Chapter XXI: The Minor Founders, 1800–1830 (5)

[447] In 1703, in the Convocation of Clergy in the Lower House, a complaint was exhibited against the printers of the _Bible_ for the careless and defective way in which it was printed by the patentees. The editions specially complained of were those printed by Hayes, of Cambridge, in 1677 and 1678, and an edition in folio printed in London in 1701. The printers continued, however, to print the _Bible_ carelessly, with a defective type, on bad paper; and when printed, to sell copies at an exorbitant price.

[448] The following sketch of William Caslon is mainly taken, and in parts quoted, from the interesting particulars of his career preserved in Nichols’ _Anecdotes of Bowyer_ and the larger work into which that was subsequently expanded. The elder Bowyer’s intimate connection with Caslon’s first ventures in letter-founding give Nichols’ work a special authority in the matter. At the same time there exists a certain confusion in the earlier part of the narrative which it is difficult completely to harmonise.

[449] John Watts, a printer of first-rate eminence, for some time partner with Jacob Tonson II in Covent Garden. It was in Watts’ printing office in Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn, that Benjamin Franklin worked as journeyman in 1725. Watts died in 1763, aged 85.

[450] William Bowyer, the elder, regarded as one of the foremost printers of his time, was born in 1663. In 1699 he had his office in Dogwell Court, Whitefriars. His premises were burnt in 1713, and in the conflagration he lost all his types and presses. By the liberality of his fellow-printers, however, this loss (estimated at over £5,000) was partly made good, and he was enabled to start again and rise once more to a foremost place in his profession. For all particulars respecting Mr. Bowyer and his learned son, see Nichols’ _Anecdotes of William Bowyer_, London, 1782, 4to, and _Literary Anecdotes of the 18th Century_, London 1812–15, 9 vols., 8vo, a work the foundation of which is a bibliography of the productions of this celebrated press. See also _ante_, p. 157.

[451] James Bettenham, husband of the elder Bowyer’s step-daughter, was born 1683. He printed in St. John’s Lane, and attained to considerable eminence as a printer, although after sixty years’ labour he left behind him only £400. “He died,” says Rowe Mores, “in 1774, _ferè centenarius sanæque mentis et memoriæ_.”

[452] _Anecdotes of Bowyer_, p. 585.

[453] A tradition in the Caslon family that William Caslon began his career as a letter-founder in 1716, induced the late Mr. H. W. Caslon to adopt this as the date of the establishment of the Foundry. In the absence, however, of any testimony in support of the statement, and in the face of the clear announcement by Caslon himself that his Foundry was begun in the year 1720, there seems to be no ground for attaching any importance to the use of this earlier date.

[454] This Society, which was established in 1698, had already displayed considerable activity in the introduction of printing into the distant fields of its missionary effort. In 1711 it sent out to the missionaries of Tranquebar, on the Coromandel Coast, a printing press furnished with Portuguese types, paper, etc., which, after an adventurous voyage, in which the vessel was plundered by the French of all her other cargo, reached its destination and enabled the missionaries to commence the printing of a Tamulic _New Testament_, of which the _Gospels_ appeared in 1714, with the imprint “_Tranquebariæ in littore Coromandelino, typis Malabaricis impressit G. Adler_, 1714.” It is related that the publication of the remainder of the work was delayed from a scarcity of paper, their types being very large; till at length the expedient was adopted of casting a new fount of letter from the leaden covers of some Cheshire cheeses, which had been sent out to the missionaries by the Society. The attempt succeeded, and with these new and smaller types the remainder of the _Testament_ was printed, the whole being published together in 1719. (Cotton, _Typographical Gazetteer_, 2nd edit., p. 289.)

[455] _Liber Psalmorum . . una cum decem Præceptis . . et Oratione Dominicâ . . Arabicè; sumptibus Societatis de Propagandâ Cognitione Christi apud Exteros._ London, 1725. 8vo.

[456] _Novum Testamentum, Arabicè. Londini. Sumptibus Societatis de Propagandâ Cognitione Christi apud Exteros._ 1727. 4to.

[457] “This circumstance,” says Nichols (_Anec. Bowyer_, p. 317) “has lately been verified by the American, Dr. Franklin, who was at that time a journeyman under Mr. Watts, the first printer that employed Mr. Caslon.”

[458] Dibdin, in repeating this anecdote, uses rather stronger language. “Caslon,” he says, “after giving (I would hope) that wretched pilferer and driveller Samuel Palmer (whose _History of Printing_ is only fit for chincampane paper) half a dozen good canings for his dishonesty, betook himself to Mr. Bowyer.” (_Bibl. Decam. II._, 379.)

[459] _Joannis Seldeni Jurisconsulti Opera Omnia, tam edita quam inedita. In tribus voluminibus. Colligit ac recensuit . . . David Wilkins, S.T.P. . . . Londini, Typis Guil. Bowyer._ 1726. Fol. (Begun in 1722.)

[460] Dr. David Wilkins, F.S.A., was Keeper of the Lambeth Library under Archbishop Wake, and drew up a Catalogue of all the MSS. and books there in his time. Besides editing the _Selden_ and the _Coptic Testament_ and _Pentateuch_, he published some important works in Anglo-Saxon Literature, and edited the learned Prolegomena to Chamberlayne’s _Oratio Dominica_ in 1715. He died in 1740. Rowe Mores considers that in his Coptic studies Dr. Wilkins was indebted to Kircher, the Jesuit, whose _Prodromus Coptus_, published in Rome in 1636, the Doctor had severely handled.

[461] _Quinque Libri Moysis Prophetæ in Linguâ Ægyptiâ. Ex M.S.S. . . . descripsit ac Latine vertit Dav. Wilkins. Londini_ 1731. 4to. Only 200 copies were printed.

[462] See _ante_, p. 147. Nichols, writing about 1813, mentioned that the Coptic fount, having escaped the conflagration of his printing office in 1808, was still in his possession.

[463] _Typographia_, p. 349.

[464] See _ante_, p. 205.

[465] See _ante_, p. 218.

[466] _Anec. Bowyer_, p. 537.

[467] See _ante_, p. 215.

[468] _Psalmorum Liber. (Heb. et Lat.) in Versiculos metrice divisus, etc. Londini_ 1736. 2 vols., 8vo.

[469] _Moses Choronensis Historiæ Armeniacæ Libri iii. Armeniacè ediderunt, Latinè verterunt notisq: illustr. Guil. et Geo. Whistoni. London_, 1736. 4to.

