PRINTING. 
may be in proper register, i. e. tliat the 
lines on one side may exactly fall upon the 
backs of the other. That the impression 
may be equable, the parchment which covers 
the outer tynipan is wetted till it is very 
soft ) the blankets are then put in and se- 
cured from slipping by the outer tynipan. 
When the form is made ready, and every 
thing is prepared for working, one man 
beats the letters with the ink balls, another 
places a sheet of paper on the tympan 
sheet, turns down the frisket upon it to 
keep the paper clean and prevent its slip- 
ping, then bringing the tympan upon the 
form, and turning the rounce, by which 
the carriage, holding the coffin, stone, and 
ibrm, is moved, he brings the form with the 
stone, &c. under the platten ; pulls with 
the bar, by which the platten presses the 
blankets and paper close upon the letter, 
whereby half the form is printed, then eas- 
ing the bar, he draws the form still for- 
ward, gives a second pull, and letting go the 
bar, turns back the carriage, &c. raises the 
tympans and frisket, takes out the printed 
slieet and lays on a fresh one ; and this is 
repeated till he has taken off the impression 
upon the full number of sheets of which the 
edition is to consist. One side of every 
sheet being thus printed, the form for the 
ether side is laid on the press, and worked 
off in the same manner. 
Mr. Stower very justly remarks, “ that 
this, the common press, is constructed on 
the true principles of mechanism.” It does 
not, however, lie allows, produce an ade- 
quate impression from heavy w'orks in 
small letter, without great labour and atten- 
tion. It was->therefore a great acquisition 
to gain an accession of power, with, at the 
same time, a diminution of labour. 
This valuable acquisition in the art of 
printing owes its invention to that enlight- 
ened and patriotic statesman, the present 
Earl Stanhope. The iron press, invented 
by this nobleman, is capable of ten times 
the force of the common press, with, per- 
haps, a tenth of the labour. In working 
upon this press, nothing is left to the judg- 
ment of the pressman but the beating. 
To describe the construction of tliet 
Stanhope press would not only much ex- 
ceed our limits, but would require a consi- 
derable number of plates, as its internal 
construction cannot be sufficiently deline- 
ated by any general view of it. It is, how- 
ever, a most compact and curious machine, 
pnd is an invention altogether worthy of 
jthe genius of the nobleman who first con- 
structed it. A very minute account of ther> 
nature and construction of every part of this 
press is given in Mr. Stower’s Grammar. 
The Stanhopian principle has been applied 
in the construction of the common press, but 
we understand not with that success which 
was at first expected. The presses, however, 
so formed, and first made by Mr. Baker, 
are superior' to the common press, and pro- 
duce a more clear and strong impression, 
especially from light forms ; though the 
sharpness, as w’ell as smoothness of impres- 
sion, produced by the Stanhope press, from 
forms of pearl and nonpareil letter, is not 
to be expected from the common presses 
constructed on the Stanhopian principle. See 
Engraving, and Calico Printing. 
In an article of this nature, it would ar- 
gue a want of taste or discernment to omit 
the mention of Mr. M'Creeiy’s very ele- 
gant and beautiful poem, entitled “ The 
Press,” published as a specimen of fy. 
pography. It is indeed a beautiful work, 
and does great credit both to the genius of 
the author as a poet, and to his care and 
talents as a printer. It is published by 
Messrs. Cadell and Davis, in the Strand. 
Printing, stereotype. Perhaps it would 
not have been improper to have treated of 
stereotype printing even before that of 
common printing : for the first ideas of this 
art were certainly anterior to those of print- 
ing by moveable types. 
The method of printing linen and paper 
for hangings has been known in the east 
from time immemorial. Printing from 
wooden blocks, by the Jesuits, has been 
practised above sixteen hundred years in 
China. According to this plan, when an 
author chooses to print his work, he has it 
fairly transcribed upon a thin and trans- 
parent paper. Each leaf is then reversed 
and fastened upon a smooth block of hard 
wood, upon which the engraver cuts the cha- 
racters, in relief. There must be, therefore, 
a separate block for every page. 
At the end of the fourteenth and begin- 
ning of the fifteenth centnry, the Italians, 
Germans, Flemings, and Dutch, began at 
the same time to engrave on wood and cop- 
per: but the previous advances had been 
gradual. The inscriptions, in relief, upon 
monuments and altars, in the cloisters and 
over church porches, served as models for 
block-printing. The letters upon painted 
windows greatly resemble those in the 
books of images. The invention of cards 
was an inte|-mediate step. Bullet, in his 
“ Recherclies Historique sur les Cartes § . 
