162 



PRINTING. 



IntroTliic- 

 tion of 

 printing 

 into Eng- 

 land. 

 William 

 Caxton. 



Printing. Having thus traced the progress of printing in dif- 

 S^v^' ferent parts of the world, we must now endeavour to 

 ascertain its introduction into Britain. That William 

 Caxton, who established a press in Westminster Abbey 

 in 1471, was the first printer in England, was univer- 

 sally believed until about a hundred and fifty years ego, 

 when a small work was discovered in the public library 

 of Cambridge, printed at Oxford in 1 468. Of this 

 work, which consists of 4-1 quarto leaves, the title is 

 Exposilio Sancti Jeronimi in Simbahnn Apostotorum ad 

 Popam Laurent turn ; and at the end the date is expli- 

 citly given, Imprexsa Oxonii, ei Jtnita Anno Domini 

 M.CCCC.LXVIII. xvn. die Decemkris. The genuineness 

 of this date is authenticated by a curious document, 

 which, till the middle of the 17th century, had lain ob- 

 scure and unknown in the register of the see of Can- 

 terbury, and which was given to the world in 1664 by 

 Atkyns in " The Original and Growth of Printing." 

 In this document it is mentioned, that a report of the 

 invention of printing having reached England, Henry 

 VI. at the suggestion of Bourchier, archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, anxious to obtain for his subjects the advan- 

 tages of this art, appointed Robert Tourner (who took 

 with him William Caxton) to go to Holland to procure 

 a " printing mould :" that Frederick Corsellis, one of 

 the under printers at Harlaem, was either bribed or 

 forced to leave his former master, and remove to Eng- 

 land : that Corsellis, who brought with him some types, 

 was established at Oxford ; but that as Oxford was 

 found to be too far distant from London, a press was 

 set up at St. Albans, and another soon after at West- 

 minster. Such is the evidence upon which Caxton 

 has been of late years denied the distinction he had so 

 long enjoyed. That it is conclusive we will not pre- 

 tend to determine. Most writers, as Anthony Wood, 

 Maittaire, Palmer, &c. have been convinced by it; 

 while Dr. Middleton has endeavoured to show that it 

 is unsatisfactory and doubtful. But though we allow 

 it to be decisive, (at least it is impossible to establish 

 the contrary,) the fame of Caxton is but very slender- 

 ly affected by it. For though priority in point of time 

 be granted to Corsellis, yet that printer, and. those whom 

 he instructed, used nothing but separate wooden types 

 similar to those of Laurentius at Harlaem ; and Cax- 

 ton possesses the honour of having been the first that 

 introduced the use of metal types as invented at Mentz, 

 and of otherwise bringing the art to great perfection in 

 England. The first book that Caxton printed was a 

 translation of the JEneid, written by himself, and en- 

 titled The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troye. He pub- 

 lished a great number of works ; among others an edi- 

 tion of ^Esop's Fables, a copy of which is still preserved 

 in the Bodleian library, regarded as the first that had 

 its leaves numbered. Caxton is entitled to commemo- 

 ration, both on account of his eminence as a scholar 

 and a printer, and of his integrity and worth as a man. 

 His master Robert Large, a mercer in London, with 

 whom Caxton served his apprenticeship, entertained so 

 great a respect for him, that he left him a legacy at his 

 death. After his master's death (1441) he spent the 

 subsequent thirty years on the Continent in the busi- 

 ness of merchandise, and in the cultivation of his mind, 

 naturally vigorous and inquisitive. And it may be 



mentioned, as a proof of the respectability of his cha- Printing, 

 racter, that he was employed by Edward IV. jointly ^-"-v^-' 

 with Richard Whitehall, Esq. to transact and conclude 

 a treaty of commerce between that monarch and his 

 brother-in-law the Duke of Burgundy. It is gratify- 

 ing to know, that, on his return to England, he met 

 with the honour and notice he deserved. Most of his 

 works are inscribed either to the king or to some of 

 the royal family ; and he enjoyed the friendship of the 

 nobility and eminent men of his day. He attained to 

 a very venerable old age ; for though so early as the 

 year 1471, he complained that " myn hande is wery 

 and myn eyen dimmed with overrnoche lokyng on the 

 whit paper, and that age crepeth on me dayly," he yet 

 survived that period twenty years, and died in 1491. 

 He was succeeded by Richard Pynson and Wynkin de 

 Worde, two of his principal workmen. John Letton 

 and William Machlinia had indeed settled as printers 

 in London before his death ; but neither they nor any 

 for many generations rivalled the fame and success of 

 Caxton. The art, however, was patronized, and nou- 

 rished in no ordinary degree; and in the reign of 

 Henry VII. and his successor, English printers, we are 

 told, had become " so skilful, as to print books as well 

 as any beyond the seas." 



Printing was not introduced into Scotland till up- introduc- 

 wards of thirty years after Caxton had settled in Lon- tion of the 

 don. The first Scottish printers were Walter Chap- art into 

 man, a merchant in Edinburgh, and Andrew Millar, a Scoll and. 

 mere workman, who, in consequence of a patent from 

 James IV. established a press at Edinburgh in 1507. 

 " In 1508," says Dr. Irving, " they are known to have 

 printed various pamphlets; a collection of which may 

 be found in the Advocates Library. The first volume 

 of the Breviarium Aberdonense issued from their press 

 in 150.9; the second in 1510. Of this very rare book, 

 a complete and well-preserved copy belongs to the 

 library of the university of Edinburgh. The esta- 

 blishment of printing presses in the other principal 

 towns of Scotland cannot so easily be traced. Knox's 

 Faythfull Admonition unlo the Professours of God's 

 Trulhe in England was, if we may credit the title-- 

 page, printed at Kalykow or Kelso. This work ap- 

 peared in 1554. Aberdeen, the seat of a university, 

 could not boast of a printing-press till a much later pe- 

 riod. In the colophon of a poem (1635) on the death 

 of Bishop Forbes, Edward Raban styles himself Mas- 

 ter printer, the Jirst in Aberdene." But though print- 

 ing was thus established in Scotland, many of our most 

 eminent Scottish productions were printed on the Con- 

 tinent ; as for example, those of Mair, Boethius, and 

 Bishop Lesley. Scotland, however, had the honour 

 of ushering into the world two of the most celebrated 

 and classical works of which modern literature can 

 boast, De Jure Regni apud Scolos, written by Bucha- 

 nan, and the History of Scolland by the same illustri- 

 ous author. 



Neither Chapman and Millar, nor any of their suc 

 cessors for many ages, were distinguished, like many of 

 the printers of that period, for literary attainments. 

 " At the commencement of the seventeenth century," 

 says Mr. Chalmers, " the printers of Edinburgh were 

 generally booksellers, who, having acquired some 



quently added on the title-page the name of the corrector to their own. The first letter of a chapter was often not printed, but a blank 

 left, that it might be painted or illuminated according to the taste of the purchaser. Books of all kinds, particularly prayer-books, were 

 embellished with cuts, often inappropriate or ludicrous, but 'always executed in an elegant style. A work on natural history is mention- 

 ed, in which the Deity is represented as reading on the seventh day, when he rested from all his works. ( Vide the works of Palmer. 

 Maittaire, &c.) 