[470] _De Linguâ Etruriæ. J. Swinton. Oxon._, 1738.

[471] This fount may be seen also in Nichols’ Appendix to Rowe Mores’ _Dissertation_, p. 96, and in _Ames’ Typographical Antiquities_, 1st edit., p. 571.

[472] If these were the matrices which Mores, in his summary of the Polyglot Foundry (p. 172, _ante_), described as Great Primer, it is difficult—unless they were duplicates—to determine through whose foundry they passed into Caslon’s hands. Andrews had a Great Primer, and Grover a Double Pica and Pica; but all these came to James, in whose foundry they remained when Mores wrote in 1778.

[473] _Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, etc._, by E. Chambers, F.R.S., London, 1738. 2 vols., fol. (Caslon’s Specimen faces the article “Letter.”) The first edition of this valuable work—the first repertory of general knowledge published in Britain—appeared in 1728. It subsequently formed the basis of Rees’ _Encyclopædia_.

[474] See _ante_, p. 206.

[475] Rowe Mores’ account of the Caslon foundry in 1778, wherein he attributes several of the founts which originally appeared in the 1734 Specimen to Mitchell, might suggest at first sight that Caslon had acquired Mitchell’s foundry prior to 1739. Mores is, however, particular to give the exact date of the purchase, 26th July 1739. It seems more probable that, finding the bodies in Caslon’s Specimen corresponding generally with the description of the matrices he was known to have bought from Mitchell, he concluded hastily that the founts shown were Mitchell’s, whereas a reference to the Specimen would have proved that Caslon preferred his own original faces, in most cases, to those he had bought. See also our notes, _post_, pp. 247, 248.

[476] _Anec. Bowyer_, p. 317.

[477] _Anec. Bowyer_, p. 586.

[478] “Les caractères de Caslon ont été gravés, pour la plus grande partie, par Caslon fils, avec beaucoup d’adresse et de propreté. Les epreuves qui on out été publiées en 1749 contiennent beaucoup de sortes différentes de caractères” (_Man. Typog._, II, xxxviii).

[479] _Typographical Antiquities._ London, 1749, 4to, p. 571. The names of William Caslon, sen., and William Caslon, jun., letter-founders, figure among the subscribers to the work; and the plate of facsimiles of Caxton’s types is dedicated “to Mr. Wm. Caslon, a good promoter of this work, and as suitable to the principal Letter Founder.”

[480] _An Essay on the Original, Use, and Excellency of the Noble Art and Mystery of Printing._ London, 1752. 8vo. The work is of little interest apart from the references to the Caslons, and a curious poem at the end.

[481] See _post_, chap. xiii.

[482] _The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure._ London. Vol. vi. June 1750, p. 274.

[483] See _post_, chap. xvi.

[484] A copy of this Specimen, dated 1763, evidently an advance copy, is in the library of the American Antiquarian Society, the gift of Isaiah Thomas, the printer, and is, as far as is known, the only copy in existence bearing this date. Copies of the 1764 Specimen occur in 8vo and 4to.

[485] Forty-four new founts appear in all, viz.: 2 Titlings, 15 Romans, 4 Greeks, 9 Hebrews, 1 Ethiopic, 1 Etruscan, 2 Saxons, 8 Blacks, and 2 Music, while the Flowers now number 63 varieties.

[486] “ ‘This New Foundery was begun in the year 1720 and finished 1763.’ So we are told by a note at the end of their Specimen published in 1764, although the same note tells us that though it was finished, yet it was not finished, ‘but would (with God’s leave) be carried on, etc.’ Amen!” (_Dissert._, p. 80.)

[487] Among the relics of the Caslon Foundry is a copy of the 1764 specimen book presented by Mr. Caslon to his friend Phil. Thicknesse the poet. At the end of the book appears Mr. Thicknesse’s letter of thanks to the donor, execrably printed by the poet himself, in type given him by Mr. Caslon.

[488] This Concert Room remains at Chiswell Street in pretty much its old form, and is now the repository of the interesting collection of portraits and relics, still preserved, of this venerable Foundry.

[489] _A General History of the Science and Practice of Music._ London. 1776. 4to. Vol. v, 127.

[490] The Rev. Dr. Lyttelton writes to Ames, April 25, 1744, “Some unforeseen business prevents Dr. Pococke and myself dining with Mr. Caslon to-morrow. I give you this notice that you may defer your visit till some day next week, when we will endeavour to meet there.”—_Nichol’s Illustrations of Literature_, iv, 231.

[491] Copies of which he continued to circulate, erasing with pen and ink the words “and Son” from the title-page and advertisement.

[492] _A Concise History of the Origin and Progress of Printing, etc._ London, 1770. 8vo. Reprinted in the following year with the title:—_The History of the Art of Printing, in two Parts, etc., J. P. Luckombe, M.T.A._ London, 1771. 8vo.

[493] _Dissertation_, p. 81.

[494] Mores calls this “excavated” or “Hutter’s leading-string” Hebrew. A specimen may be seen in _The Scholars Instructor_. _An Hebrew Grammar of Israel Lyons_, Cambridge, 1735, 8vo. The open Hebrew is here used to distinguish the servile from the radical letters. Lyons in his preface deprecates Hutter’s method of printing the entire _Bible_ in this character, thereby keeping the learners “too long in leading-strings” (see also _ante_, p. 63).

[495] Mores omits a Small Pica Hebrew, which is the same as the Brevier shown in the sheet of 1734.

[496] These founts are not Head’s or Mitchell’s, as Mores states, but were cut by Caslon I, and shown on the 1734 sheet.

[497] The Pica Greek shown on the 1734 sheet was discarded in favour of this fount.

[498] “But,” adds Mores, “Mr. Caslon is cutting a _Patagonian_ which will lick up all these diminutives as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.”

[499] “Supported by arches.” Doubtless cast in sand.

[500] These were not cut, as Mores states, by Caslon II, but by Caslon I, and appeared on the sheet of 1734, when Caslon II was but 14 years of age.

[501] “These,” says Mores, “are one and the same. The Acts of Parliament are printed in them, therefore we call them as Dr. Ducarel and the Act call them, ‘the common legible hand and character.’ ”

[502] Mores omits here the Pica Black, cut by Caslon I, and shown on the sheet of 1734.

