576 PKOTOTYPOGRAPHT. 



a little earlier, tlie thought did start up in one mind at least, as will 

 be narrated presently. The experiment was first made with wood. 

 Separate letters were carefully carved, each at the end of a small 

 block or stem, so shaped and trimmed as to fit in well with any of 

 its fellows. The small blocks were strung together, we are told, by 

 means of a strong thread passing through an eye or a hole deftly 

 made in each of them. The result was encouraging ; although the 

 impressions produced were rude and uneven, and moreover, use 

 speedily told upon the surface of the letter. Metal was thought of 

 as a substitute for wood. Lead, as being most easy to manipulate, 

 would of course be the first tried. Here again the efiect of use wa,s 

 almost instantly to be seen. Then copper and tin were employed. 

 with respectable results. But the shaping and finishing of each 

 letter by hand was tedious and costly. To save time and labour, 

 small separate blocks were now cast with the view of having a letter 

 cat in relief on the end of each ', to cast the stem and the letter 

 together in one piece was not yet proposed. Then came the idea of 

 converting the perfectly carved letter, with its stem or shank, into a 

 model, which, by being, forced into sand or clay, or other fitting 

 material, might form a mould, whence letters might be turned out at 

 once in a finished state. Thus far the scale on which the experiment 

 had been made was a limited one. A few sets of the alphabet sufficed 

 for the trifles as yet attempted. By the use of the knife and file 

 enough of accuracy in the shape and height of the small number of 

 types required, was secured. But when now larger designs began to 

 be entertained, it was seen that the process of trimming each letter 

 by hand was altogether too slow, as well as too costly. If the great 

 folios which the writing-rooms of the monasteries had hitherto sup- 

 plied, were in future to be furnished to the public by means of 

 the new process, it was evident that the supply of type must be 

 plentiful and readily sustained, and that the method of finishing must 

 accordingly be improved and expedited. Here was the crux of the 

 fiist stage of the art of printing. The difficulty was at length most 

 ingeniously surmounted. When now, a metallic compound was 

 devised, combining a sufficiency of hardness with easy fusibility, and 

 a suitable and satisfactory ink, the great invention, which had been 

 taxing the wit of experimenters so long, was in efiect complete. 



It is singular that in the couree of their long practice of block- 

 printing the use of movable types should never have been thought of by 



