8th April, igoS. 



THE BIRTH AND INFANCY OF PRINTING.' 

 By Dr. Andrew Trimble. 



{Abstract. ) 



The Lecturer, in the course of a very interesting review, 

 said printing was the development of a phase in the evolution 

 of history : it was the offspring of a hungry necessity, and was 

 as certain to come as day was to follow night. At the end of 

 what we were pleased to call the " Dark Ages " there came the 

 Renaissance, and with it the effort to acquire greater knowledge. 

 As knowledge grew, so the desire for its spread increased. The 

 fifteenth century was as productive of brilliancy in thought, in art, 

 in printing, in architecture, and the general outlook on life as our 

 own, and in some respects it was superior. As De Quincey had 

 pointed out, the idea of printing by type was already present in the 

 world, as was shown by the use of coins. But there was the 

 necessity for having a material that would be cheap enough to 

 make it worth while to print copies of any given work. Paper 

 was made and used in China eight centuries before Christ came 

 on earth, whereas the secret of its manufacture was not known 

 in the Western world until eight centuries after Christ. The 

 making of paper slightly preceded the introduction of printing by 

 movable types. Paper was made in Belgium in 145 1, and by 

 the end of the 15th century its manufacture was perfectly under- 

 stood, and the first book printed on English paper was dated 1495. 

 The speaker referred to the first work by printed type, and traced 

 its development. He showed how the first type was made on the 

 same lines as the manuscript letters, and was based on the same 



