-1808.] 
writing or of designs, by processes which 
are connected, more or less, with the art 
of engraving in Copper: the second term 
he applies to the multiplication of a writ- 
ten page, or of a book, by means that are 
connected with the art of printing. 
The author proceeds to observe that the 
first attempts of printing consisted in the 
impressions from blocks, formed of a sin- 
ule piece uf wood, on which was engraved, 
in relief, the discourse of which it was 
intended to multiply the copies. A se- 
cond epoch in the art was that in which 
the letters were separated, in order to 
compose pages of them, by again uniting 
them, so as to distribute them afterwards, 
and put them together afresh. 
It was found that much inconvenience 
was incurred, by making use of engraved 
blocks, or plates s, in a single piece. In 
this case, it was necessary to prepare as 
many blocks as the book had pages, and 
to engrave as many letters as there were 
in the discourse, each being only of use 
in the spot where it was fixed. The let- 
ters were not uniform,'and the faults of 
the engraver could not be repaired, un- 
less by means of pegs or pins, which rare- 
ly possessed the solidity of compact wood. 
There was one advantage, however, to 
be found in the process, viz. that there 
was no necessity to take off a great num- 
ber of copies at once, as the forms re- 
mained entire, and copies were only 
printed in proportion’ to their sale. 
But this advantage did not counterba- 
lance the inconveniencies, and it was not 
in itself exempt from some particular 
disadvantages. The wooden blocks, al- 
ternately wetted and dried, grew the 
worse fur wear, so as to split, and could 
never be relied on as likely to be of long 
service. Of course, the process was dis- 
continued soon after the method was dis- 
covered of composing pages with move- 
able characters, and of compleating the 
publication of a volume, consisting of a 
hundred pages, with a quantity of cha- 
racters which would hardly have made 
up four or five leaves, if these four or five 
leaves were to have been preserved 
entire, 
In the sequel, the facility of taking 
off the copies, only in preportion to the 
sale, became a subject of occasional re- 
gret. This was particularly felt with re- 
spect to those works, the sale of which, 
without being immediate and rapid, was 
however sure, in a certain number of 
‘successive years, such as classical and 
schoel books, bibles, &c. The book-~ 
seller, calculating before-hand the quan- 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
347 
tum of paper that would be requisite for 
a number of copies, the sale of which 
could not be compleated till the lapse of 
ten years, the expences of warehouse- 
room, and the possible waste or loss of 
his copies, would have found it very con- 
venient to preserve the forms, in order to 
take off an impression, as occasion night 
serve; but then the printer must be paid 
forthe metal which was unemployed, and 
warehouses were also wanted wherein to 
deposit the forms, the mass of which 
would become enormous, when the book 
was of any great size. In some consi- 
derable printing-houses, , where the ca- 
pital was large, and there was a great 
quantity of characters, or letter, < attempts 
were made to preserve the forms in their 
composed state. “This method was prac- 
tised at Halle, in Saxony, at the Orphan- 
house oifice, and for this reason certain 
books were to be had there much cheaper 
than elsewhere; but it appears, that si- 
nular attempts by others were not equally 
successful, as the Jew Athias, of Amster 
dam, who attempted to keep, during a 
series of years, all the forms of a laige 
English bible, was ruined by the under- 
taking. 
The author next proceeds to mention 
the copy of a stereotype bible, which was 
sent from Leyden to Paris, in 1801. 
The forms of this work, viel are still 
entire, and in excellent preservation, 
(although many thousand copies have 
been taken off) were made by an 
artist named Vander Mey, about the 
beginning of the last century. Men- 
tion is also made of a Greek New 
Testament, in small characters, the 
forms of which are still preserved, 
and are in the possession of Messrs, 
Luchtmans, of Leyden, whose grand- 
father, Samuel Luchtmans, book-seller, 
was at the expence of having pre- 
pared, by the same artist, the stereotype 
plates of a Dutch bible in folio, (this last 
is now in the possession of the bookseller, 
Elwe), and likewise a Greek New Tes- 
tament, (small characters, in twenty- 
fours), the plates of which are still pre- 
served, and in the possession of the 
Luchtnans. Lastly, the same artist ex- 
ecu the Syriac New Testament, and 
the Syriac Lexicon of Schaaf (a well 
known work) two volumes, in quarto. 
The forms of this last work have been 
sold or destroyed, and these are, it 
seems, the only publications the author 
is acquainted with, which the Bataviaus 
have executed in steredtype characters. 
in later times, recourse has been had 
to 