[503] Not Cartledge, as erroneously given by Nichols. This lady was the only child of Mr. Cartlitch, an eminent refiner in Foster Lane, Cheapside, and was born May 31, 1730.

[504] With the addition of the Long Primer Syriac cut for Oxford University, the “learned” founts in the 1785 Specimen are precisely the same as those which appeared in the book of 1764.

[505] The address is a literary curiosity: “The acknowledged excellence of this Foundry, with its rapid success, as well as its unexampled Productions having gained universal Ecomiums on its ingenious Improver and Perfecter (whose uncommon Genius transferred the Letter Foundry Business from HOLLAND to ENGLAND, which, for above Sixty years, has received, for its beauty and Symmetry, the unbounded praises of the Literati, and the liberal encouragement of all the Master Printers and Booksellers, not only in this Country but of all EUROPE and AMERICA) has excited the Jealousy of the Envious and the Desires of the enterprising, to become Partakers of the Reward due to the Descendants of the Improver of this most useful and important Art.

“They endeavour, by every method to withdraw, from this Foundry, that which they silently acknowledge is its indisputable Right: Which is conspicuous by their very Address to the Public, wherein they promise (in Order to induce Attention and Encouragement) that they will use their utmost Endeavours to IMITATE the Productions of this Foundry; which assertion, on inspection, will be found impracticable, as the Imperfections cannot correspond in size.

“The Proprietor of this Foundry, ever desirous of retaining the decisive Superiority in his Favour, and full of the sincerest Gratitude for the distinguished Honour, by every Work of Reputation being printed from the elegant Types of the Chiswell Street Manufactory, hopes, by every Improvement, to retain and merit a Continuance of their established Approbation, which, in all Quarters of the Globe, has given it so acknowledged an Ascendency over that of his Opponents.”

The address prefixed to the 1785 Specimen Book of the Worship Street Foundry had evidently been the inspiration of this tirade, which in turn evoked a spirited reply from the Frys in the following year. See _post_, chap. xv.

[506] The sheets appear (along with some of Fry & Son’s and Wilson’s) in _Chambers’ Cyclopædia—incorporated in one Alphabet by Abraham Rees, London_, 1784–86. 4 vols. folio.

[507] These are sometimes (as in the case of the British Museum copy) bound up with the 1785 8vo specimen book as folding plates.

[508] See _ante_, p. 200. Hansard observes that besides Queen Elizabeth’s Ambassador, the same family had produced Sir Henry Rowe, a Lord Mayor of London; and Owen Rowe, the Regicide.

[509] This celebrated typographer was born at Saluzzo, in the Sardinian States, in 1740. At an early age he visited Rome, and obtained a situation in the printing office of the Propaganda, where he gained great credit for his printing. In 1768 he settled at Parma, where he published many famous works, and established a European reputation. His _Homer_ in 3 vols. folio, published in 1808, is his most famous work. He never visited England, although one or two works were printed by him in our language, viz., Lord Orford’s _Castle of Otranto_, 1791, 8vo, _Gray’s Poems_, 1793, 4to, _Thomson’s Seasons_, 1794, folio and quarto. He died in 1813, and his widow finished and published in 1818 the _Manuale Tipografico_, 2 vols., royal 4to, a most sumptuous work, containing upwards of 250 exquisite specimens of type and ornaments. A monument was erected to him in Saluzzo in 1872. Of Bodoni’s office at Parma the following interesting particulars are preserved in Dr. Smith’s _Tour on the Continent_, 2nd edit., vol. iii: “A very great curiosity in its way, is the Parma printing-office, carried on under the direction of M. Bodoni, who has brought that art to a degree of perfection hardly known before him. Nothing could exceed his civility in showing us numbers of the beautiful productions of his press, of which he gave us some specimens, as well as the operations of casting and finishing the letters. The materials of his type are antimony and lead, as in other places, but he showed us some of steel. He has sets of all the known alphabets, with diphthongs, accents, and other peculiarities in the greatest perfection. His Greek types are peculiarly beautiful, though of a different kind of beauty from those of old Stephens, and perhaps less free and flowing in their forms.”

[510] _Typographia_, p. 352.

[511]

2-line Gt. Primer—1803 Great Primer—May, 1802 English 1—August, 1802 English 2—April, 1805 Pica 2 and 3—March, 1805 Small Pica 1, 2, and 3—July, 1804 Long Primer 1, 2, and 3—July, 1804. Bourgeois 1 and 2—July, 1802 Brevier 1 and 2—May, 1805 Minion—May, 1805 Nonpareil 1, 2—October, 1803.

[512] _The Printers’ Grammar, etc., by C. Stower, Printer._ London, 1808. 8vo. The following note is prefixed to the specimen: “A 4-line Pica, Canon and Double Pica of a bold and elegant shape, were not quite ready to introduce with these specimens.”

[513] Savage, in his _Hints on Decorative Printing_, London, 1822, 4to, chapter ii, shows specimens of Mrs. Caslon’s Roman letter contrasted with the old models of the Foundry on the one hand, and its more recent developments on the other.

[514] “Chiswell Street, January 19, 1814. Henry Caslon respectfully informs his friends and the printers in general, that the term of his partnership with the executors of the late Mr. Nathaniel Catherwood having expired, he has entered into a new engagement with Mr. John James Catherwood, brother to his late partner, and that the firm is now carried on under the firm of Henry Caslon and J. J. Catherwood. He embraces this opportunity of expressing his grateful sense of the distinguished patronage the Foundry has received, and the kind encouragement he has individually experienced from his friends in the printing business, since the death of his mother and late partner.”

[515] _Typograpia_, p. 353.

[516] See _post_, chap. xvii.

[517] See _post_, chap. xxi, s.v. Bessemer. In the Directory at the end of Johnson’s _Typographia_, 1824 (ii, 652), a Catherwood is mentioned among the Letter Founders, Charles’ Sq., Hoxton.

[518] Cut by William Martin.

[519] This beautiful little fount was cut for Pickering’s _Greek Testament_ 1826, and for clearness and minuteness eclipses both the Sedan Greek, and that of Blean of Amsterdam. It was also used in the _Homer_ of 1831. Dibdin (_Introd. to the Classics_, 1827, i, 166) shows a specimen of the type.

[520] Cut for Dr. C. Wilkins, Oriental Librarian to the East India Company.

[521] _The Diary of Lady Willoughby, as relates to her Domestic History in the Reign of King Charles I._ London, 1844. 4to.

