1808.] 
\book ; but they were, it seems, much 
thwarted by the booksellers and prin. 
ters, from motives of jealousy. Num- 
berless were the vexations which Ged 
experienced in the editions of the Prayer- 
bouk, which he had prepared ; the text 
was purposely corrupted, and, published 
full of faults and mistakes, in order to 
discredit his undertaking, 
Ged reterned to Edinburgh, broken 
down in his fortunes, but he did not. lose 
sight of his former plan. 
with his son James, who had served an 
apprenticeship ‘to a printer, he brought 
out an edition of Sallust. He was sub- 
jected to fresh trials, and in 1745 a 
charge of high treason was preferred 
against him, as an accomplice in the re- 
bellion ; ; but he was pardoned, in. consi- 
deiation of the secret he was In posses- 
sion of, for printing. by a new process. 
William Ged died in 1749. James, 
his son, published in 1761, a Memoir, 
wherein be extolled the advantages of 
the method pursued by his’ father: he 
proposed a subscription, in order to: bi ring 
out some new editions, by the same pro- 
cess; but it does not appear tilat the 
subscription was ever promoted, or that, 
since the Sallust, there: was ever pub- 
lished, either by William or by James, 
any other book printed with cast plates 
or blocks. 
Phillip Denis Pierres, a very inge- 
nious printer of Versailles, has now in 
his possession a copy of Sallust, by Ged,' 
and also one of the cast plates that had 
‘been used in the printing it. The author 
observes, that he has seen both the book 
and the form: the title ef the book. is, 
“C, Crispi Sallustii Belli Catalinarii e¢ 
Jugurthiami histerix. Edinburgi. Guill. 
Ged, aurifaber Edinensis, non ty pls mo- 
bilibas, ut vulgo fieri solet, sed tabellis 
seu laminis fusis excudebat, 1759.” ‘The 
size is duodecimo; number rae pages 15 
The plate preserved by Pierres, is that 
of page 44. The material is the same as 
what is used for the common types, 
the lines are m number thirty-five, uot 
ineluding those of the run: ung title, 
or of the catch-word formed of the Word 
gatue. 
From certain works publishe edin Ger- 
many, about the year 1740, it appears 
that some attempts were made in the 
art of block-printing, similar to those of 
Ged, and to those w hich have been since 
adopted in France. A printer, of Er- 
furt, named J. Michel Funckter, pub- 
lished in the year 1740, a small book in 
Geran, the utle of which unay be thus 
In conjunction. 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 849 
rendered, “A short but useful edna 
to the cutting of wooden blocks, to the ma- 
kingof letters, ornaments,and other figures, 
and (after a long detail of other objects) , 
to the art of preparing plaster for tor- 
ming moulds.or casts of sand to run or 
cast letters, vignettes, tail-pieces, and 
medals, and to form matrices.” In the 
first and second chapters, the formation | 
of casts in plaster, aud of sand casts, are 
treated of. The process herein described, 
bears a great resemblance to that which 
the gravers of coins and medals abe 
use of, when they wish to take off proofs 
from their dies. -' They pour melted lead, 
on paper, or on their table, and just at 
the moment when it 1s almost ready to 
become fixed, they precipitate with the 
hand their die on the metal in fusion, 
striking with force and celerity, that the 
metal may be mtroduced into the smali- 
est cavities. By this means a relief is 
Obtained from the print of the die, Lhe 
author wishes to know at. what period 
this practice, now common, criginated 1 
France. here is no mention of it, he 
says, in the old Encyclopédie; but it 
is described in the Dictionary of Arts 
and Trades, by Joubert, (edition of 1773) 
and from thence it bas passed into the 
New Encyclopédie. According to the 
author’s information, the practice has 
beea in use upwards of a century. 
In Germany, the process described in 
the Erfurt publication of 1740, has not 
been discontinued. On this subject, the 
author finds two important articles in 
the German Encyclopedia, or Universal 
Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, pub- . 
lishing, or lately published, at Frankfort 
on the Maine. The first article is in 
the first volume published in 1778, under 
the ward Abdklatschen, of which the fol- 
lowing is an extract: “* Wooden blocks, 
such as what are engraved for vignettes 
being expensive, prints are made in 
metal, v vhich are less costly, but alsq less 
pure and-not so beautiful. Id their fa- 
brication, 
and the piece engraved in wood ts plun- 
ged into it. 
presents a form or matrix. This. matrix 
is then smoked with resinous bits of 
wood, or-else is rubbed lightly with very 
fine chalk, in order to prevent the ad- 
herence of the metals, in the operation 
that is to follow. Melted metal, of the 
‘sort proper for types, is then: ‘poured 
into a little box, and an impression is 
made on the matrix of lead, by striking. 
The force of the blow causes the metal 
to penetrate into all the cavities of the 
matrix, 
melted lead is made. use of, | 
The lead when cooled, re- 
. 
. 
x 
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