348 
to other methods, in order to effect the 
same object, viz. that of preserving the 
forns of a book entire, wich a view to 
taken off copies from it, in any number; 
and at any time that may be deemed re- 
quisite, Qne that naturally presented 
itselfywas to compose pages, with the 
moveable characters thac are. usec in 
printing, -to sink or lay the forms in clay 
or plaster, and thus to constrnet a hollow 
fourm, cast, of mould, wherein to run 
metal; but the perfect execution of this 
was attended with many difficulties. 
This process, supposing the execution 
perfect, had its several advantages; the 
forms of a book might be preserved 
whole, during any leneth of time, and 
without any great expence, as the forms 
thus employed did not require so consi- 
derable a thickuess, as forms composed 
-of moveable characters: neither was 
there so great a quantity of characters 
wanting, but even less than in the busi- 
ness of ordinary printing, It would be 
enough, im some measure, to have cha- 
racters to compose a page; since, after 
having formed the cast of this page, the 
moveable characters might be disar- 
ranged, distrrbuted, and made use of, to 
compose a second page. Lastly, there 
vas NO dissimilarity. between the cha- 
racters to be apprehended, and the forms 
were not hable to crack or spoil, as they 
were not made of wood, but of metal. 
it has been objected by some critics, 
that this process tends to reduce printing 
to its infant Agee and that it renders 
useless the noble art of composing forms 
with moveable characters; but this the 
pees denies. ‘Lhe form, he sa ays, which 
shall have been run in the mould, or cast, 
will beof ene single piece like the wooden 
block, or page, that used to be engraved 
on, about the year 1440; but this cir- 
cumstance of its being all of a piece 
will be the only property common to_the 
two forms. The characters of the metal 
form will not be unequal, as those of. the 
wooden form used to be, but will be 
equal and identical. In forming tie cast, 
the most beautiful characters may be 
made use of, and thé moulded or cast 
form (still supposing, however, that the 
execution be perfect), will exactly re- 
present these beautiful characters. ‘This 
process, therefore, (says the anther), far 
trom bringing back printing to its infant 
or Pp rimiitive state, 
the art, and furnishes it with the means 
of undertaking new improvements. 
The most Baeeee specimens in the . 
kind of process, here described, that the 
Proceedings af Learned Societies. 
augments the vigour? of 
[June 1, 
author is acquainted with, are the cast 
forms, for printing the Calendars that are 
placed at the head of church books. Lottin 
assures us, that this method was prac- 
tised at Paris, from about the close of 
the seventeenth century. This assertion . 
of Lottin, the accuracy of which no one 
has i unpe eached, is sufficient, according to 
our author, tosecure fo the Frenph the in- 
vention of stereotype forms, run or cast, 
as before-mentioned. He further ob- 
serves, thata certain Freneh compositor, 
now living, remembers these forms having 
been used by Valleyre, a printer of Paris, 
before the year 1735; nevertheless, he 
adas, from a spirit of indifference too 
cominon to Frenchmen, the mvention 
has been attributed to Ged, a Scotchman. 
The fact, he says, is, that the attempts of 
Ged only date from the year 1725, long 
after the end of the seventeenth century, 
and that his Sallust did not appear tll 
1739; many years after the use of copper- 
plates, or torms, by Valleyre. The cop-. 
per forms do not give so fine an impres- 
sion as lead mixed with antimony, but 
tclerably good impressions can be ex _ 
ecuted withthem, and the invention con- 
sisted in casting the plate, it being easy 
afterwards to select a different metal; 
It has been observed, that the Calendar! 
of Vaileyre, contained only a small num 
ber of pages; but it is evident, says the 
author, that to discover the method of 
printing one page, is to discover that of 
printing a kuudred: Hence, he con- 
cludes, that a Scotchman brought to per-° 
fection what a Frenchman invented; and 
at present, he says, the Freneh ‘have 
greatly surpassed all the improvements 
of the Scotchman. | < 
Respecting William Ged, the author in- 
forins us, that he was agoldsmith at Edin- 
-burgh,and thatabout the year 1725,hecon- 
ceived the idea of printing books with cast 
plates, and that he worked upon this 
project, from 1725 to1739. The better 
to execute his design, he removed te 
London, where he entered into partner- 
ship with two brothers. named Fennor; 
one of whom was a letter-founder, and 
the other.a bookseller. When they had 
compleated a form of moveanle charac- 
ters, they ran or spread over it a compo- 
sition of plaster, which became.a mould, 
in which was poured the material that is 
commonly made use of for the printing 
tye es. The result was a- solid fori, 
block, applicable to the purpose of 
ae Ged and his partners obtained 
from “the University of Cambridge the 
privalege of printing the Bible and P: rayers 
bouks 
} pe 