[522] _Particulars of a most valuable property for Investment called the Caslon Letter Foundry; also a most extensive Modern Foundry on which has been expended upwards of £50,000, which will be sold by auction by W. Lewis and Son . . . on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1846, at 11 for 12 precisely (unless previously disposed of by private contract)._ In the list of matrices catalogued, the cutters’ names are added, those of Hughes, Bessemer, and Boileau being among the most frequent.

[523] _The History of the Art of Printing, containing an Account of its Invention and Progress in Europe, with the names of the famous Printers, the places of their birth and the works printed by them, and a Preface by the Publisher to the Printers in Scotland. Edinburgh, printed by James Watson. Sold at his shop opposite the Lucken Booths, and at the shops of David Scot in the Parliament Close, and George Stewart a little above the Cross_, 1713, 12mo. Watson’s preface is stated to have been written by John Spotswood, Advocate. The historical portion is a condensed translation of De la Caille’s _Histoire de l’Imprimerie_, published at Paris in 1689.

[524] _Specimen of Types in the Printing House of James Watson._ 1713. 48 pp., of which 26 are devoted to Dutch “Bloomers” or Initials, and the remainder to Romans and Italics from French Canon to Nonpareil, with a fount of Greek, one of Black, and a few signs, etc.

[525] See _ante_, p. 218.

[526] _Typographia_, p. 362.

[527] Ireland, during a portion of the eighteenth century appears to have been well supplied with type from native sources. Of the fortunes of Wilson’s branch foundry here alluded to, we have no further record, unless we are to connect the following statement with the enterprise of the Scotch typographers:—Boulter Grierson in 1764 petitioned the Lord Lieutenant for a renewal of the Patent granted to his distinguished father George Grierson by George II in 1731, for King’s printer in Ireland. Among other reasons in support of his prayer, he states: “That the art of making types for printing was unknown in Ireland until very lately, when your petitioner’s father encouraged it by laying out about One Thousand pounds in that article alone, in order to establish that art in the said kingdom, and there are now as good types made here as any imported, by which means there is a great saving to the public, and great part of the money that would be otherwise sent to foreign country’s is left in this kingdom.” (We are indebted to the kindness of a lady descendent of George Grierson for this interesting extract.) According to a note of Lemoine which we quote at p. 264_n_, Dublin printers in 1797 were getting their types either from Wilson of Glasgow, or from London. It is therefore probable that, whether George Grierson’s enterprise may have consisted in the encouragement of Wilson’s foundry or in the establishment of another foundry of his own, the art did not long hold its ground in Ireland, and was discontinued in the latter half of the century, only to be once revived, and that for a short period only, by Dr. Wilson’s grandsons in 1840. See p. 265.

[528] For an account of Baine’s subsequent career as a type-founder, see _post_, chap. xix.

[529] These eminent printers, the most elegant typographers of which Scotland can boast, produced in their day some of the finest editions ever printed. Robert was originally a barber, but began as a printer in 1740. In 1743 he was appointed printer to Glasgow University, one of his first productions being an edition of _Demetrius Phalereus_ in that year. In 1744 he brought out his famous “immaculate” edition of _Horace_ in 12mo at Glasgow. Shortly afterwards his brother Andrew, who had been a teacher of French at the University, joined him, and the two together, by great industry and excellent artistic taste, produced a large number of beautifully printed works, some of which will rank with the finest achievements of Bodoni, or Barbou, or even the Elzevirs. Their classics, both Greek and Latin, were as remarkable for their exactness as for their beauty, and it is recorded that the brothers, following the example of some of the old masters, were in the habit of publicly exhibiting their proof sheets and offering a reward for the detection of any error. Andrew Foulis died in 1775, and Robert in the following year. The business was carried on under the old name of R. & A. Foulis for some years by Andrew Foulis, son of Robert. This printer it was who was associated with Tilloch in his patent for stereotype in 1784. He died in 1829 in great poverty.

[530] _Homeri Opera, Græce (ex edit. Sam. Clarke). Glasguæ; in Ædibus Academicis excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, Academii Typographi 1756–8_, 4 vols., fol. This work is one of the most splendid editions of Homer ever printed. Each sheet was corrected six times before being finally worked. Flaxman’s illustrations were designed for the work.

[531] After stating that it was the ambition of the publishers of this work to rival the finest productions of the Stephani of Paris, the preface continues (p. viii):—“Omnes quidem tres regios Stephanorum characteres græcos expresserat jam apud nos, atque imitatione accuratissimâ repræsentaverat _Alexander Wilson_, A.M., egregius ille Typorum artifex, quem et hoc nomine adscripserat sibi Alma Mater. In his autem grandioris formæ characteribus Stephanianis id unum desiderari quodammodo videbatur, scilicet, si res ita ferre posset, ut, salvâ tamen ilia solidæ magnitudinis specie quâ delectantur omnes, existeret una simul elegantiæ quiddam, magis atque venustatis. Rogatus est igitur ille artifex, ut, in hoc assequendo solertiam suam, quâ quidem pollet maximâ, strenue exercet. Quod et lubenter aggresus est, et ad votum usque videtur consecutus vir ad varias ingenuas artes augendas natus.”

[532] _Poems of Mr. Gray. Glasgow, printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis, Printers to the University._ 1768. 4to. This edition was published simultaneously with Dodsley’s first collected edition of _Gray’s Poems_, in London; and far exceeded it in beauty of typography and execution. Writing to Beattie in 1768, Gray says, “I rejoice to be in the hands of Mr. Foulis (the famous printer of Glasgow) who has the laudable ambition of excelling the Etiennes and the Elzevirs as well in literature as in the proper art of his profession.”

[533] “This is the first work in the Roman character which they (A. and R. Foulis) have printed with so large a type, and they are obliged to DOCTOR WILSON for preparing so expeditiously, and with so much attention, characters of so beautiful a form.”

[534] _A View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics._ London, 1775. 12mo. Improved editions in 1778, 1782, and 1790.

[535] Renouard, speaking of the twenty volume edition of _Cicero_ printed by the Foulis in 1749, prefers its type to that of the Elzevirs. _Catalogue de la Bibliothèque d’un Amateur._ Paris, 1819. 4 vols. 8vo. ii, 75.

[536] Hansard states that the Long Primer Greek matrices of the foundry were “from the type cast in which the Elzevirs printed some of their editions”—(_Typographia_, 404).

