rixii. 



: i 



vMtion to the production of bible* and prayer-book* fur the 

 -3iijiJl u< Cambridge. One of the difficultie* to be eneount. 

 inUudociiou of Uu* innovation wat tin- prejudice and oppo- 



: j, who. by the artful production of errors ii> the fonua 

 rendered the <.asU *o incorrect a* to bring them into discredit 

 Tho' chrtuo vat alndood by the University, and mont of the plate* 

 were deetruTod. A battered and otherwi*e imperfect ipeciiiifii. which 

 emued the melting-pot, U printed in Hauaard'* Typographia 

 out plates for a few other work*, one of which wa* an edition of 

 Sallust, in IMUO, which, acoording to hi* *on and daughter, wa 

 execuU-d in ll'M, though H<idg>n *ay* that he never *aw a copy dated 

 rarlu-r than 17*'.', and that the edition OOCDinonly bean the date 1744. 

 lu lUvlgtonVEasay a page of this work i* reprinted, which i* a far 

 better specimen of stereotyping than that given by Hansard. Thin 

 . had been previously printed in the tenth volume of the 

 I'lulotophical Magazine,' u about a quarter of nn inch thick. 



About the jmr 1780, Mr. Tilloch, editor of the ' Philosophical 

 Magazine,' conceived the possibility of founding whole page* ; he being 

 at that time unacquainted with the prior experiment* of On I. He 

 communicated hi* idea to l-'ouli.v printer to tin- iimver.iiy of Ulaagow ; 

 and thoy jointly produced several works ; *ome of which were circu- 

 lated without any intimation of the process by which tip 

 printed. Hodgson give* very good specimens of their work. Finding 

 some inconvenience in the use of blocks of wood for mounting the 

 plates, in order to raise them to the same height as ty|>o, these experi- 

 mentalists tried block* of trass, having sliU through which small 

 crews might pass to secure the stereotype plates; the screws Wing 

 fastened by nut* on the under side of the brass mount*. In order to 

 bed toe plate* a* evenly a* possible, whether the mount were of brass 

 or wood, they interposed a layer of cement between the plate and the 

 mount. In the Utter case the thickness and level were adjusted by 

 planing the back or under side of the wood ; and in the former by 

 warming the mount, and then placing it, with the plate, into a ureas, 

 and squeezing out the superfluous cement. An account of the 

 experiment* of Tilloch and Foulis was published in the tenth volume 

 of the ' Philosophical Magazine.' Satisfactory as they were, they did 

 not immediately lead to the adoption of stereotype printing. 



Towards the latter end of the 13th century, many projects were 

 brought forward in France for multiplying engraved blocks or forms 

 of type by processes more or less resembling that of stereotyping, 

 under the name* of polytype, stereotype, *c. In some of these, the 

 form was imitated by striking upon a mass of soft metal in a state 

 intermediate between perfect fusion and perfect solidity, on the prin- 

 ciple of the process now practised in France under the name of 

 Hichagt. The extensive issue* of assignats by the revolutionary 

 government gave an impulse to such schemes, of which many were 

 devised, and some were brought into operation, in order to render the 

 aaugnats more difficult of imitation. In 1793 a stereotype edition of 

 Virgil was published by the Didots and M. Herman ; and it appears 

 frum Hodgson that, before the close of the century, the wood-engravers 

 of Pari* sold metal cant* of their wood-cut*. 



Some of the early experiments of Senvf elder, the inventor of litho- 

 graphy [SKXETKLDKB, in Bioo. Drv.], were directed to the discovery of 

 a means of stereotyping by which he might be enabled to print his 

 own works with a very small stock of type. He formed a composition 

 of clay, fine tand, flour, and pulverised charcoal, mixed with a little 

 water, and kneaded a* stiff as possible ; and with this paste he mode a 

 loould from a page of types, which became, in a quarter of an hour, 

 so hard that he could take a very perfect cast from it in melted sealing- 

 wax, by mean* of a hand-press. He states that, by mixing a little 

 pulverised plaster of Paris with the sealing-wax, the stereotype plates 

 thus produced were much harder than the common type-metal of lead 

 and antimony. The want of pecuniary means for carrying on this 

 project led him to abandon it, and to contrive a plan for printing from 

 tone. Another ingenious proposal which may be here mentioned, is 

 that of Profeasor Wilson, of Glasgow, who, in 17'.'7, ill-vised a method 

 of multiplying engraved block* or plates by stereotype, or rather poly- 

 type, impressions, in glass or enamel, which, it was anticipated, would 

 prove very durable, and might be applied with advantage to the prc- 

 11 of forgery. Hodgson give* specimens of two cast* of small 

 wood-cut* produced in this manner. 



The revival and introduction into common use of the stereotyping 

 proons i*, in a great measure, due to the exertions of Karl Stanhope, 

 about the commencement of the present century. Mr. Tilloch com- 

 municated to him the result of his experiment*, and Foulis, who, as 

 before stated, had been associated with Tilloch, assisted in the trials 

 made at hi* lordship's seat at Chevening, in Kent Andrew Wilson 

 also wa* connected with Unite operations, and exerted himself much 

 to introduce the process. The latter individual, who received a gold 

 medal from the Society of ArU in IMo, for his " great skill and 

 exertion* in stereotype printing," produced several important stereo- 

 typed works, <>f which Hodgson considers his edition of Walker's 

 'Pronouncing Dictionary,' executed in 1809, to be the best. A speci- 

 men of hi* work, which wa* printed in the 28th volume of the 

 ' Transaction* ' of the Society of Art* (pp. 323-4), shows that he wa* 

 then able to produce very good casting from type u small a* Nonpareil 

 and Pearl. In 1803 or 1804 the process which bad been perfected at 

 Chevening wan communicated to the university of Cambridge, and 



idiortly afterward* to that of Oxford; but the first work printed in 

 this way at the former place did not appear until 1807, and 1809 is the 

 date of the earliest stereotyped book issued at Oxford. 



