquiring an 

 exact knowledge of the art in question, as he was ac- 

 quainted with the descendants of Laureutiu?, and as 

 he must have known many of the contemporaries and 

 friends of that celebrated individual. Galius, who 

 was the teacher of Junius, substantiates his account 

 by the testimony of Cornelius, formerly servant to 

 LaurentiiiS; and afterwards bookbinder to the cathe- 

 dral. The work of Junius, -satisfactory as it is, is not 

 however unsupported by other writers. Mr. Meer- 

 man of Rotterdam, in particular, who has followed 

 him in the same line of investigation, has fully corro- 

 borated his opinion ; and from the many important 

 facts Mr. Meerman has elicited, and from the speci- 

 mens he has given of the rude typography of Lauren- 

 tius, bis Origines Typographicae cannot fail to interest 

 the curious reader. Nor do these writers stand alone. 

 The claims of Laurentius had been acquiesced in and 

 enforced, even before the time of Jivnius, by various 

 writers, by Zurenus, Coomhertius, Pantaleon, Guic- 

 ciardini, Ulrig Zell. The testimony of Zell is pecu- 

 liarly valuable ; for though, being a German, he must 

 have felt inclined to ascribe, if possible, the honour 

 of this invention to Mentz, he yet had the candour to 

 give his opinion in favour of Harlaem. From the 

 foregoing statements, and various others as satisfac- 

 tory might be adduced, it is extremely probable, if not 

 absolutely certain, that Laurentius of Harlaem had 

 the honour of being 'the inventor of that art, the his- 

 tory of which we are endeavouring to trace, and which 

 has been productive of incalculable advantages to man- 

 kind. 



Inventions, fraught with the most important conse- 

 quences to the world, have as often been the result of 

 accident as of ingenuity. This remark is applicable 

 with peculiar emphasis to the art which we are now 

 contemplating. " Laurentius," says Junius, " walk- 

 ing in a wood near the city, began at first to cut some 

 letters upon the rhind of a beech-tree ; which, for 

 fancy's sake, being impressed on paper, he printed 

 one or two lines as -a specimen for his grandchildren 

 to follow. This having happily succeeded, he medi- 

 tated greater things (as he was a man of ingenuity and 

 judgment;) and first of all with his son-in-law, 

 Thomas Peter, invented a more glutinous writing ink, 

 because he found the common ink sunk and spread ; 

 and then formed whole pages of wood, with letters 

 cut upon them ; of which sort I have," continues Ju- 

 nius, " seen some essays in an anonymous work, 

 printed only on one side, entitled Speculum Nostrae 

 Salutis ; in which it is remarkable, that in the infancy 

 of printing, (as nothing is complete at its first inven- 

 tion) the back sides of the pages were pasted together 



* The Chinese mode of printing, which has undergone no essential alteration from the most distant periods, was as follows : They take 

 blocks of wood, firm, close, arid smooth, of the size and form of the page they mean to print ; on the one side, they glue a paper, on which 

 some able penman delineates the necessary letters and characters ; the wood in this state is put into the hands of a sculptor, who, following 

 with the proper instruments the outlines of the characters inscribed on the paper, cuts them out in relievo ; the paper is then gently ru'obed 

 off; and. the engraved tablet, thus prepared, is that by which their printing is executed. Of this plan, the disadvantages are manifest. 

 There muit be as many blocks as there are pages in a book : these blocks are not of the least use. in printing any other works ; and, besides, 

 the process is extvemdy tedious and expensive. In opposition to these disadvantages, however, the Chinese, it may be mentioned, require 

 no corrector of the press ; their books are uncommonly accuirate and beautiful ; and they are not required to throw off a whole edition at 

 once, but as they require them. Their paper and ink, however, being bad, their books soon decay, and nothing that deserves the name of 

 an old book can be found in all China. 