[537] In a later specimen is shown a “New Small Pica Italic” cut for the King’s printer in Edinburgh, 1807.

[538] Lemoine, _Typographical Antiquities_, 1797, says, “Ireland, by its connection with London and Scotland, produces some very neat printing; Wilson’s types are much approved of at Dublin. Alderman George Faulkner may be considered as the first printer in Ireland in his time; but it must be remembered his letter was all cast in London.” p. 99.

[539] This fount (according to Savage, _Dict. of Printing_, p. 320) was cut after the classical and elegant type of Athias, for Mr. Jno. Wertheimer, of Leman Street, and was used in printing the Rev. D. A. De Sola’s edition of the _Prayers of the Sphardim_.

[540] “In conformity,” says the preface, “with ancient immemorial usage, we have in Part I displayed our Founts in the Roman Garb—the venerable _Quousque tandem_—but lest it should be supposed we had adopted the flowing drapery of Rome for the purpose of shading or concealing defects, we have in Part II shown off our founts in a dress entirely English.” Mr. Figgins was the first to introduce this practice in his Specimens.

[541] The following extract from the preface to the 1834 Specimen, announces the removal: “We had the honour some time ago of announcing the removing of the Glasgow Letter Foundry to London, and we beg leave to inform you that we have now carried our intentions into execution, and are prepared to receive your commands in our establishment in Great New Street, Gough Square, London. The operative department will be conducted by Mr. John Sinclair, whose integrity of conduct and thorough knowledge of his profession we now reward by making him a partner in our business.” London, Aug. 1, 1834. The London Foundry was carried on under the old name of Alex. Wilson & Sons, or occasionally Wilsons and Sinclair; the Edinbro’ branch, and that subsequently started in Dublin, being styled A. & P. Wilson.

[542] See _post_, chap. xxi.

[543] There still exists, in Mr. Timmins’ collection of Baskerville relics, a slate tablet beautifully engraved with the words “Grave Stones cut in any of the Hands by John Baskervill, Writing Master,” in which the admirable models of Roman and Italic for which he afterwards became famous are clearly prefigured.

[544] “His carriage,” says Nichols, “each panel of which was a distinct picture, might be considered the pattern-card of his trade, and was drawn by a beautiful pair of cream-coloured horses” (_Lit. Anec._, iii, 451).

[545] He appears to have continued his original business to the end of his days. Writing in 1760, Mr. Derrick, in a letter to the Earl of Cork, dated July that year, after describing Baskerville’s printing achievements, adds: “This ingenious artist carries on a great trade in the Japan way, in which he showed me several useful articles, such as candlesticks, stands, salvers, waiters, bread-baskets, tea-boards, etc., elegantly designed and highly finished.” The name of Baskerville had previously been associated with typography, as we find in the lists of the Stationers’ Company a Gabriel Baskerville, who took up his freedom in 1622, and a John Baskerville, who took up his freedom in 1639.

[546] Dibdin (_Intr. to Classics_, ii, 555) says £800.

[547] “Towards the end of 1792 died Mr. John Handy, the artist who cut the punches for Baskerville’s types, and for twelve years was employed in a similar way at the Birmingham Typefoundry of Mr. Swinney.” (_Gent. Mag._, 1793, p. 91.)

[548] “John Baskerville proposes, by the advice and assistance of several learned men, to print from the Cambridge Edition, corrected with all possible care, an elegant edition of _Virgil_. The work will be printed in quarto, on a very fine writing Royal paper, and with the above letter. The price of the Volume in sheets will be one guinea, no part of which will be required till the Book is delivered. It will be put to press as soon as the number of subscribers shall amount to five hundred, whose names will be prefixt to the work. All persons who are inclined to encourage the undertaking, are desired to send their names to John Baskerville in Birmingham, who will give specimens of the work to all who are desirous of seeing them. Subscriptions are also taken in, and specimens delivered by Messieurs R. and J. Dodsley, Booksellers in Pall Mall, London.”

[549] Of the two copies in the possession of Mr. S. Timmins, one is printed on very fine banknote paper, and the other, more heavily, on a coarse brown.

[550] _Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica, et Æneis. Birminghamiæ Typis Johannis Baskerville._ 1757. 4to. As Baskerville reprinted this work in 1771 with the old date 1757 on the title-page, it is necessary to note that, in the genuine edition, among other peculiarities, the 10th and 11th Books of the _Æneid_ are headed “Liber Decimus. Æneidos”, and “Liber Undecimus. Æneidos”, whereas in the re-impression they appear, uniform with the other titles, “Æneidos Liber Decimus.” “Æneidos Liber Undecimus.” A _Virgil_ was printed in 8vo, in 1766.

[551] “I have always considered this beautiful production as one of the most finished specimens of typography” (Dibdin, _Introduction to the Classics_, 2nd ed. II, 335).

[552] “My neighbour Baskerville at the close of this month (March 1757) publishes his fine edition of _Virgil_; it will for _type_ and _paper_ be a perfect curiosity” (_Shenstone’s Letters and Works_, 1791, Letter 88).

[553] Other type was used for this work.

[554] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 411.

[555] “Η Καινη Διαθηκη”. _Novum Testamentum juxta exemplar Millianum. Typis Joannis Baskerville. Oxonii e Typographeo Clarendoniano._ 1763. _Sumptibus Academiæ_, 4to and 8vo.

[556] Some of the Punches were exhibited by the University Press at the Caxton Exhibition in 1877. Since then, thanks to the energy of the present Controller, Mr. Horace Hart, to whom we are indebted for the above extracts and specimens, the matrices of the fount have come to light as well as the punches and matrices of the two-line letters and figures belonging to it. These were exhibited at the British Association Meeting at Birmingham in August 1886, being catalogued as follows:―

“PUNCHIONS of the Great Primer Greek—a large proportion of the fount, but not the whole.

“MATRICES of the same.

“PUNCHIONS of the Two-line Great Primer, with Initial Letters. Complete.

“MATRICES of the same, also complete.

“PUNCHIONS of one set of Figures, supplied with the above.

“MATRICES of the same.”

Still more recently, Mr. Horace Hart has been fortunate enough to discover part of the actual type in its original cases. It is interesting to note that these types, which are of rather a soft metal, are cast to the Oxford Learned-Side “height-to-paper.”