In setting-up a form Intended for stereotyping from, the ipaett, or 

 hort piece* of nii-Ul l.y which the words are Mparated from each 

 other, and the tiuailralt, or larger apace* by which blank lines ar 

 up, are cast higher than usual. The typo* are set up and fonm-<l into 

 page* in the uaual manner, with the illustrative wood cuts, if tl 

 any ; but, instead of those page* being arranged into a form of suffi- 

 cient *ize to print a whole sheet, each page, if large, or every 

 four page*, if small, i* separately locked up in a small frame or rluue ; 

 the page* being surrounded by fillets of wood or metal, which < 

 the cant to form a border for attaching the plate to its mount. The 

 face of the type* is then moistened with oil, to prevent the mould 

 from adhering to them. A bran frame, rather larger than the page, 

 is hud upon the chase, in order to retain the plaster while in a lluid 

 state, and to regulate the thi. km--* of the mould. The plaster i 

 poured on the types, and it soon sets into a solid mass, which must be 

 .1 from the types with great care, and trimmed on the edge* 

 with a knife. The plaster moulds are, in the next place, baked in an 

 oven heated to about 40o" Fahr , until thoroughly dry and hard. Tin -y 

 are placed upright in a rock, and are usually dried in about two hours. 

 Ureat care in required in this process, especially when the moulds ore 

 large, to prevent them from warping. 



After being baked, the mould la placed, with its face downwards, 

 upon a smooth plate of iron, called a jl- it the 



bottom of a cist-iron box rather larger than the mould. The I /x is 

 then covered in by a lid, the under surface of which is made perfectly 

 fiat, and which has the corners cut off, to allow the melted i 

 enter the box. The cover is firmly held down by a Hcre.v, v>' 

 attached to on apparatus by which the box is suspended from :i 

 It should be observed that the casting-box and plate are heated to the 

 same temperature as the mould, before it is inserted. The box is 

 then swung by the crane over the metal-pit, which is an open iron 

 vessel containing a large quantity of melted metal, resembling in its 

 composition that used for casting types ; and it is lowered into the 

 metal in a nearly horizontal position, being a very little incln 

 facilitate the escape of air from the mould and box. The melted 

 metal runs in at the corners of the box; and, by its great < r specitic 

 gravity, floats up the plate with the mould, forcing the hitter tightly 

 against the lid of the box. By this contrivance the metal is forced, l>y 

 hydrostatic pressure, into every part of the mould, in the margin of 

 which notches are cut to allow free passage for the metal betv. 

 and the floating-plate. After remaining immersed in the metal for 

 about ten minutes, the box is gently raised, and removed by the crane 

 to a trough in which its lower part is rapidly cooled by contact with 

 cold water. While the box is cooling, the caster pours in a little 

 metal at the corners, to fill the space left by the contraction of the 

 metal, and so to keep up the necessary pressure upon the cant. When 

 cold, the contents of the box are removed in a mass, from which the 

 superfluous metal is broken off by blows from a mallet. The plaster 

 mould is then broken away from the cast, the face of which is a fac- 

 simile of the types and engravings from which the mould was taken. 

 As the mould is destroyed by this process, it is necessary, when 

 several stereotype plates of the same page are required, to take a 

 distinct plaster mould for each. 



Another plan, which has been tried for the production of stereotype 

 plates too large for casting in the ordinary way, but. which has not 

 proved very successful, is to place the mould in a flat iron box, having 

 a trough-shaped mouth at one end, and to pour in the metal with the 

 mould-box, which must be previously heated, in an inclined position. 

 The method of striking the moulds, and from them the plates them- 

 selves, by letting the original or pattern types or blocks fall upon a 

 moes of soft metal in a half melted state, is practised in Franco, and 

 has been repeatedly tried in this country; it in especially adapt- 

 the production of copies of wood engravings, but it is very liable to 

 injure a delicately engraved block. In this, as in the ordinary casting 

 process, the original engraved blocks should be smeared with some 

 substance that may prevent the cast from adhering to them. 



A process of stereotyping, which was rt in attaining its 



present practical efficiency, lias been introduced from Paris. On 

 receiving the type, moistened sheet* of unsized tissue paper are laid 

 over it, one above the other, to the number of six or seven, slightly 

 pasted together, and upon these is laid a stouter paper; the whole- 

 is then struck with a large flat brush till the softened paper has 

 received a perfect impression of the type. This being done, tin 

 is removed, placed upon a hot iron table, a blanket laid o<. 

 and screwed down moderately tight, in order to harden it and extract 

 the moisture. The whole operation (paper having been prepared l.j 

 wetting a few hours in advance) occupies less than an hour. From 

 this mould a stereotype cost can be taken by merely pouring in the 

 molten metal on it when placed in a receptacle, in which a simple 

 contrivance at once regulates the thickness and the size of tl.- 

 - that is, how much or how little margin is loft outside the type 

 purpose of fastening it to the blocks. A couple of hours suffices for 

 the whole process ; and it is now adopted upon several newspapers 

 and other publications of large circulation, aa many casts con bo 

 taken from on,.- mould. A plurality of machines or presses are 



