C 240 6 ) 
gave the fir ft hint of Printing ; and if the Scribes in pro- 
cefs of time had not brought their Art of Writing into the 
Decorum and Uniformity, and Rule in their feveral Vo- 
lumes, the Printers could not have followed them fo ex- 
actly in the imitation of their Letters and Pages of their 
Books- Pictures firft were thofe of Devotion ; then the 
making of Cards was another introdudion to the Inven- 
tion of Printing : The making of Cards I take to be ve- 
ry ancient. 
For the firft Specimen of Printing , was on one fide on- 
ly, as that at Bennet College, moft in Figures, with fome 
few words only on the fide in Labels like that at Ox- 
ford. 
The next Step is that Book at Harlem ; the-Defigns of 
the Prints are better perform’d, and then they came to. 
have not only Lines, but whole Pages of Words, befides 
the Pictures on a Page. 
The next Step was Ballad- Printing, .with the. like Pi- 
ctures, and them but on one fide. 
The next Improvement of this Noble Art, was the 
cutting of whole Pages on Wooden Blocks or Moulds, - 
and Printing, on both fides of the Page; and the firft Spe- 
cimen of this Nature was a Donatus, and, as Authors fay, 
was Printed ; at Harhm and &t Mentz, altho fame fay a 
Bible was Printed the fame way-1457. 
For the Hiftory of making Paper herein Europe, I have, 
by the affiftance of . my Friends in the Tower and el fe- 
where, been enabled to give a large account of its Anti- 
quity, almoft two Centuries higher than I thought of, 
and (hall give the Marks of the Ancient Paper from the 
1 2th Century down to' 1600, in the, feveral Countries 
where the Paper* makers livedo • 
This, I am apt to think, was never attempted by any 
Author before. The Specimens of Ancient Pieces of MSI?, 
and ai foot Ancient Paper, colk&ed by my felf fome Years. 
fince,. 