[557] _Paradise Lost, etc._, _Paradise Regain’d, etc._ Birmingham, 1758. 2 vols., 4to. The work was also published in the same year in 8vo, and again in 4to in 1759. The 4to edition of 1758 appears to be overlooked by some bibliographers, Hansard, among others, who refers in the extract here given to the reprint of 1759.

[558] _Typographia_, p. 310. It is worthy of note that the very high gloss on the paper which characterised most of Baskerville’s later works, is not always observable either in the _Virgil_ of 1757, or the _Milton_ of 1758.

[559] _Catalogue de la Bibliothéque d’um Amateur_, i, 310. After noticing the folio specimen following, he says: “Un autre essai de Baskerville, sur une plus petite feuille, contient seulment quatre caractères romains et deux en italique . . . Outre cette épreuve de grand essai, j’ai l’un et l’autre réunis à la fin de son _Virgile_ in 4.” The only example we have met with is that bound up with Lord Spencer’s beautiful copy of the _Virgil_ in the Althorp Library.

[560] Writing to Mr. R. Richardson of Durham on Oct. 29, 1758, Dr. Bedford says: “By Baskerville’s specimen of his types, you will perceive how much the elegance of them is owing to his paper, which he makes himself, as well as the types and ink also; and I was informed whenever they came to be used by common pressmen and with common materials they will lose of their beauty considerably. Hence, perhaps, this specimen may become very curious (when he is no more, and the types cannot be set off in the same perfection), and a great piece of _vertû_.” (Nichols, _Illust. Lit._, i, 813).

[561] Amongst which should be particularly singled out the _Horace_ in 12mo printed in 1762, which Dr. Harwood describes as “the most beautiful little book, both in regard to type and paper, I ever beheld.”

[562] _The Press, a poem. Published as a Specimen of Typography by John McCreery._ Liverpool, 1803, 4to. p. 19.

[563] An interesting notice of Lord Orford’s famous private press at Strawberry Hill, with a Catalogue of the—many of them—finely printed works that issued from it, is given in Lemoine’s _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 91.

[564] The original of this important letter, with the specimen attached, is in Mr. Timmins’s possession.

[565] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament and the New, translated out of the Original Tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. By His Majesty’s special command. Appointed to be read in Churches. Cambridge: printed by John Baskerville, Printer to the University._ 1763. _Cum Privilegio._ Fol. The prospectus of this work, with a specimen of the type, appeared in 1760. The folio _Bible_, printed at Birmingham in 1772, is a much inferior performance.

[566] _The Book of Common Prayer, Cambridge_, 1760, roy. 8vo, (with long lines); 1760, roy. 8vo, (in double columns); 1761, roy. 8vo; 1762, roy. 8vo (with long lines): 1762, 12mo.

[567] He appears always to have kept a large number of hot plates of copper always ready, between which, as soon as printed, just as they were discharged from the tympan, the sheets were inserted. The moisture was thus expelled, the ink set, and the smooth, glossy surface put on all simultaneously. However well the method may have answered at the time, the discoloration of his books still preserved in the British Museum and elsewhere, shows that the brilliance thus imparted was most tawdry and ephemeral.

[568] “Les caractères sont gravés avec beaucoup de hardiesse, les italiques sont les meilleures qu’il y ait dans toutes les Fonderies d’Angleterre, mais les romains sont un peu trop larges.” . . And of his editions he adds, “Quoiqu’elles fatiguent un peu la vue, on ne peut disconvenir que ce ne soit la plus belle chose qu’on ait encore vue en ce genre.” (_Man. Typ._, ii, xxxix.)

[569] “Mr. Baskerville . . . made some attempts at letter-cutting, but desisted, with good reason. The Greek cut by him or his for the University of Oxford is execrable. Indeed, he can hardly claim a place amongst letter-cutters. His typographical excellence lay more in trim, glossy paper to dim the sight.” (_Dissert._, p. 86.)

[570] _The Life of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself, etc._ (Bigelow’s edition). Philadelphia, 1875, i, 413. Nichols, in error, gives the date of this letter as 1764.

[571] The apparatus was first offered, it is said, to the French Ambassador in London for £8,000. Subsequently Baskerville wrote, on Sept. 7, 1767: “Suppose we reduce the price to £6,000. . . . Let the reason of my parting with it be the death of my son and intended successor, and having acquired a moderate fortune, I wish to consult my ease in the afternoon of life.”

[572] The following works were printed by Martin between 1766 and 1769, viz., _Christians’ Useful Companion_, 1766, 8vo; _Somerville’s Chace_, 1767, 8vo; _Shakespeare_, 9 vols., 1768, 12mo; _Bible with cuts_, 1769, 4to; and editions of the _Lady’s Preceptor_.

[573] Letter dated 21 Sept. 1773. “You speak of enlarging your Foundery” (_Works_, viii, 88).

[574] The remaining copies of Baskerville’s impressions, were, after his death purchased for £1,100 by W. Smart, bookseller, of Worcester, and publisher of the _Worcester Guide_.

[575] Hutton, _History of Birmingham_, 1835, p. 197.

[576] _Biographical History of England_, ii, 362.

[577]

“Stranger,
beneath this cone, in _unconsecrated_ ground,
a friend to the liberties of mankind directed his
body to be inurn’d.
May the example contribute to emancipate thy mind
from the idle fears of _Superstition_,
and the wicked arts of Priesthood.”

Touching this epitaph Archdeacon Nares has the following note:—“I heard John Wilkes, after praising Baskerville, add, “But he was a terrible infidel; he used to shock me!”

[578] “On Friday last, Mr. Baskerville, of this town, was married to Mrs. Eaves, widow of the late Richard Eaves, Esq., deceased” (_Birmingham Register_, June 7, 1765). Mrs. Baskerville d. 1788. Two works exist, printed at Birmingham, with the imprint, Sarah Baskerville.

[579] In 1776, Chapman used Baskerville’s type for Dr. W. Sherlock’s _Discourses concerning Death._ 8vo.

[580] This preference was so marked, that about this time the proprietors of Fry and Pine’s foundry, who had begun with an avowed imitation of the Baskerville models, were constrained to admit their mistake, and discard that fashion for new founts cut on the model of Caslon.

[581] As early as 1775, Dr. Harwood, in the preface to his _View of the Editions of the Classics_, had pleaded urgently for the purchase of Baskerville’s types, and Wilson’s famous Greek, as the nucleus of a Royal Typography in England.

[582] _Lit. Anec._, iii, 460.

[583] _Proposals for Printing by Subscription a Complete Edition of the Works of Voltaire, printed with the Types of Baskerville for the Literary and Typographical Society_, 1782, 12 pp. 8vo, with 2 pp. specimens of the type. The French proposal appears to have been put forward in 1780.

[584] _Beaumarchais and His Times. Translated by H. S. Edwards._ London, 1856. 4 vols. 8vo (iii, chap. 24).

[585] _Œuvres Complètes de Voltaire. De l’Imprimerie de la Société litteraire et typographique_, (Kehl) 1784–1789. 70 vols. in 8vo; and 92 vols. in 12mo.

[586] Renouard mentions having seen at Paris a broadside specimen of all the Baskerville types transported to Beaumarchais’ establishment: “Ce sont les mêmes types,” he adds, “mais quelle différence dans leur emploi!” (_Catalogue_, i, 310).

[587]

_La Virtu Sconosciuta Dialogo_, 1786, 8vo. _Del Principe e delle Lettere_, 1795, 8vo. _L’Etruria Vendicata Poema_, 1800, 8vo. _Della Tirannide_, 1809, 8vo.

[588] _The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle. Attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, reprinted from the Book of St. Albans. London; printed with the types of John Baskerville for William Pickering._ (Thos. White, imp.) 1827. 8vo.

[589] A statement that they were acquired at the beginning of the century for the printing offices of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, appears, after careful inquiry, to rest on no further foundation than rumour.

[590] See frontispiece. Cottrell is the figure marked 4.

[591] See _ante_, p. 158.

[592] _Dissertation_, p. 82.

[593] _A Specimen of a New Printing Type, in Imitation of the Law-Hand. Designed by William Richardson, of Castle Yard, Holborn._ London, n. d. Broadside.

[594] The Double Pica Script sheet occasionally bound in with this specimen, is evidently an interpolation of a later date, as it neither has the border round, nor does it conform to the measure or gauge of theother sheets. It was not finished in 1778 when Mores wrote. See _Dissert._, p. 83.

[595] _Manuel Typographique_, ii, xxxviii. This whole notice is so exceedingly incorrect as to call for mention here. “L’Angleterre a peu de Fonderies, mais elles sont bien fournies en toutes sortes de caractères: les principales sont celles de Thomas Cottrell à Oxfort; de Jacques Watson à Edimbourg, de Guillaume Caslon & Fils à Londres, et de Jean Baskerville à Birmingham”! It would almost appear as if, having before him the names of Cottrell, Oxford, James, Wilson of Glasgow, Caslon of London, and Baskerville of Birmingham, the then existing foundries in this kingdom, Fournier had taxed his ingenuity to make four foundries out of six and had succeeded, altering Wilson’s name to that of his long defunct fellow citizen, Queen Anne’s printer, in the process. This feat has, however, been eclipsed in his notice of the Voskens’ foundry at Amsterdam, which, after the death of Dirk Voskens, passed to his widow and sons. “Cette Fonderie” Fournier informs us, “a passée à sa veuve et au Sieur Zonen”!

[596] Mores (_Dissert._, p. 83), says he was the first to produce letters of this size.

[597] _Lit. Anec._, ii, 358.

[598] “R. Thorne, Letter-Founder, takes the Liberty of informing the Trade in general that he has begun business upon his own account, and intends serving them at the following old-established prices: [here follows price list]. He respectfully informs those gentlemen that choose to favour him with their orders, that they may depend upon the best workmanship and materials. Barbican, July 1, 1794.”

[599] It appears to have been no uncommon practice in the trade to make use of a predecessor’s book, corrected on the title-page in pen and ink. Our copy of Cottrell’s specimen is thus altered to the name of a broker; and the specimens of the Type Street Foundry are many of them similarly corrected to adapt them for the frequently changing style of that firm.

[600] In a note, he says, “R. T. informs those gentlemen to whom he is at present unknown, that the Types of the Barbican Foundry are cast to the usual Height and Body; and that great care has been taken to have the Counterpart deeply cut, by which means they will wear much longer than any hitherto in use.”

[601] Pica, which in 1798 had been 1_s._ per lb., is raised to 1_s._ 2 1/2_d._, and Nonpareil is advanced from 5_s._ to 5_s._ 6_d._ The other sizes are in similar proportion.

[602] “Sir,—Having published a Specimen of Improved Printing Types, I have taken the liberty of sending you a Copy, which I hope you will approve of; and be assured that every possible exertion shall be used in completing those orders you may favor me with.

“Barbican, 1803.

“I remain, your obedient Servant, ROBERT THORNE.”

[603] See _ante_, p. 117.

[604] See _post_, chap. xxi.

[605] In the Directory at the end of _Stower’s Printers’ Grammar_, 1808, Thorne’s name is given without address.

[606] _Particulars of the Lease and Valuable Plant of the Type Foundry of Mr. Robert Thorne, deceased, situate in Fann’s Street, Aldersgate Street,.........which will be Sold by Auction by Mr. W. Davies, at Garraway’s Coffee House, on Wednesday, the 21st of June, 1820, at Twelve o’clock, in One Lot._ Besides the lease, plant, and fixtures, the Catalogue comprised 316 lots of matrices and about 340 moulds. The matrices were as follows:―

_Roman and Italic._―
5-line (3), 4-line (3), Canon (4), 2-line Double Pica (3), 2-line
Great Primer (4), 2-line English (4), 2-line Pica (1), Double Pica
(4), Great Primer (4), English (5), Pica (6), Small Pica (3), Long
Primer (6), Bourgeois (3), Brevier (5), Minion (1), Nonpareil
Roman (2), Pearl (1)

_Black (plain or open)._―
5-line (5), 4-line (2), Canon (2), 2-line Great Primer (5), 2-line
English (2), Double Pica (2), Great Primer (2), English (1), Pica
(1), Small Pica (1), Long Primer (2), Bourgeois (1).

_Shaded._―
5-line to Brevier (21).

_Flowers._―
All bodies (15).

_Ornamented._―
Canon to 2-line Bourgeois (6).

_Egyptian._―
2-line Great Primerto Brevier (6).

_Script._―
2-line Pica, Double Pica, Great Primer.

_Engrossing._―
2-line English.

_German._―
English.

_Two-line Letters, Signs_, etc., etc.

_Sanspareil Founts._―
14-line to 4-line (24).

[607] He had a brother (?) a printer, in Wood Street, Cheapside.

[608] It is curious to note that the matter of not a few of Thorowgood’s early specimens has reference to the lucky numbers “always found in great variety in the Grand State Lotteries.” Such gratuitous advertisements are no doubt so many grateful acknowledgments of his own obligations to a time-honoured institution.

[609] The address to the printers, prefixed to this specimen, is as follows: “I cannot omit the opportunity offered in presenting my first specimen to your notice, to return my most sincere thanks to the profession for that portion of their patronage which I have received since my succession to Mr. Thorne. Although some difficulties presented themselves in redeeming the pledge I made of renovating my small founts and casting them of metal more durable than those in common use, yet I flatter myself that those friends who relied on my professions will bear ample testimony that they have not been disappointed, and that the superior facilities of manufacturing types possessed by myself in common with the other founders of the metropolis has been used to their advantage,” etc.

[610] This famous foundry, which still exists, was established by Bernard Christopher Breitkopf in 1719. His son, Johann Gottlieb Immanuel Breitkopf, was the inventor (simultaneously with Haas of Basle) of the art of map printing with movable types, and is claimed also as the inventor of movable music types about 1748. Many eminent punch cutters were employed on the founts of this foundry, which was in 1800 one of the largest in Germany. The first specimen appeared in 1739.

[611] Hugh Owen. _Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol_, 1873, 8vo.

[612] Of these books we have one before us—_A Collection of Hymns adapted for Public Worship_. Bristol, (1769), 12mo, in the Long Primer of the foundry, showing, besides, several varieties of title-letters and flowers.

[613] _Catalogue_, i, 310, “Grande feuille collée sur une toile ou batiste fine.”

[614] Rowe Mores, after quoting the above, adds drily: “Their letter is neat. We _do_ ‘set aside the influence of custom,’ and call it the law of fools, but we must recommend to the consideration of the proprietors the difference between scalping and counterpunching.” (_Dissertation_, p. 84.)

[615] “The Inventors, sensible of the great utility of their Discovery, have mentioned it to several of the Trade, who have made very considerable offers to encourage the laying open the Secret: But as their desire is, that every Printer in the Kingdom might be benefited by it they propose to make the Discovery as universal as possible, by making an honourable and generous present of it to the whole trade: To many of whom they are under some Obligations for the kind encouragement of their new Foundery. And as that is an object they desire here to recommend, they would further propose, (as they have nearly compleated all their founts, and can serve the Trade on as good Terms as any in the Kingdom, and with Types they will warrant to wear as long) that every Printer who shall give them an order for Ten Pounds worth of Type or more (Five Pounds of which to be paid on ordering and the Remainder on the Delivery) shall be made acquainted with the above improvements. So that the whole Advantage proposed is the selling some Founts of Letter which every Printer does or will want. And as they expect that the Trade in general will approve of their Plan, they beg that the Encouragers of it would send their orders with all convenient Speed to the above Foundery; (as they intend as soon as they have got a sufficient Number to lay open the whole) which they hope will not be less universal than the desire of being made Partakers of so interesting a Discovery: for it merits nothing less than the most cordial Encouragement of every Printer in Europe, though here so freely offered. And it will appear when laid open to be of such Service as nothing like it has been discovered in Printing for some Centuries. . . . The whole expence of altering the present presses to the above Improvement will be but about forty shillings.” A notice of this invention, as well as of a patent type-case designed by the same partners, is found in the _Abridgments of Specifications for Printing, 1617–1857_, London, 1859. 8vo, p. 88.

[616] _History and Art of Printing_, p. 244.

[617] After commending Caslon and Jackson, he says: “As to the productions of other Founderies we shall be silent, and leave them to sound forth their own good qualifications, which by an examiner are not found to exist” (p. 230).

[618] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testament, with Notes Explanatory, Critical and Practical, selected from the Works of several Eminent Divines. London, I. Moore and Co., Letter Founders and Printers in Queen Street, near Upper Moorfields._ 1774. Folio.

_The Same_, in 5 vols., 8vo:—_Vols._ 1, 2, 3, 1774; _Vol._ 4, 1776; _Vol._ 5 (_Apocrypha_) 1775.

[619] _A Commentary on the Holy Bible, containing the Whole Sacred Text of the Old and New Testaments, with Notes, etc. Bristol, Printed and Sold by William Pine._ 1774, 12mo.

[620] _The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testament, with Notes Explanatory, Critical and Practical, selected from the Works of several Eminent Authors. London. Printed and Sold by J. Fry and Co., Letter Founders and Printers in Queen Street, near Upper Moorfields._ 1777. Folio.

_The Same_, 4 vols., 1777. 8vo.

[621] Amongst other works printed by him there is preserved a tract, entitled _An Answer to a Narrative of Facts . . . lately published by Mr. Henry Burgum as far as relates to the Character of Wm. Pine. Bristol. Printed in the year 1775._ 8vo. This is a letter of rejoinder addressed by Pine to Burgum, repelling charges relating to the publication of an offensive pamphlet. Pine also printed several works for the Wesleys.

[622] See p. 226 _et seq._

[623] The pedigree of the matrices is indicated, as far as can be ascertained, by the initials (see our note 2 at p. 227); but in several cases, particularly in the case of the Blacks, the origin is considerably more remote than the foundry named. The error of inferring anything as to their origin from the names of famous old printers appearing on the drawers in which they were stored at James’s foundry has already been pointed out—see _ante_, p. 230. Several of these founts Dr. Fry appears to have received in a defective state, necessitating in some cases a complete re-justifying of the matrices, and in others the cutting of a considerable number of punches, and casting on bodies which did not always agree with those named in the sale Catalogue. This circumstance will account for many of the apparent discrepancies between the original founts and the renovated founts as they appear in the Type Street specimens.

[624] “It affords them”—the proprietors—“great Satisfaction to observe that the original Shape of their Roman and Italic Letters continues to meet the Approbation of the Curious, both in and out of the Printing Trade: nevertheless, to remove an Objection which the difference in Shape, from the letters commonly used here, raised in some, whereby their Introduction into several Capital Offices have been prevented; they have cut entire new sets of Punches, both Roman and Italic; and they flatter themselves they have executed the Founts, as far as they are done, in an elegant and masterly Manner, which in this Specimen are distinguished by the title NEW, and which will mix with and be totally unknown from the most approved Founts made by the late ingenious Artist, William Caslon.” For Caslon’s acknowledgment of this compliment, see _ante_, p. 249.